How do I approach this?

[MrsShakesp]

Father passed away suddenly at the end of half term - heart stopped and I had to give CPR. It was very traumatic. I took some time off to recover but during this head was emailing asking when I plan on returning even though I was keeping school informed.
Now head has decided that my lessons lack pace / whole school observations took place two weeks ago and I am only now receiving this feedback. Head stated that there were lots of good things about the lesson but my pace was lacking which essentially is saying my energy isn’t there. It’s not of course, I am still grieving and sad but I am there relieving ‘excellent’ subject knowledge but that isn’t good enough. Do I just quietly recover and gain my sparkle back over time or will this be it? I have never had a negative observation comment before so this is really daunting.

You could politely point out that their own 'pace' isn't great given that it took them 2 weeks to provide feedback but I suspect it wouldn't go down well!
If you're following the curriculum and can evidence children are making progress, I would keep persevering and see what happens.

Thanks PP. I have been teaching for 15 years and this is the first real negative I have had so it feels galling at such a difficult time already. Results are always good but it is difficult to think that head feels I am lacking.

I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds like you agree that she made a valid point as you accept that you are still grieving and this is to some extent affecting you at work (as of course it would).

What you have to decide is are you able to take that on board and inject a bit more pace in which case you say "point taken, I'll make an effort to work on this" or do you really feel like work is just too much for you right now? If the latter then you could see your gp to get signed off. I don't think you need to go writing off the whole career. I've been teaching 24 years and have had good and bad over the years, no one is perfect all the time. Just view feedback as useful, it stops you stagnating.

Valid point but do feel miffed and thought I would have had more time perhaps to recover gently.
I am considering signing off with exhaustion as the alternative may be another critical observation and I am not sure how or if my career would be impacted as a result.