The other night, I stumbled upon a hashtag trend that inspired me. The #ObserveMe movement began with a blog posted by http://robertkaplinsky.com/observeme/ who recognized teachers who placed signs on their doors to encourage feedback. Kaplinsky tweeted his own sign, and a community of educators responded. Thus began the #ObserveMe movement. Around the world, teachers posted a sign on their classroom doors with an invitation for colleagues, administration, and guests to enter, observe, and offer feedback. I listened, too. I was ready. I hesitated for only a moment, concerned about the few competitive colleagues who might see the sign as a way to improve myself in the domain of educator effectiveness evaluations. I ignored them in favor of the supportive peers who I knew would celebrate the idea immediately. I made my sign. Then I reconsidered. I am comfortable whenever colleagues, administration, and guests visit my classroom. However, I never really considered that they were there to solely observe me, to evaluate me. I thought they were there to see learning in action. When someone enters my classroom, I might be indistinguishable from the students because I sit with them at their desks, give them the platform in front of the room, and offer them space to move around. Observers might misunderstand why I allow the girl in the corner of the room to be on her phone because they will not know her request to have quiet time to sort through emotional turmoil from the morning at home. Viewers might question why the student in the front of the room gets passed over whenever he raises his hand to speak, but they will not know that he is working on his ability to listen instead of his tendency to talk. A snapshat of a classroom period could not possibly reveal the weeks of gradual release of responsibility that occur so that students can effortlessly lead the conversation or quickly respond to prompts. A one day viewing will not recognize the interactions and connections and dynamics that happened yesterday which impact the lesson today. Therefore, and with all due respect to Mr. Kaplinsky, I want to build off his hashtag to start another. Welcome to our classroom, and observe us. Better yet, welcome to our classroom, and enter into our realm of learning. Spark up a conversation with a student, flip through the pages of the book on the desk, participate in the discussion, and volunteer to help during task time. I hope you will see me as teacher fielding questions, integrating technology, checking for understanding, and responding to student needs, but more than that, I hope you see learners asking questions, discussing topics, and thinking together. So, yes, welcome inside any time, but don’t come to #ObserveMe; I am not the most important person in the room. Instead, observe us in space where we laugh, converse, move, make, create, collaborate, and connect. Actually, do more than just observe us. #JoinUs -Vicki
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