Confessions of a ‘Bad’ Teacher
"When the assistant principal walked in, one of these students, a freshman girl classified with an emotional disturbance, began cursing. When the assistant principal ignored her, she started cursing at me. Then she began lobbing pencils across the room. Was this because I was a bad teacher? I don’t know... I know that after she began throwing things, I sent her to the dean’s office. I know that a few days later, I received notice that my lesson had been rated unsatisfactory because, among other things, I had sent this student to the dean instead of following our school’s “guided discipline” procedure."
I think this illustrates one of the problems in education. Decision-makers and the administration are out of touch. It's all so black and white with them. When you're close to the action, though, you realize that classrooms can't function like that.
Let's try something. Before a teacher can "earn" an unsatisfactory rating, the evaluator must present three perfect lessons to the same class. Afterward, the teacher is allowed one more shot. Don't just tell the teacher about the mistakes--demonstrate the right way.
Heck, anyone can criticize, but... can you teach?
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