How I got High Teaching Evaluation Scores
Using the Zoom IN and OUT Process
My friend is one of the best teachers I knew. Hands down, she was better than me. Yet she got low evaluation scores and I got high scores consistently. What did I do that made me get better teaching evaluation scores? Well it helped that I was NOT a teacher before. I handled corporate newsletters for multinationals like Unilever Philippines and organizations like Philippine Institute of Architect. I learned to look for what my clients needed and match them with what their readers were looking for. I adapted my business perspective in my teaching profession. Let’s zoom in.
When my son was diagnosed with autism in the Philippines, I changed careers and became a SPED teacher. Soon afterwards, a school district sponsored me and I was able to bring my whole family to the USA. Meanwhile, I realized that my continued employment as a teacher depended on my evaluation score based on my union contract. It was actually spelled out in the evaluation manual but almost hidden on the last page—discoverable only by avid readers like me. This was true during my employment in that district - it might be different now. So what did I do next? I forced myself to see the big picture instead of:
looking at my pile of to-do list for the next teaching days
thinking of my students’ behavior issues and how to handle them
finding lesson inspirations and worksheets that I can use next and more
I forced myself to zoom out and figure out how the teaching evaluation rubric was connected to my teaching tasks. Then I zoomed back in to apply what I found in my classroom and the growing lists of tasks and student issues. Here is what happened.
I looked at the different components in my teaching evaluation rubric and found that three of them are connected and adds up as the biggest percentage of the whole score. You can refer to the picture below to see what I was talking about. All three led back to standard-based lessons. The other components were about deadline compliance for SPED teachers like me and the other dealt with school activity participation. They were “easily” be done through advanced scheduling so I focused on the others.
Disclaimer: I covered school details in the documents above. Just in case it is still recognizable, please be informed that I am no longer connected to this school district and all ideas are my own.
Thematic Approach saves Time
I started by looking at all the standards I need to teach. At first, it was challenging for a HS Math SPED teacher like me for I had to teach HS Algebra, Geometry and Statistics to students who barely multiply or worse, lack numeracy skills. I also taught IEP Students who are in 9th to 12th Grades. How can I teach grade-level standards that the rubric dictates? Well, I was an Alternative Assessment Teacher-Mentor before. I happen to know that a bunch of educators already aligned the Common Core Standards (which my previous district used) and called them the Core Content Connectors. I based my syllabus on them. Afterwards, I wrote all my lesson plans, student objectives, teacher-made evaluations and teaching data collection based on those chosen content connector standards. This thematic approach saved me time and greatly contributed to my teaching evaluation score.
How can You apply this Especially Mid-SY
You might be reading this after the start of the school year. Well, you can still follow this Zoom In/Out process. Here are some of my recommendations:
find and read your teaching evaluation manual
look at other requirements like school-wide lesson plan templates and curriculum
find similarities in their requirements (which probably is related to teaching the standards)
list similarities and how they match the evaluation rubric; prioritize
write general plan for the rest of the school year based on your priority list
use that priority list in everything required like: lesson plans, student objectives etc.
I do not know if this will work for you. All I know is that this consistently worked for me even though I do not think I am a great classroom teacher. There are many teachers who are far better than me but get low evaluation scores. I just happen to figure out how to use the Zoom In/Out process. Subscribe for free so you’ll not miss my posts. I write about teaching, dealing with paperwork from abroad and travel from the Filipino-American perspective.