Another Audit

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"Is that the inspector?" my students loudly ask, pointing at the lady who is surrounded by papers and staring at them from the back of the room.

I almost laugh from the bluntness of the question. "Yes, but you shouldn't point at people, and if you have a question about her, you should ask her."

Every department gets audited, and since I switched from science to humanities...I'm faced with another audit.

However, this time, the inspector will be observing the end of my year 7 foundations class. Foundations is a brand new course this year, and it combines PSHE ("character education") and geography. Unfortunately, my school doesn't have enough actual foundations teachers, so they've grabbed a PE teacher and some other random teacher and forced them to teach a foundations class. Those teachers have no clue how to teach foundations. To help them out, the heads of foundations get together and create complicated powerpoints and photocopy worksheets for us. Basically, they plan the lesson and give it to us to teach.

Sometimes, the lessons are boring, but we have to teach what we're told. We all have to be on the same page with this course.

My lessons have gone very well so far today, and I've managed to stay somewhat zen in spite of the fact that Rhys was acting a fool this morning. He received a detention and still wouldn't behave, so I had him removed from my class. He won't be there for the audit, either. And Kiron has been taken to the library by a TA who is working with him today. Having those two gone will really help.

The auditor came in during break and sat at the back of my room. The only things she said to me were, "Is this the right room?" and "May I sit here?" Then, she plopped down, engrossing herself in her paperwork and not looking up again until my class began to come in.

The lesson goes off almost without a hitch. No, it wasn't the most fascinating lesson in the world, but that wasn't my fault. I was doing what I was told. Kiron returned from the library about half way through the lesson, and I think, "Shit, there go my audit results."

In every lesson, he won't do a damn thing I say. He has climbed the freakin' walls before and sat on top of my filing cabinet. He gets up and wanders around the room. He doesn't respond when I yell at him; I always have to speak really nicely to him or he'll get pissed off and leave the room and I can't get him back in.

He's being his typical self today, but any time he does something good, I lavish him with praise. He's eating it up.

Towards the end of the lesson, he starts getting out of his seat and walking around, and I can't get him to sit back down. He starts playing with the switches on an outlet. (To my American readers--yes, all outlets here have a little switch on them to turn them on and off.) I stay calm, asking him nicely to have a seat and continue that great work he's been doing all lesson.

Anyway, I'm pretty good at winning people over. I meet with the auditor after school, and she seems to like me a lot. Here's her feedback:

Things she liked:
~I handled the challenges that arised well.
~I have a great rapport with the kids, and we seem to like each other.
~I delivered the lesson with enthusiasm and made it as interesting as possible.
~Classroom management was great.

Things she didn't like:
~Foundations as a course should be more skills-based than content-based. (Not my fault.)
~The lesson lacked flair. (Not my fault.)
~I should have stopped Kiron from playing with the outlet sooner than I did. (My fault.)
~Foundations needs to be completely revamped and redesigned. (Not my fault, and I totally agree.)

So I chatted with her for about twenty minutes. "Since I am a new teacher here, what can I do to improve?" I ask.

She thinks for a moment, then gives a roundabout answer about how foundations is just a crappy course and that's not my fault.

I ask her questions about herself--how long she's been an auditor, how long she taught before that, etc. She was a principal for a while, actually. She shared her ideas about learning, particularly language and literacy. I get the notion that she'd be a good leader for a school.

On a scale of 4 to 1, with 4 being unsatisfactory and 1 being oustanding, my overall rating with her was a 3--SATISFACTORY.

Later, I learn that my colleague next door got a 4, and they auditor didn't even discuss it with her. She just told her it was ineffective and unsatisfactory and said she didn't have time to talk. I think that's rude.

Anyway, the school has some plans in the works for changing foundations for next school year.

Not that I plan on being here to see it!

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