One more attempt with a new focus

A few years back, I was inspired enough to post a few blog entries on issues surrounding the school and education in general. But as time passed, those entries slowed from a steady outpouring to an occasional post to a few sporadic communications. It’s just really hard to find the time to reflect on our work even though it’s such a healthy and important process. So I’m not going to re-commit to the same format of longer more structured commentary but I do want to use this tool to try to keep some sort of running record about the new teacher and administrator evaluation system. It is fair to say that it has not only transformed the way I structure my day but it has changed how I’ve prioritized issues at the school (I think teachers would tell you the same has been true for them). Some of that change is a good thing (more time in classrooms, more time talking to teachers about their craft) but I also have concerns about issues that I’ve not paid attention to because of the focus on evaluation.
So the prose may be a little more messy and the thoughts not as coherent as they could be but I am thinking it’s better to record some of my thoughts so they can be used as a tool to assess the effectiveness of the system rather than blunder forward without pause for consideration. My concern is this new system will either collapse under its own weight or continue to move forward as envisioned without any sort of reflection on how to make it better, leaving careers in it’s wake. As I told the faculty, I am doing my best to adhere to the system as it is presently constructed to determine if it plausible and is the right thing to do. I don’t want to judge the system before experiencing it but I also don’t want to blindly follow without reflecting; we do too much of that as it stands.
I hope this might be a way to start some dialogue about how we can make this system change so it does meet the goal of helping our students in a manner that makes sense to all of us. I hope I can stay true to the intent and in the end, we can use at least part of this as a way to honestly reflect on how we can best make evaluation an integral part of every teacher’s and administrator’s profession. We’ll see; this is all easy to say at 5:00 pm on December 31 after a few days off. I hope I can be disciplined enough to reflect on this new initiative - because it deserves consideration - while providing appropriate time for other important responsibilities.