This year has been the first year for my school district to use the new TLE for teacher evaluations. It is a very extensive process which is totally different than any evaluation that I have experienced in 20 years of teaching. (Oh wait! Am I really that old?)
I teach in a large high school where there are 10 administrators. I started this school year believing that it would be impossible for an adminstrator evaluate me on the 20 given indicators when I don't even see administrators very often. How will he/she know what I do in my classroom daily? How will he/she know the additional information about the committees I am involved in at the local and state levels? Will he/she even know that I am a National Board Certified Teacher?
I studied the evaluation rubric for weeks and started to analyze my classroom habits to see how I felt I would be evaluated. I starting writing down how I could justify above average scores on the rubric and later decided that my adminstrator needed access to my written justifications.
Well, today was my evaluation conference. My administrator was able to use the information that I shared in addition to several classroom observations to complete my evaluation. But more important than how I scored on the TLE, I realize that I have grown significantly as a teacher, by intentionally working to meet the highest levels measured on the TLE.
Now, I am ready for my next adventure. I don't know what that adventure is yet, but I am ready!
