A teacher shouldn't have to pretend a lesson went well just because an administrator was in the room. Sometimes the lesson we spent hours planning doesn't work the way we expected. Students are confused, the activity falls flat, or we realize halfway through that we need to explain something differently. Those moments can tell us a lot about our teaching. But only if we feel comfortable acknowledging what went wrong. If a classroom observation ends with a low score and little useful feedback, what has the teacher actually learned? We should be looking at student work, talking through what happened, and figuring out what to try differently. Teachers still need high expectations and accountability. They also need administrators who recognize that improvement takes practice, feedback, and opportunities to try again. One difficult lesson shouldn't define someone's ability to teach. What they do with that experience deserves just as much attention.

Teachers see a holiday countdown and immediately do another calculation: How many actual teaching days do we have left? 😂 That stretch from Halloween through December can get pretty wild. Between concerts, assemblies, spirit days, shortened weeks, and holiday celebrations, the schedule rarely stays the way it was planned. Meanwhile, the lesson that got pushed back still needs to happen, the student who missed two days still needs help catching up, and somehow everyone is supposed to stay focused when the next break is getting closer. There's a lot to enjoy about this time of year. By December, though, a normal, uninterrupted Tuesday starts looking pretty good. 😂

Schools spend a lot of time recognizing what students know and what they can do. That matters, but intelligence tells us very little about how someone will use what they know around other people. The student who includes someone, shares credit, helps without being asked, or chooses not to embarrass a classmate is showing something worth noticing too. Being capable is impressive. How you treat people while using that ability says even more.