It really starts on Sunday afternoon. WASC, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, will be sending a team for our periodic accreditation, and next week we're really supposed to have our shoes shined and our ducks in a row for the visit. Their first team meeting is on Sunday, and they'll also meet our administrators as well as PTSA folks. This way they hit the ground running on Monday morning, and are among us for three days.
I stayed later than I expected to today--a colleague couldn't find her car keys--and now I could hardly be more prepared for the evaluation team. I have examples of student work in a folder all ready for perusal; examples come from each course I teach, and are identified as low-, middle-, or high-performing work. I finished grading all of this week's quizzes and have the grades entered into our online grading program, and also have next week's homework posted on my web site. I wrote next Tuesday's statistics test and am ready to copy it during my prep period on Monday. Monday's agenda is already posted on the whiteboard at the front of class.
I'm about as ready for this WASC visit as I could possibly be. Any bets on whether I'll see a single evaluator? It would be just my luck not to!
Tis the season. Our WASC visitation in next week as well. You sound much more prepared than I am. I'm kind of banking on not seeing an evaluator. I don't remember seeing one 6 years ago and based on the schedule of events, they don't seem to have much time for classroom visits anyway. We'll see! Good luck to you and your school!
ReplyDeleteeverytime they talk to me...its my lunch time on a busy day.
ReplyDeleteOne evaluation was a hoot. I was covering balancing chemical reactions and my students were just at the point where most had "caught it". The poor english teacher evaluator was there with a puzzled expression the whole time. The chemistry class was cited for "advanced level" teaching.
I'm on a WASC visiting committee next month, but not at your school.
ReplyDeleteAnd heh. I used to follow your blog a few years ago, but I quit following almost all teacher blogs for about three years through a series of life and job changes. I saw you comment on Bluebird's blog, and was like, "Oh yeah, I remember him!" And then I saw you live in Sac, which is where I live now. So hi, again... time to re-add you to my blogroll. :-)
My WASC story;
ReplyDeleteIt was my second year of teaching and I was nervous of course. I always put the objective and state standard on the board (something I was taught in school and just never stopped doing).
So the lady is walking around while my students were working and asked one of my lower students what we were learning. The students response; "I don't know." and just sat there.
You can imagine how upset I was after that.