Format for HOW TO WRITE UP Activities
Title of Activity: Including Category # and description
Description of Activity – Indicate Category Number (pt.1or 2)
A. Identify the activity
B. Explain the implementation
C. Evaluate the process
D Provide evidence to support completion of the activity
Sample Write up:
Category 2: Analyze the organization, operations, and resources necessary to foster a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Description of Activity 2.1: Teacher Observation
A. Identify the activity:
I observed two teachers on Monday, March 27, 2012, at ABC Elementary School in Palm Desert, California. I used my observation notes in a subsequent meeting with the principal. We discussed my observations compared them to his in order better to understand what to look for in a classroom observation.
B. Explain the implementation:
The first part of the activity was to locate a principal willing to allow me to observe teachers. I met with the principal at ABC Elementary to discuss my request. I requested a professional development day from my school in order to complete this task. I observed two classrooms kindergarten and third grade. My notes were a factual combination of script taped notes and personal observations of teacher/student interaction and classroom environment. They contain what I saw at the point that I began the observation.
C. Evaluate the process:
The experience was refreshing and worthwhile. Having worked only at the high school level, I forgot what it was like to have small class sizes and quiet children, all eager to learn, respectful, and well behaved. All teachers were directly involved with their students in either reading or writing. Interactions among students and between student and teacher were positive.
The principal conducts just one formal observation per year. He said he regularly walked around the campus and that his informal observations gave him as much, if not more information about what went on in classrooms. He said he merely had to ask a student what s/he was working on to know if the teacher’s lesson was on track and if students were active participants in the lesson. He said that his regular visits sometimes meant stopping by classrooms once or twice a day in order to offer visible support for both students and teachers.
I complimented the pleasant classroom behavior I had seen. The principal’s visits included quiet talks with students who needed attention, talks that paid off in minimizing visits to the principal’s office. I asked him what should become of my notes. He said that his practice is to jot down a quick note to the teacher and slip it into the teacher’s mailbox. Sometimes the notes were thank you notes or quick commendations. Sometimes he asked if the teacher could spare 15 minutes with him that day or the next. He said that he didn’t want the note, “Can you see me today?” to be a bad thing, so he asked that both of teachers whose strengths he wanted to reinforce and of teachers who might benefit from his encouragement. He used his notes when meeting with the teacher, scribbling in the margins his post-observation thoughts. In all cases, he returned observational notes to the teacher. He said he didn’t need to keep a file of notes that would be of more benefit to the teacher than they were to him once he had met with the teacher. This principal’s leadership style leads teachers to want to work hard, not only for themselves and students, but for the principal as well.
I was impressed by the commitment to classroom visits this principal had. I believe it is important for a leader to be visible in classrooms and making instruction a focus. As an aspiring leader instruction and classroom visits I believe must be a focus. I do wonder about time management however. I have heard many school administrators speak of the challenge to balance instructional tasks against operational tasks. As I progress through my field experience I am better understanding the challenge that time management poses for administrators.
D. Provide evidence to support completion of the activity
Observational notes (scanned and attached to document)
Last Completed Projects
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