How To Transform Administrator Observations into Celebrations of Our Teaching Practices with Dr. Pablo Martinez

Are you tired of feeling misunderstood during administrator observations? In episode 78 of GWP The Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Pablo Martinez to uncover actionable strategies for more successful observations and building a stronger understanding between language teachers and their administrators. In this post, I will highlight our discussion but to hear all of the details of our conversation about observations and communicating with your administration, listen to episode 78 of the podcast. 

Administrator Observations

I started episode 78 by asking Pablo what teachers might be doing to receive a low score on their observations. Pablo explained that some administrators say to themselves, “I might not know everything about that content area, but I know how good teaching looks like.” 

As Pablo pointed out, a lot of teachers have been making changes from traditional methodologies to CI-based approaches, however, they do not meet with their principal nor discuss what they’re doing in the classroom. If administrators do not understand how you are teaching, you may, unfortunately, receive a low score on your observations. 

Educate Administrators

We have to educate administrators. One of the things that Pablo tells teachers is that once they return from professional development, talk to administrators about the experience you had in the professional development. Also, when you implement whatever you’re going to implement in your classroom, invite one of the administrators in to see what you are doing. This helps them to understand the world language classroom. 

Unfortunately, the reality is that sometimes administrators’ expectations might just be the experience they have on seeing other teachers. If half of your department is teaching in a different manner, the administrator is receiving different types of messages of how language acquisition looks like. Pablo stresses to teachers to have a conversation with your administrator. Tell them that you will be using a specific approach and what they can expect in your classroom. 

We take the time at the beginning of the year to connect with our students and to tell them what to expect. This is something that we need to also do with our administrators. Connect with them early in the year, before your observations. 

What Are Administrators Looking For?

I wanted to hear from Pablo about what we should know about the things that administrators are looking for when they come to observe us. Pablo said that he tells teachers, “Make sure that you teach to be observed in every class.” 

Next, Pablo says to make sure your classroom is decorated. Also, have your learning indicator posted. Sometimes, with a short administrator walkthrough, one of the only things they will remember is if you posted or didn’t post your learning indicator. Pablo has learned from administrators that they always tell him, “I love when I get into the classroom and teachers point out the learning indicator of the day.” While you’re going through your slides, also, constantly repeat the expectations. 

Administrators also like to go to a student and say, “What are you doing today?” Pablo gave us a few suggestions that he has seen his teachers do for this. One is to appoint an ambassador. You can rotate this role throughout the year. Then, when the administrator is in the classroom, the ambassador can say,  “Hello, this is what we are learning today.” It would be even better if it can be spoken in the target language because administrators want to see output. 

Classroom Management

What About Those Lower-Level Classes?

The Teacher Creates the Expectations

Another important point that Pablo made in our conversation was that administrators want to see consistency. As he explained, the administrators come in for observations, say, the first month, then the second month, and the teacher has already created the expectations that the administrators have when they come into the classroom again. 

Pablo continued by providing some research on this. Administrators do not have a specific idea what they’re going to find in the language classroom. So, it’s all about how we, as teachers, are consistent with our practice. Remember, we develop those expectations.

Some of Them Just Don’t Want to Learn

As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Pablo some things that teachers can do to educate our administrators on what exactly goes on in world language classrooms. Pablo first said that there are some administrators that want to learn, and there are some that just don’t. 

Then, he went on to describe a wonderful idea that a teacher in his district did to help administrators understand our classes. She created an Administrator Corner. Basically, she guessed where the administrator would stand when they came to observe her class. Then, she created a literal Administrator Corner with information on the expectations of the classroom, what acquisition driven instruction is, etc. There’s a link in the show notes so you can an example of Luisa Meyer ‘s corner.

This is what Pablo calls an indirect strategy. You want to have direct strategies with your administrators, such as good communication, but sometimes you need an indirect strategy to help. Unfortunately, sometimes, there are limits to how much administrators want to learn and change. Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not you feel valued.

Listen to mine and Pablo’s whole conversation above, here, or on your favorite podcast player. Don’t forget to check out the resources below.