Teacher Evaluations

It's that time of year when I need to think about my official goals for my students so administration can determine if I am an effective teacher.

Never mind that we are in the middle of a pandemic that has caused trauma to everyone in its wake. Whatever. We must continue the corporate model of teaching to measure growth.

I'd like to increase the number of students who say hello on a daily basis. I'd like to increase the number of students who go beyond saying hello and engage in actual conversations. I'd like to increase the number of students who respond to at least one prompt a week.

I'm pretty sure those won't work. Whatever the goal it, I will have to be able to measure it with some sort of formal assessment, quantified by numbers. I have no idea what that is, yet. I still have two days to sort that out. Whatever it is, I won't set myself up for failure. It also won't fail by students. Many of my students have lower skills for their age, so whatever I choose, it will still help them improve skills that they need in life.

I'm not thrilled about this idea of evaluations in this emergency, online setting. It's a wonder that I, or the kids, even get up in the morning.