Anxious about observations this week

[Asleeponasunbeam]

I'm an experienced teacher - I shouldn't be worrying so much about this. Stupid Mocksted - observations will only be half an hour. But there's so much potential for disaster in any half hour of any of my lessons.

But worse, I think, is my worry about their scrutiny of books, records etc. We have so much to include - WALT for every piece of work (most of my class can't write well and these must be handwritten), multicoloured 'feedback', oh well, you all know what I mean. There's so much that you can get wrong.

I have created a scenario, in my anxiety riddled state, in which the three inspectors and SMT, somehow make the time to scrutinise MY planning, books, folders, targets, reports, display boards, cupboards and lessons and find out any/ all mistakes I've made!

I know this won't happen. I can make it to the weekend...

Unfortunately, after that, SMT will no doubt be 'putting more measures into place' to address whatever findings are...found.

Thanks for listening.

I know exactly where you are coming from. I feel exactly the same in these situations but I also add to the situation the stupid irrational things such as them finding the one pencil in the classroom that isn't sharpened, the child who asks to go to the loo and I say no will wet themselves or worse, the IWB bulb exploding, the Internet going down, me saving my smart board slides in every place possible all getting viruses etc. Then of cause me getting stuck in horrendous traffic on the way to school and arriving late after giving a mouthful to one of the inspectors for cutting me up on the road! !!!!

A very wise teacher told me many many years ago told me this ' those who teach teach, those who preach how to teach become heads and those who can't teach become inspectors'. Made me giggle as they then winked at me as a NQT and said they were the head

Thanks - yours username looks appropriate!

I'm not even attempting the useless IWB! I'm hoping they find pencil and paper a refreshing change. Obviously they won't be noticing that there's no IWB in any of my lessons (it's been so unreliable that I've learned to go without).

The kids will use the day as an opportunity to forget everything, making it look like I don't teach them a thing, apart from to notice the new (hurriedly created) display, which will attract their attention like nothing else on earth (it's not that good by the way...it's just 'there').

Well, obs will be today. Teachers are in an awful state - nobody feels positive at all, and the 'It's your chance to show yourself at your best' message from our micromanaging and over-critical SLT is not coming across well. It's not 'We know what a great job you're doing' but 'You'd better do a great job to make our school look good...or else...'. That's what I'm most miserable about I suppose. Well that and all the zillions of hours of work I've put into this week (and every week!).

Good luck.

Thank you. You can't be my Headteacher. She says we don't 'need luck' because we should be 'just doing what we always do' (to utter perfection of course...).

Good luck Asleep

Hope you are alright and it's all going well!!!!!! Been thinking of you!!!!! Bet it is going brilliantly

Hope you're okay - you are among friends here!
What I find most depressing is that it ought to be a mutually supportive. formative exercise, where they tell you what went well (focussing on that) and then offering a couple of targeted, achievable, useful 'even better ifs'
But it seems more like a way to keep the pay rises down by focussing on negatives and engendering fear

Thanks everyone. Nearly through it now. My observation was 'outstanding' but this doesn't make me feel any better about the process. I think all lessons so far have been good or outstanding, which is great. But I (not SLT) know that our teachers are great anyway. I don't need to be told this through a crappy 30 minute observation. I see it every day. And if those particular 30 minutes had been dreadful, it wouldn't make any of those teachers less brilliant overall. You don't screw up a child's education in 30 minutes - but you can really mess up a teacher's career.

I'm really ranting now, sorry! I just don't want or need to be praised for little details like how enthusiastic I was or how I cajoled a kid into learning something or how I'd chosen a good font or some other shit. What if I hadn't, that time, during those 30 minutes? Does that make me less 'outstanding'?

And my marking was outstanding, apparently. That really pissed me off. The hours and hours it takes. It bloody had better be outstanding.

And breathe...

If it really was a mock ofsted then they've ballsed up because ofsted don't grade lesson observations any more and they've never graded marking.

Maybe you should send your head the latest ofsted guidance because your experience wasn't authentic and Ofsted have actually asked teachers to report to them any inspector that gives a teacher a grade.

I have brought it up several times this week, noble, with an incredulous 'What, we're getting lesson gradings against OFSTED guidelines?', to be told, with a withering look, that it's an 'overall judgement of teaching, not an individual grading'.

In my feedback I was told those two things - teaching was outstanding and marking was outstanding. Told you it was a load of bollocks!

We were blessed by a real OFSTED last summer. And one of these cock-steds exactly a year ago.

We were ofsteded last year, after all the fuss about not grading individual lessons. Lessons were graded, and the feedback given to SLT was sufficient to identify those staff. Staff may not have been told the grade (although some were), but lessons were graded.

cock-sted you may have just removed all fear of ofsted forever.

Cock-sted......genius!