An Educator's Perspective

I worked in Baltimore County for a year as a teacher a few years ago and, though I chose to get out of that system rather than make a career there for a number of reasons, I believe they did have a few positive institutions. One thing in particular that I liked was the fact that they hired department chairs not just as office supply managers, but as instructional leaders.

Department chairs there did not regularly teach classes. They sat in on evaluations, they even wrote some evaluations, of teachers in their departments in conjunction with the departmental assistant principal and principal. That team would all join the class for the observation and produce the feedback. The process was very formal, and there are certainly some issues with how it all plays out, but I really like the idea of having teachers look at other teachers. This idea is toyed with in many ways throughout the educational realm, but actually doesn't happen that often. Usually, if a teacher is doing very poorly and is in danger of losing their job, they will be rolled into the classrooms of master teachers for observation, but it is usually too late. In many school districts, teachers have the option of taking a day or two to go and observe other teachers, but woefully few seem to take advantage of those opportunities.

As I observe and evaluate teachers, I see wonderful lessons, classroom management, and classroom organization. I see enthusiasm and passion for what they teach. I see smooth transitions from activity to activity and maximum use of classroom contact. Of course, I also see teaching that is not so great, but with some work could be. I review my observations with the teachers, and I have often told my most effective teachers how I wish others could come in and see how they do it, but we don't take it further since most average to poor teachers are not voluntarily going to visit other teachers' classes.

I would like to find a way to organize the school so that teachers can regularly observe one another - not evaluative - and develop a shared best practice for that content in that department in that school. In high school especially, teachers are very isolated. Teachers tend to teach as they were taught, modeling themselves after the teacher(s) that were most effective in reaching them when they were taking classes. If teachers regularly observed one another, we would find it easier to be consistent as a school in the management of students, the day to day operation of classes from bell to bell, and the success of our students.