How much is enough?
How frequent should observations be? Most SAM teams pay close attention to the frequency of interaction the principal has with each teacher. This is a powerful factor in achieving improvement.
But how frequent should the principal’s observation of a teacher be?
There is not a “right” answer. Some experts suggest ten separate observations in a year. Others suggest thirty. Some SAM teams schedule one observation each week for every teacher.
Most teams vary the kind of observation. In the SAM process there are four:
1. Observation (longer, usually formal/summative)
2. Walkthrough (shorter, usually informal/formative)
3. Work w/students (principal works in a classroom with kids while teacher is teaching, informal/formative)
4. Student Supervision (principal helps redirect students who are not engaged while teacher is teaching, informal/formative)
Talk about the number of observations you want to plan for at your next SAM Daily Meeting. Take a look at your data for the last month. How many times did the principal see each teacher?
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