#ObserveMe

Within the Visioning Document, Article IV: Accountability for Learning, we read about the importance of student goal setting.

IV.h End results are not the only results that matter, for some results are set as goals that, if achieved first, would enhance the end result.

What better way to promote student goal setting, monitoring, feedback, and self-awareness of progress than to model as teachers?  What if you posted your teaching goals clearly outside your classroom, included opportunities for feedback to be gathered systematically, and openly welcomed passers-by to contribute to your growth?

Robert Kaplinsky, Mathematics Teacher Specialist in Southern California, recently posted this challenge to his blog and included a template to use.  He says, “We can make the idea of peer observations commonplace.”

Teachers across the country are beginning to post pictures of their #ObserveMe signs on Twitter:

• Have you set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) teaching goals this year?
• Do you accept the challenge to solicit feedback related to progress toward your goals?
• In what ways will you use the feedback you receive to inform your practice as a professional classroom educator?
• How might your goal setting in this way positively impact your students’ goal setting?

Do you accept the #ObserveMe challenge?