Luckily, this picture kind of goes with my post. My super power. Hmmmm.... I think if I do have a super power, teaching may be it but today my powers failed me.
My principal came to observe me this morning. In Oklahoma, teachers get observed twice and evaluated once. The evaluation is the big deal and the observations are like a practice run. I usually put on a dog and pony show but my dog and pony were tired and decided not to perform. I was just going to do what I would normally do during a Phonics lesson.
I was pretty zen about the whole thing because I had done this type of lesson a bunch of times before and it always turned out great. The plan was to segment word families, review word families, build words with word families and then have the kids divide into groups of three to play a board game where they had to build and read words. Simple. Riiiiiiight.
I was zipping along. I was in the teaching zone (a very cool place) when I looked up and saw my principal, Diane writing on her observation sheet. I suddenly got nervous and slightly off track. I couldn't concentrate and I even used a dry erase marker on our new Promethean board. Yikes! Reeling from the humiliation, my brain went into panic overload.
Next, I divided the kids up into groups. We do small group activities quite a bit in my class. I usually make sure the groups have a good chemistry with at least one calm, responsible student in each group. Well I was nervous and didn't pay attention closely to who I was putting in what group. Two of my groups argued and tattled the whole time. I'm running around making sure everyone is on task and those two groups are eating each other up. Plus, my aide wasn't there to help me run things. I felt like I was juggling plates. I would just get one group on track and then the other would start yelling "He cheated!" This three ring circus went on for fifteen minutes and when my principal left, I felt like taking a giant nap. I was feeling like a pretty lousy teacher at that point.
Luckily, my kinders also have a super power. They can pick me up with the simplest words. Judah sat next to me and randomly said, "Mrs. Liddiard who do you think I love more? You or my family?" Of course, I said his family. You know what he said? "Yes but you're my family too Mrs. Liddiard, so I better love you too." I hugged him and he hugged me back. With those sweet little words, he erased all my misgivings and worry about the observation. Ten or twenty years from now no one will know or remember my evaluation was a flop but Judah Bear and his classmates will remember how much they loved me.
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