Knowing that someone knows and understands the work you do is an affirmation that your work matters. Affirmation is invigorating, no matter the work you do. The lack of affirmation leads to a distancing between the employee, the employer and the mission of the employment.
Al stood on the opposite side of a four-foot wide stainless-steel from me in the beef offal department of the Wilson meat packing plant. Our job was to wash the inside of beef stomachs cleansing them of the silage they held at the time of slaughter – grass and corn and stuff. We turned the stomach inside-out over the cone and used the folded-in edges to scrub the honey-combs of the stomach’s lining. I saw Al’s work and he saw mine. He would point at a clump I had missed as I would comment on his work, if necessary. We knew each other’s work, because we observed it first-hand. We were accountable for our work.
In my first years of teaching, my junior high school classroom in a 1925 building had tall windows, built-in cupboards and book cases of polished oak, waxed maple floors and real slate blackboards. The night custodian and I were the only adults who frequented my classroom; the assistant principal made two one-class period visits annually and the principal was never there. No one knew my work. No one observed my teaching. I felt like a private contractor operating in a black box inside a public school.
Today, effective educator processes mandate visual observations of teachers by trained and certified administrators who compare teacher behaviors with adopted models, such as Danielson’s Framework For Teaching. The Wisconsin EE process is a three-school year affair resulting in a professional evaluation. Observation or first hand knowledge of a teacher’s work is a requirement of the Framework.
Charlotte Danielson wrote, “Overall, my recommendation is that the observation component of a full evaluation consist of one full lesson, and three additional, shorter observations, and that these observations are conducted by two different individuals.” The research-based premise is that trained observers can discern the essential characteristics of how a teacher demonstrates the domains of teaching in a 15-minute observation.
The first hand observation of teaching is critical to an objective understanding of the quality and success of a teacher’s work.
Take Away
As has been reported before in these blogs, teaching in most American classrooms has been treated as a black box operation – it takes place inside four walls and is unobserved by other educators or stakeholders in a child’s education. A teacher and children are in a classroom, lab, shop, or studio where instruction and learning take place daily. Over the course of a school year, a curriculum is taught and learned and assessed. We look at the tangible second and third hand evidence of teaching and learning, such as test scores, projects completed, concerts and other student performances and we draw conclusions regarding the successes achieved. While we believe the research indicating that the most critical factor in the education of children is the quality and thoroughness of teacher instruction – teaching, assessment, reteaching, assessment, extension and enrichment – we look at second and third hand evidence. We do not look at the engine that produces that evidence – the act of teaching- because it remains in the unobserved black box.
The lack of inspection, retrospection and prospection about what happens in classrooms is immensely problematic. How can we validate what we do not see, hear or feel? How can we respond to the challenges that different children present in their learning needs? How can we respond to parent inquiry without firsthand knowledge? How can we assist a teacher in the presentation of continuous high quality teaching without first hand observation of the teaching act? The answer is “We can’t.”
At the next level, how can school administrators vouchsafe the quality and equity of learning by all children without making frequent first hand observations? The answer is “They can’t”.
In order to know a teacher’s work, an administrator and teacher must be similar to Al and me standing in close proximity with enough frequency to enable the administrator to point and say “Good job there” or “You missed something here” or “Have you considered ….?” And, to say by the principal’s presence in the classroom, “I know your work”. Without close frequent observation, no one knows a teacher’s work and it is worth knowing.
Why Is This Thus
My teacher friends always tell me that a level of tension and anxiety arises when a principal, curriculum coordinator, or superintendent is in their classroom during a lesson. This is the friction of “inspection”. It is natural that anxiety occurs. Call it “worry when someone is watching” or stage fright or accountability insecurity when your work is being observed – it is a natural response that we all experience in one shape or another. The fact that teachers are anxious when being observed and a friction between teacher and administrator arises is not a rationale for principals to stay out of classrooms.
My principal friends always tell me they don’t have time in their busy, daily school life to be in classrooms more than they are. I get that the job description of a school principal is complicated and multi-faceted. It is supposed to be, because the principal is the general manager of all aspects of the school’s operations, including classroom instruction. The response, however, tells me a lot about how a principal prioritizes her job.
My superintendent and central office friends always tell me that their most important job is hiring highly qualified teachers and staff and then allowing the talented employees of the schools to accomplish the educational programs of the school district. Hire the best and get out of their way! Let the talent work! They rely upon the supervision of on-site principals who may or may not prioritize first hand observation of teachers.
It has always been thus. From the days of one room school houses to the contemporary high school campus of 5,000 students, classroom teaching has been framed as classroom + teacher + students = the black box of teaching and learning. When open classroom and wall-less classroom concepts were introduced in the 1970s, one of the first educator responses was to place book cases and chalkboards as barriers between instructional spaces. The concept did not last – walls or at least partition were erected to recreate a separated, black box classroom. Everything seems to revert to the mean of accepted practices or the normal status quo of the black box.
What Do We Know
Teacher anxiety is not sufficient cause to keep principals and curriculum directors and specialists out of classrooms. I picture Tiger Woods standing over a putt with a thousand golf fans surrounding the green or a pitcher on the mound at Yankee Stadium trying to throw a strike that cannot be hit with 54,000 fans screaming. Medical procedures are recorded so that best practices can be assured. Live video displays legislators on C-Span and attorneys in court. Employment anxiety is a fact of life for everyone. Being observed by your principal is not a big deal in the world of observable professional work.
Additionally, teachers should always know that the principal observing them is in turn being observed by the superintendent or someone in the central office chain of command. It is part of a principal’s performance accountability. In public education everyone’s employment performance is open to observation and scrutiny.
A principal who cannot find time for frequent classroom walkabouts needs to re-prioritize her time management. We recognize the uber-priority of school safety and do not recommend anything that diminishes this principal function. However, when we prioritize the list of a principal’s job responsibilities, the responsibility for successful student learning is job number one. And, when a principal apportions her time and effort to the importance of successful student learning, almost all other job responsibilities will renumber themselves on her daily to-do list. Almost.
I agree that employing talented employees is the first essential in assuring successful educational programs, but the second essential is the maintenance and sustenance of talented employees. Talented and satisfactory employees alike require recognition, professional engagement, and personal attention. When those at the top of the chain of school command are not paying attention to the human and professional needs of talented teachers, talented teachers will seek employment where that attention exists.
There is an abundance of professional literature and workshop instruction to help administrators create a practice of “walk about” or informal observation techniques. An administrator who is not conversant with these strategies and a school district that is not reinforcing the importance of informal information gathering are not up-to-date in their professional practices. Additionally, administrators sometimes try to formalize the informal, to give the unstructured “walk about” a formal and structured routine. I observe some schools that refrain from “walking about” because they have not formalized the informal. They are paralyzed by their inaction.
Informational observations require informational feedback. The informational feedback need not be an opus. A texted message or a sticky note or a face-to-face conversation do nicely for same day feedback. A principal should acknowledge an aspect of the lesson observed regarding teacher work, student work or both. The feedback may follow the ongoing conversation in a string of walk-in observations, or reinforce something the principal and all teachers are working on, or comment on any pertinent pedagogical concept. The important thing is that the teacher gets information from the observer.
To Do
Make an open box classroom the norm for your school. At the point of hire, explain to the teacher candidate that “your work is our work” and principals and instructional leaders will be in your classroom frequently. Candidates for employment who cannot accept this are not really candidates for your employment.
One of the first steps in creating this norm is opening classroom doors when safety and security, or too much noise and distraction, are not issues. An open doorway breaks the four walls of the black box and invites entry and observation.
Establish this truth – classroom room observations take place for more reasons than employee evaluation. If a teacher believes that a principal is making a formal evaluation observation every time the principal is in her classroom, then anxiety and tension may be appropriate. Typical contractual framework requires employee performance evaluation to be pre-scheduled between principals and teachers and, if unannounced performance evaluation observations are included in the contract, the manner in which a principal enters a classroom and sets up for such an observation is in itself very observable. But, when principals are doing daily walk-about and walking into classrooms, their purpose is not evaluative but informative. Teachers should be told the difference and principal practices should demonstrate the differences.
Talk about what you see. The lack of conversation is a death knell to the overly anxious. Teachers should ask their principal after a “walk in”, “What did you think about …?” An informal walk-in is a great opportunity to get non-evaluative feedback, reinforcement of new teaching ideas, and to share discussion of teaching and learning. In the other shoes, a walk-in gives a principal an excellent opportunity to affirm “I see the good work you are doing” and enhance the collegial relationship between teacher and principal.
Ubiquitous observation should feel invisible because it is ubiquitous. Finding a place in the classroom that does not distract from students seeing the teacher and her instruction and the teacher seeing her students is not difficult. Principals should scout it out beforehand. Find the corner or the wall space or a chair where observation is invisible to ongoing teaching and learning. Every classroom has places where an observer can see everyone and everything and not be on the instructional stage. And, be quiet when observing. Turn off your cell phone or security radio or use ear buds, if necessary. Don’t make a big deal about taking notes on a large laptop. Use your phone or digital device quietly make a note to assist your conversation with the teacher after your walk-in.
Make classroom observations the number one priority for principals and curriculum specialists. How can they really know how their most important school personnel are performing without first hand observations. When I drive my sports car, my eyes are on the speedometer, tachometer, temp gauge and I am listening to the sounds of the engine as well as on the road and constantly checking rear view mirrors. Feedback is essential. The only way to be really informed about a teacher’s work is to approach the performance first hand, gather the sights, sounds and feeling of the classroom, and know the quality of the teaching and learning exchange. See it, hear it, feel it, and then talk with the observed teacher about it. Affirm that the teacher is an essential member of the school. Applaud them as golf patrons and Yankee fans affirm putts made and strikes thrown.
And, then go one step further. Provide feedback from informational observations to students as well as teachers. There are many aspects of student classroom life that merit a principal’s commentary. A note that says, “I saw or heard you … when I visited (teacher’s name) classroom” is a wonderful connection between an administrator and child. It also pays dividends in school-home relations.
The Big Duh
There is no room in school today for a black box classroom. Principals and teachers who proactively use the practices of informational observations understand much more about each other’s work and mutually can use their understanding for the continuous improvement of instruction and learning and school life. Progressive improvements are enhanced when work when is observed and information is shared. Work that is sheltered from observation is more likely to become repetitive and regressive.
Teachers thrive when principals and supervisors make first hand observations their work, engage collegiality in an informed discussion of what has been observed, and use information for mutual understanding. “I see you at your work and know the quality of your work first hand and am want to talk about your work” is essential to collegial professionalism. If you are not doing these things, what message is a principal giving to classroom teachers?