I'm a great teacher

I had my first evaluation today. Some of my fellow new teachers were a bit freaked out by it. Me, I was as cool as a cucumber. I am, after all, very used to being observed when I teach. I was teaching an intro class to exponential functions. It went very smooth. The students were well behaved, as usual.

I met with the evaluator after the class. The first thing she said to me was, "You are a great teacher."



I was thrilled. I thanked her for saying that. She told me that I had a great rapport with the students, I was animated, I left enough time for them to work, I was supportive, I did great board work, etc. I had given her a copy of my lesson plan and a graphing calculator in case she wanted to follow along. She had never used a graphing calculator, yet she was able to follow my lesson. She even got the right answers for the exponential law questions I put on the board. She said she hadn't seen exponents in 35 years and what I did for the class was an excellent warm-up for even the most rusty.

She told me that when she found out I had been hired, she was a little worried about how I may do because the teacher I replaced was well liked and respected. She thought I may have an uphill battle with the students at first trying to fill his shoes. She was delighted to see that the students were so warm to me already and that they responded so well. Stan is in that class and he loves to talk and go off topic. The evaluator was pleased to see that I was able to keep Stan in check. She said I had been great with him by engaging enough in his banter to let him know I cared, but not engage enough to distract from the lesson.

Anyway, I could brag about myself forever but I'll stop (roll eyes here). The evaluator also gave me some great suggestion of what I can do to prepare myself for the next term when I start teaching another class. I was thrilled with my evaluation. If they all go as well, then I'm well on my way to staying here for a couple more years.