RELAX, You Made the Team

Recently, I was doing a Google Hangout with my good friend Nathan Eklund (@nateek) about how the year was going at my school. I have previously written about the important work we have done as a school with Eklund Consulting and regularly reflect on this ongoing process of continuous school improvement as it relates to School Workplace Satisfaction for educators. During the conversation, Nathan was making a point about teacher evaluations and how they impact climate and culture of a school. In typical style, Nathan made an analogy to sports that really resonated with me. I have been thinking a lot about this as the first semester winds down and felt compelled to write about it because it is important for all teachers to know this.

Annual evaluations are not exclusive to schools. In fact, they are part of almost every organization. Unfortunately, teacher evaluations typically raise the anxiety level of those receiving them because of fear. Whether this fear is warranted or not is the subject of completely different blog. The fact of the matter is that evaluations don't need to be this way. Changing the way you feel about evaluations is an important step in overcoming this fear and can make the experience much less taxing on your emotional psyche.

None of us are perfect and the only way that we can improve in the classroom is by receiving feedback. Administrators are instructional leaders whose primary job function is to evaluate staff and help them improve their instruction. This is where the sports analogy comes in. Think of your school as a select sports team and you are a member of that team. The support staff are the team managers, the teaching faculty are the players, and the administrators are the coaching staff. You were hired because you had the necessary skill set to be a part of the team and because you make the team better. As with all sports teams, a game plan is developed and practices are held to master the plan in preparation for the big game. Coaches evaluate how you practice on a daily basis and then decide what your role will be when it comes time for the big game. When game time comes, the players use the feedback they have been given by their coaches during practice and perform to the best of their ability. Additionally, games are videotaped and analyzed to improve performance and players are given more feedback on how to improve their performance in future games. The feedback process is continuous and ongoing in hopes of making the team better.

What it boils down to is that evaluations don't need to be stressful, anxiety raising events that cause teachers to break out in hives. Teachers have already made the team and are contributing to the team's success. What should be expected, however, is that feedback regarding how you instruct is going to be given. Everyone, including rock star teachers, can and should receive feedback on how to improve. This should be an expectation in an evaluation. If you aren't getting feedback, challenge your administrators to provide you ways to improve. It is not out of line to ask your administrator for ways to get better in the classroom. In fact, it shows that you care about your craft and that you want to improve. Every teacher wants to hear from their administrator that they are awesome in the classroom and that they are doing innovative things to help kids, but this is only one part of an evaluation. The other part is the thing that raises the anxiety level of teachers: constructive criticism.

Walt Disney once said, "We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious.....And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." It is the role of administrators to provide feedback to teachers during the evaluation process and to help them move forward in their craft. Teachers should expect this going in to an evaluation meeting. Use this as an opportunity to work collaboratively with your administrator to become a better teacher. In the end, it might help you relax.