'Tis the Season: Evaluations

As the end of the year approaches, teachers across the country will receive their evaluation ratings. Unlike previous years, the majority of us will have value-added scores calculated into an algorithim. This jibberish will be presented to us in the form of a computerized print-out with a number at the bottom.  Since many of us have no idea what this score means (and even our administrators are unable to coherently break it down for us), I channeled Jeff Foxworthy and have created a list of characteristics of highly effective educators:

• If your students have written you a letter, poem or card thanking you for loving them this year, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If your colleagues have recognized you for contributing to their professional development, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If your students who barely spoke a word of English in September are now able to have a conversation with you, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If your students who come from impoverished backgrounds now envision themselves as becoming the first in their family to attend college, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If your students go home and explore topics that you taught in class, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If you have reached into your own wallet to make your classroom an extra special place, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If your students display compassion and kindness towards one another, character traits that you taught even though they are not Common Core aligned, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If you have declined social invitations to work on lesson plans, you might be a highly effective educator.
• If you regularly refer to your students as "my kids", you might be a highly effective educator
• If you are reading this blog before 7AM or after 3PM because you seek out best practices outside of your contract hours, you might be a highly effective educator.