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Oh Boy Administration!

About 7 years ago, I started taking classes to get my administrative licence and 2 weeks into the courses, I realized admin was just not for me.  I love being in front of a class, being silly with my students and making connections with them.  Then, when I took EEND 680, I was dreading it a little. It wasn't about taking a class, I love taking classes and learning, I was dreading it because I knew there were going to be activities where I was going to have to leave the comfort of my gym and explore the "other side".  Enter our "Learning Walk" assignment.  For this assignment, we had to create a form that we would use to go into another classroom and observe what we saw and offer feedback to the teacher.  I can't tell you how scared I was!  The first observation was one of my friends that I am on a team with.  Her name is Michele and she is one of the Spanish teachers at my school.  She was so nice and understanding...Thanks Michele!  At first I felt a little awkward walking into her classroom start picking it apart, but once I was in there, it wasn't bad at all.  The kids were so excited to see me in another place other than the gym and it was pretty cool to see them in a space that is very atypical of a "traditional" classroom.  See, Michele doesn't have desks in her classroom. Yes, you heard that right...SHE DOESN'T HAVE DESKS!  How on Earth does she teach?  How are the kids going to learn?  How can she control her kids?  It's simple really, the kids don't care!  As teacher, we don't really give our students enough credit for how resilient they are.  It's us that are stuck in our ways.  Michele is the first teacher in our building to totally go desk free and she loves it and it shows.  The kids are working better, they are engaged in class, and there are minimal distractions because, well, they can't sneak on their phone at inappropriate times.

My learning walk form guided me on what to look for, but I didn't fill it out until after my observation.  I got a little overwhelmed trying to type, watch, and listen so I put the computer down and really focused on the lesson and just wrote down notes to help me remember when I did enter the information in my form.  I felt like I was missing things with my head buried in my computer and I wanted to be engaged in the students and how Michele was able to make her classroom work.  If I were to use a form like this in the future, I would use it more of a guide rather than the end all be all of forms.  I know there are still things that I need to tweak or even change, but I do think it is a good start. I am a better learner when I am engaged and not stuck in front of a screen which is why I closed the lid and started writing.  After it was all said and done, I did enjoy going into other classrooms and observing.  I don't think I could ever be an administrator because I love being in the classroom and I'm not sure my brain really works that way, but I could see myself as a coach for other PE teachers. I have always wanted to teach at the collegiate level and teach college students how to be good PE teachers.  If I ever get there, I know that I will have to do some observations and give feedback to those students and this course and doing this assignment was a fun way to get the ball rolling.

Click the link below to get a glimpse of my learning walk!  Happy Walking!

Learning Walk
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