Interview of a Educator

Interview of Educator

I interviewed a fourth grade teacher with five years of experience in education, all at the same school. This teacher has been evaluated formally on three separate occasions. On all occasions, the monitor was in the classroom. When asked about her feelings toward evaluation and the evaluation process used in her district, she responded positively. She said that she was happy that the district put effort into teacher evaluations, because they are important in ensuring all the standards are being met. Evaluations give valuable feedback to schools, and help them to improve their programs and policies, she said.

Evaluations are conducted over several core areas pertinent to pedagogical practice. These areas include planning, classroom management, delivery of instruction, monitoring, assessment, family outreach, community outreach, and professional responsibilities. In addition to these factors, the teacher is evaluated according to California teaching standards. These standards relate to all of the above factors, but also include issues such as ethics. Planning relates to lesson planning and how well the lessons reflect the state educational guidelines. The teacher is obliged to write down how the lesson corresponds with each educational standard. Planning also needs to show creativity with regards to different types of activities for the students. She had to include field trips in the planning as well.

Classroom management was deemed an important factor for evaluation, because it reveals a lot of the teacher's leadership style. How the teacher can handle conflict in the classroom is an important topic that came up in the peer review sessions. Some teachers have advice for those who have behavioral problems in the classroom. There are various "tricks" and methods she has learned from other teachers, which have proven helpful in her classroom. The evaluation shows how well she has implemented classroom management techniques.

Delivery of instruction was an important parameter for the evaluation, as teachers have different styles. Some are more authoritarian. This teacher is not, and she likes to seat her students in a circle. She said that when she is evaluated, her approach is appreciated because all students are visually equal. This reduces potential discrimination issues in the classroom.

The teacher is evaluated according to how well they fulfill each of these standards. The teacher I interviewed did not know exactly how the evaluator quantified the observations, or how the school district quantified the data it collects from the evaluations. Moreover, some of the parameters are highly subjective. The teacher I interviewed stated that the evaluators were good at asking about whether she is performing family and community outreach, and ask for specifics. She said this was one of the most important things the evaluator can do, because otherwise teachers might neglect this aspect of the profession. According to this teacher, planning and classroom management, as well as delivery of instruction, were things that were done naturally but that other professional responsibilities like outreach were not that commonly used until recently.

Peer reviewing system is used occasionally in this district. This creates a professional community, which reflects well on the school district in general. A peer review system also allows for constructive criticism. The teacher said that when the criticism is offered by peers, there is less of a sense of antagonism and the teacher is not as defensive as if it came from a superintendent who does not work in the same milieu as the teachers. The reviewer gains as much as the person being reviewed, said the teacher. This is because the process of reviewing yields a lot of information about individual differences and respect for diversity in the workplace. The peer reviewing process also exposes teachers to new techniques and ideas, and new methods of instruction delivery. Both the person who is evaluating and the person being evaluated can share ideas and their concerns about education.