I went to TKES training

I can really say that I very excited about the new teacher evaluation system that Georgia will implement next year.  We are in the beginning stages of the pilot group now, and I have just been trained.  While I am a questioner by nature and have found many unanswered questions during the training process, I will get to do more of the thing I love about my job.  I love visiting the classroom.  One thing that I have found most interesting since I became an assistant principal is that not all good teachers teach the way that I did, or the way that I do.  I feel like the things the “higher-ups” call good teaching came naturally to me.  Things like feedback, and grouping students. Things like using data to figure out where your students are, and creating interesting lessons so that the students will be more tuned into what you are saying.  But all of that can be trumped by liking kids.  If teachers genuinely like students, they can produce results that will amaze anyone.  It is the one thing that I look for over and over.  With all the pressure that is put on teachers these days, from test scores to creating new units, from lesson planning to RTI, from collecting data to collecting picture money, from being an example to look up to having a life outside the school, things can get skewed sometimes.  Just remember why you got into teaching.  Remember the first time you saw the “light” come on in child’s mind.  Remember how happy you make the students you see everyday.  I am very thankful for the student we get to serve everyday, and for the teachers that do a great job serving them.  While some of the focus may change with the new evaluation system, I am looking forward to getting to highlight some of the things that teachers are doing exceptionally well.

For those of you interested, The new evaluation system will look something like this:

• Orientation
• Pre-evaluation conference
• Walk-through
• Feedback
• Walk-though
• Feedback
• Observation
• Feedback
• Conference
• All this time collecting documentation
• Christmas Break
• Walk-through
• Feedback
• Walk-though
• Feedback
• Observation
• Feedback
• Conference
• Data collection and Student Surveys will go into the final evaluation
• End of the year

This will be 50% of a teacher’s evaluation while 50% will be student achievement.

It is a scary new endeavor for administrators and teachers, but I am sure it will be one more thing we handle well.

Expectations and Goal Setting

Ok, so after reading that I was bottom of my class, and that I hated school, you might be wondering how in the world I ended up as an assistant principal.  The story kind of goes like this:

I was lucky enough to have people expect a lot out of me.

My grandfather, mother, and stepfather cared enough to send me to private school after the 5th grade.  They sacrificed so that I could get a good education whether I wanted one or not.  What ended up happening wasn’t easy for anyone, but it did end in a way so that I was not limited by my high school education.

Let me explain:

When I started my fifth grade class there were about 25 people in class, about 22 of them had started kindergarten together, and about 20 of those would graduate together.  Most of those parents valued education enough to send their children to private school, and in return, the students in my class did well in school.  They were smart and good at school when I started. I started at the bottom of this class, but expectations were high.  I cared very little for school and teachers, and would have done that anywhere I went.  If there had been a choice, I would have been moved to a lower class with lower expectations, but there was no other class, so I stayed.  Most times I did enough to get by, sometimes I didn’t.  After four years of middle school, 5-8, and four years of high school, 9-12, just getting by was good enough.  I graduated 25th our of 26 people, but because the expectations where high, and I was able to disappoint, but get by, I was able to get into college.  From there, I still wasn’t sure and didn’t have the habits to succeed. I ended up with the goal that I mentioned last week.  The goal to make learning different for students like me.  When I had that goal, work became easier, and I figured out that in order to meet that goal I had to do get better at school.  After that, things fell into place, and two thing have never changed.

I have set high expectations for myself and my students, and now for teachers, and I have set both long term and short term goals for my self and my students, and now for teachers.

I am not naive enough to think this is the only way success comes about, but if you are looking for ways to succeed, try setting high expectations and setting goals.  It has helped me tremendously, both in my classroom, and in my life.

Friday Letter to Teachers

Many of you may not have heard my story, but it goes something like this.  I was not a very good student.  Somewhere between 3rd and 5th grade I kind of dropped from near the top of the class to somewhere towards the bottom.  I was probably ADD before there was such a thing, and some of you probably see some of those tendencies in me today.  I began to hate school, and never really fit into the class part of it.  What I never hated was learning.  I found an education though sports and 4-H.  I loved the hands on approach to learning that the coaches and 4-H leaders seemed to teach.  I had never gotten that in school.  I found out that if I wanted to learn more I could read and find resources outside of school that intrigued me.

It might also help you to know that my mother is an elementary school teacher.  I was her first pupil, and many of the things that she tried on me took, and she would in turn, take them to her classroom.

Through all of this, I was naive enough to think that I could change education.  I wanted to become a teacher and teach classes where struggling students could find better way to learn. I work hard at that.  I set high expectations for myself and my students, and I may even have changed some things for some students.

I tell you all this to say, I have been there.  I have been where the struggling students are, I have been where the good students area, and I have been where you are.  I know that you are stressed and that you are trying to do everything you can to get ready for those students. You are working on lessons and bulletin boards and building units and assessments.  You are doing everything you can so that each student will have their best year in education.  I can say this to each of you because I believe it is true.  

I am lucky to have found a place like Park to call home.  I am lucky to work with such a wonderful staff, a staff that is putting the students first.  I am thankful for all that you do.  I am glad that you, too, call Park home, and I am looking forward to a great year.

One of the things that I have enjoyed most about our profession is that we get to start over every year.  We get to set new goals, create new lessons, make up for past mistakes.  The days students return from summer break is one of my favorite days of the year.  I am glad we get to share that day together.  

Here’s to a great year,

Bert