The lights are dimming, and a crooner’s voice comes on over the loud speakers: “Good Evening, and on behalf of Walt Disney World, we welcome you to Illuminations!”
This moment sparks joy and whimsy for thousands gathered at Epcot nightly. But this sound has also created panic and aggravation for an overwhelmed parent. Trying to fit as much fun into a day, they scheduled their meal time to be just before fireworks. With small margins to begin with, the lagging restaurant staff is ruining their vacation. The confusion at the counter is creating a child-like tantrum, and there’s little the confused restaurant workers can do to streamline the process right now.
After witnessing a handful of these meltdowns first hand, I made it my mission to ease confusion at our restaurant pick up windows. In order to iron out the confusions, I had to assess how trainers were teaching our new hires. This is when I found out that each member of the training staff had a different food-pick up system. When we’re dealing with thousands of consumers an hour, the details matter quite a deal, and the placement of a tray to the left or right of a banister could mean the difference between families seeing the fireworks or families screaming, demanding their kids yogurt parfait. This may seem hyperbolic, but I assure you, streamlined processes can increase time efficiency exorbitantly.
My evaluation of the trainers served a purpose. I didn’t seek to admonish any member of the training staff, but I did know that our end-goal was never going to be met if we were doing things differently and then sending trainees into action with conflicting ideas of what was right.
Before I build an entirely unrelatable analogy, my point is this: teacher evaluations should be a great tool that we celebrate. They can help us calibrate our performance, improve our efficacy, and prepare students for whatever comes next.
I hear co-workers worry about a forthcoming evaluation. The perception is often that administrators and evaluators are there to judge us – to evaluate our worth. This is problematic because the benefit of trusted evaluations could exponentially improve our practice, our school culture, and perhaps specifically a student in our classroom today.
As I am not a teacher evaluator, I cannot speak to amalgamation of puzzle pieces that goes into observing a teacher. I cannot rewrite the rubrics, or redesign district documents. All I can do is frame how I welcome and prepare for an evaluation.
I choose to not fear an evaluation. I choose to not stress about it. I think I may have some privilege of positive experiences in my past considering the way I hear others talk about evaluations. I think I may have privilege that I used to evaluate professional trainers, and so my perspective is different than others.
But I also choose to frame my evaluation for my purpose. “When you come, can you be on the lookout for this?” “I want to run an experiment with an activity when you come by” “I am going to run something I think works well – let me know if there’s room for improvement.” I strategically use my pre conference time to get the most out of my evaluation.
Even in times when I could not steer the evaluator towards my goals, I have seen use in an evaluation. When I had “drop in” assessments or when evaluations have been rescheduled, I always ask about what could be improved.
I don’t want an evaluator to tell me I’m perfect (Ok – I guess I kinda do want that if I’m being honest); instead, I want them to point out my blind spots. What could be better — and how can that happen?
I get the gift of another educational expert to lay eyes on my practice – what can I gain from that?
Look, I’m no Pollyanna. I see the world around me. I don’t think that all administrators are perfect. I know there are teachers will more experience than people evaluating them. I think those are problems. I think those problems need to be addressed. But, I do not think those issues are within my lotus of control.
Instead, I choose to welcome my evaluations with grace and will always strive to use these opportunities to improve my practice.
If, metaphorically, I can get my students all their learning AND get them to the firework show, then that’s what I want to do! If someone can teach me a trick to improve some quality of my activity, then I will happily adjust!
James King
James King is a high school teacher in Glendale Union High School District. He is the newspaper advisor, speech and debate coach and teaches AP English Language and Composition as well as Journalism. James is a graduate of the University of Central Florida. In his time in Florida, he worked as a substitute teacher for 5 years while simultaneously working in corporate training. In his free time, James enjoys reading, musical theatre, sand volleyball, comic books, and often-vapid reality TV programs.