Raise your hand if you’ve got an #ObserveMe sign up but haven’t had as many visitors as you’d like? You’re not alone. Others like Michelle Labuski have had similar results. Yes, I did #ObserveMe but no one came in all year. Very disappointing— Mrs. Michelle Labusk (@MrsLabuski) August 14, 2017 Let’s take a step back…
One of my favorite takeaways from the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business was the origin story of the odor removing spray: Febreze. He begins by sharing how it was accidentally created by a chain-smoking Proctor & Gamble scientist. The day that scientist discovered it, he…
I’m really excited by how increasing numbers of educators are opening up their classrooms to their peers. I believe that the type of feedback they give and receive has great potential to help educators improve. Two of the biggest movements in support of that trend are #ObserveMe and Pineapple Charts. What I’ve been noticing though…
Take a look at this beautiful visualization of educators communicating about #ObserveMe on Twitter. Click on the image to open a larger version or download a PDF version where you can really zoom in. The text represents the Twitter names of educators who tweeted about #ObserveMe. The larger the font size, the more the educator tweeted…
This is the fourth in a series of interviews with educators who are using #ObserveMe signs and what they’ve learned along the way.
Name: Bill Wietman
Twitter handle: @WWietman
Years in education: 12
Current position: Middle School Assistant Principal
Location: Bismarck, North Dakota
This is the third in a series of interviews with educators who are using #ObserveMe signs and what they’ve learned along the way.
Name: Kelley Kaminsky
Twitter handle: @Kelley_Kaminsky
Website: https://teachwritenow.blog/
Years in education: 13
Current position: English Teacher / Teacher Leader
Location: Estero, Florida
In November 2016, I got to do an IGNITE! talk at the California Math Council (CMC) South conference in Palm Springs, CA. If you’re unfamiliar with the IGNITE! talk format all speakers give 5-minute presentations that are 20 slides long, and the slides automatically advance every 15 seconds whether you’re read or not. It is…
This is the second in a series of interviews with educators who have are using #ObserveMe signs and what they’ve learned along the way.
Name: Sherry Nesbitt
Twitter handle: @snesbitt1972
Website: http://sherrynesbitt.weebly.com/
Years in education: 23
Current position: Middle School Spanish
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania
This is the first in a series of interviews with educators who have are using #ObserveMe signs and what they’ve learned along the way.
Name: Nate Bowling
Twitter handle: @nate_bowling
Website: http://www.natebowling.com/
Years in education: 11
Current position: AP Government & Politics and AP Human Geography
Location: Tacoma, Washington, USA
If you’ve put up your #ObserveMe sign but things aren’t going the way you hoped, then this post’s for you. I’m using this as a running list of solutions for problems that educators are encountering so we can have them in a central location. Here’s how you can help:
Are you encountering issues that aren’t listed?
Do you have solutions that aren’t listed?
If so, please mention them in the comments and I will add them.
I realized this weekend that if I am suggesting that we should all ask people to observe one another (#ObserveMe), then I should follow my own advice in as public a way as possible. So, I would like any interested peers to give me feedback on the goals in the picture below and record it on this Google Form. I believe that it may also be useful to read the feedback others are leaving for me. So, you can see everyone’s feedback here.
A teacher who doesn’t collaborate works on an isolated island. When this lack of collaboration permeates an entire school, teachers more closely resemble independent contractors than colleagues. I’m growing increasingly concerned that this is becoming more, and not less, common. Consider the highly shared and liked tweet below from Heather Kohn. At a very collaborative…