Observation Feedback

After a recent annual observation by administration, my vice principal and I sat down and discussed the lesson at hand. For context of the observation, the Advanced Art Studio course was doing a few critiques on their current and past assignments. The first critique of the class period was for the weekly sketchbook assignment that they are provided with; the week in question was to complete a “psychological landscape” a la artist Robyn O’Neil using their choice of media. This critique was conducted together as a class in which the students shared their work and their peers commented on the assignments. After the students completed this critique and put away their sketchbooks they were asked to get out their materials for their in-class assignment, a pastel Impressionist landscape. The second critique was an in-process artwork critique in small groups in which students were to share what they were currently working on, at whatever stage of the process they were in. The students were to share with their peers what they intended to work on that class period, what their goal was by the end of class, and what struggles they feel like they are working through. Their peers were to provide options and insight into how to solve the struggles, and provide any questions, comments, accolades, or concerns they have for the presenter. Post critique, students were to continue their assignments while I moved about the room meeting with them about their work and providing materials or direction as needed.

My vice principal provided me with a highlighted observation form on a 3-point scale. There were 21 categories to assess, and most of the areas that were observed were marked at a 2 (Meets Expectations). Four were marked at a 3 (Exceeds Expectations), including “materials and resources,” “critical thinking,” “safe and respectful learning environment,” and “feedback to learners.” I am happy to see that the “critical thinking” box was ticked as exceeding expectations. I have been trying hard to teach my students to strive for their own learning to guide their process, and to challenge themselves and one another to continue to succeed to the best of their abilities. It has been something I feel like I have struggled with, mainly because it has been such a hard thing to teach. I have put a lot of time and energy into making sure that this was working, and sometimes I still doubt it is working the way I want it to. The students really showed that this was working well, and what I wanted them to learn was showing. The other criteria that were marked as exceeding expectations were not a surprise to me. Those criteria have been something that are first on my list of things to do when writing and enacting a lesson. The written statement on the form by the VP was “great class environment, smooth class process, and high expectations.”

Something that I need work on based on the discussion and the written feedback would be “collaboration” criteria. The note provided stated I should “work with colleagues in planning and implementing instruction to meet the diverse needs of learners.” This was not necessarily observed in the classroom on the day in question, but I brought it up during our discussion afterwards. A few things that have happened in the last year that have thrown wrenches into the plans I have tried to create for my lessons. First, a higher population of special education students are present in our mainstream classes than any year I have had taught at this school before, as they all moved from 8th to 9th grade. Second, we have a higher disciplinary problem with students coming from 8th to 9th grade. And third, the visual art course structure at the high school has been changed so that I am now teaching 2 classes at the same time, in the same room, which I have built programs for the past 6 years that included different projects. For example, Drawing 1 and 2 are now in the same time slot, but completing different assignments. A coworker who has moved from the middle school might be a good colleague to workshop with because the middle school typically had 7th/8th and 6th/7th grade classes grouped together. The struggle I am having is trying to keep the high standards I want to keep for myself and my students. I would like to continue the classes building from a 1 level to a 2 level, but in doing so I must prepare 3 times the amount of assignments to teach each day to also accommodate for the special education students who are also present in the split class room. I can’t really see a way forward that meets the needs of what I intend to do, so working with other coworkers who have been put in the same difficult situation would be helpful to improving my practice.

Something I will need to change based on the observation would be the item marked at a 1 (Emerging) during the observation. Technically it was not observed, as it is something that happens outside of the classroom. The criteria of “demonstrates effective communication with parents or legal guardians” was marked low, and to be honest this year it hasn’t been on my radar at all. This would make perfect sense. I have devoted most of the time I have to tackling the huge immediate problems of figuring out the difficulties with the construction of our new building, planning appropriate lessons for the wildly varying degrees of skills in my classes, and the ever-present struggle of grading. I have been running the art department’s Instagram account, which in addition to our Twitter run by a colleague has been our public facing method of showing the community what we do in the art department. The recommendation would be to include some type of letter home, a weekly email sent, or seeking out parent-teacher conferences. Often times during our parent-teacher conferences there is a very low turnout, and most of the time they never come to interact with the art teachers. This could serve as a time in which I can make phone calls to parents, and create a list of students who have both done something great in class and those who are in need of an extra nudge to succeed. Since the conference with my VP I have sent letters home and contacted parents due to a field trip with the Advanced Art Studio class. I have also emailed a few parents who have asked about outside of school opportunities for their child to continue growing as a budding artist. This past week I have also emailed a parent about a student who was in need of some extra nudging to get work turned in, and sent a positive feedback email home to another student who has had some difficulties with behavior in school. Progress is made, slowly but surely.

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