In over a decade in the classroom, I never received an evaluation that helped me improve as a teacher. Some years an administrator would observe my class for a few minutes and then fill out a form saying I am doing a good job and have me sign it. One year I opted for peer review which required I make a personal learning plan. I wrote a plan and worked on my goals, but there was no support for the learning or achieving my goals for the year. Another time an administrator wrote in my evaluation that I made an error in the calculations in a biology lab which later turned out to be an error in the textbook. He followed this all the way to the publisher and had the error fixed. While I appreciated the attention to detail by the administrator, this was not particularly helpful to my practice.
Tags: evaluation • Professional Development • Professional Learning • Teaching