In our return to school today we spent time learning more about T-Tess–the new appraisal system for teachers in Texas (replacing PDAS). I’m actually pretty excited about it. It really lends itself to more of a coaching model within schools, and hey…this instructional coach here is happy about it! It is divided into 4 Domains: Planning, Instruction, Learning Environment, and Professional Practices and Responsibilities. Read more about it here: https://teachfortexas.org/ The training was heavy on information, but had a few activities built in: Small group talk about what makes a lesson an effective lesson. Teachers wrote down their thoughts individually…
Tag: Fundamental Five
#ObserveMe
Have you heard about the #ObserveMe idea? It started about a month ago, posted on a blog from Robert Kaplinsky. I saw it on twitter and retweeted it to the other Instructional Coaches on my campus. I’m at a high school and we have 4 instructional coaches: Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies. Other Instructional Coaches around the district started tweeting and emailing about it as well and it has grown! I could not be more excited about teachers being vulnerable, opening their doors, taking risks, and working on goals to improve their teaching! Here are a few examples: So…