How many is too many?
Today the district's Director of Curriculum brought in 3 elementary principals and 14 4th and 5th grade teachers to observe me.
Yes, that's 18 people. Plus my own principal. In a class of 37 kids. It was cozy.
They came in early, my principal talked them through what they were going to see, then they hung out all period. I have to hand it to my kids-they were awesome. During their work time I told the visiting people to feel free to talk to the kids and ask them if they knew what they were doing and why they were doing it. They did, and the kids were all able to tell them. I heard a couple of them ask the kids if they liked the style of class they were in and the way I taught it, and the ones I overheard all said they had a lot more fun and learned better even though it was hard. Their behavior was exemplary, even though I was seriously concerned that so many extra people in the room were going to drive them nuts.
Then a colleague covered my class and I met with the visitors in the library for about 45 minutes to debrief. They grilled me about the math program and asked a lot of good questions. I could tell they were a little overwhelmed and it seemed to reassure them when I told them that I started off as a first grade teacher, so I understood where they were coming from. My favorite question was when one of them asked "if someone decided to teach like this for a year, and then didn't like it, could they go back to how they were teaching before?". My response was "I'm sure you could, but after you've seen what it does for the students, why would you?".
I mean really.
Yes, that's 18 people. Plus my own principal. In a class of 37 kids. It was cozy.
They came in early, my principal talked them through what they were going to see, then they hung out all period. I have to hand it to my kids-they were awesome. During their work time I told the visiting people to feel free to talk to the kids and ask them if they knew what they were doing and why they were doing it. They did, and the kids were all able to tell them. I heard a couple of them ask the kids if they liked the style of class they were in and the way I taught it, and the ones I overheard all said they had a lot more fun and learned better even though it was hard. Their behavior was exemplary, even though I was seriously concerned that so many extra people in the room were going to drive them nuts.
Then a colleague covered my class and I met with the visitors in the library for about 45 minutes to debrief. They grilled me about the math program and asked a lot of good questions. I could tell they were a little overwhelmed and it seemed to reassure them when I told them that I started off as a first grade teacher, so I understood where they were coming from. My favorite question was when one of them asked "if someone decided to teach like this for a year, and then didn't like it, could they go back to how they were teaching before?". My response was "I'm sure you could, but after you've seen what it does for the students, why would you?".
I mean really.