Week 6 Reflection: I spoke too soon!

Last week I wrote how much less stress I have had compared to what I expected...oops. Not that the job suddenly became insanely stressful, but I was feeling a lot of pressure this week to get things done. There were a few new things added to my normal workload, and I have never done a couple of them before, so I was trying to make sure they went well. I got through my first middle school magnet assembly and science department meeting, though, so I feel a little better now. I think the worst part of last week was that I didn't get to see Dominick very much because of a few night events I had, but I got to see him a lot this weekend.

I am also starting my 2nd round of observations and am trying to give good suggestions for improvement as feedback. I wonder how teachers feel when someone they don't know that well, especially as far as my effectiveness as a teacher, is giving them suggestions on how to get better. We get on stage and give everything we have to help students everyday, and someone comes in and says "maybe if you try something like this, the kids will get more out of the lesson." It's natural to get a little defensive, I know I did sometimes. Everyone wants to get better, but at the same time, no one wants to be told what they're doing wrong. I never received feedback well until I started recording myself teaching and realized how much room I had for improvement when I watched the video. After that, I wanted to hear everyone's opinion I could. I hope the teachers I work with aren't as stubborn as I was.

I have been picking the minds of several other administrators in the district to see what they do in their meetings and one-on-one discussions. I have gotten a lot of good ideas that I want to try to use in my own way. I am pretty excited about this because I feel like my best lessons as a teacher were stolen from other people and adjusted to fit my kids and my personality. I think this should carry over to being an administrator too...hopefully.

I'm done rambling for the week,

Bobby