We made it through the first day and got a glimpse at what the year will bring. Hopefully for most of you it was positive. I seem to always forget how hectic the first six week is, when we don’t know our students names yet, when we have 40 person classes followed by 6 person class, and when all the school talks about is LO, LO, LO. Come one, day one in the school 2015-2016 school year and we already had district employees visit our classrooms. They asked our students about the LO/DOL, how it connected to the lesson, and interviewed teachers to understand how their lesson activities addressed the LO/DOL. It is Day ONE!! For many teachers, it was their first day teaching ever. While they are trying to figure out what in the world they are doing, the district is going to bombard them with visits and confrontations. Something about it just seems wrong to me. I am even a fan of LOs. I think a strong LO sets the direction for the class. Plus, its not that anyone is trying to hide anything, our doors our open, and I am happy to have people visit, but to step in with the focus on how is each activity connected to the LO/DOL annoys me. One, on the first day teachers have to review expectations, going over procedures, and start creating a positive culture that will last the year. If we didn’t do that, come back in 6 weeks and see if you can even see a lesson being taught. Second, the focus is all on the LO and DOL again, what about the whole classroom? Is the teacher engaging the students? Are they able to get the attention of their class? Are they creating a welcoming environment for their students? These are questions we should be asking on day one. Just because you can plan to align a lesson to the LO/DOL does not mean you can execute it well. To me, day one we should focus on the execution then come back day two if you must and let’s talk LO.
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