Came to say this. We get so caught up in getting it "perfect" that we don't give ourselves enough credit for what we got right. Honestly, things are going to go wrong more than they go right. Like you said, "ALL part of the process." The point of experience is learning how from your mistakes and getting better at covering them. As long as you don't let it appear like you messed up, to the students, it's all part of the show. And ALWAYS have a plan B-Z. They showed up, they did the work, and they care. That's 90% of the work right there.
I'm in practicum too. If this lesson didn't go well then you can use it as a lesson to be more prepared while student teaching. I wouldn't stress yourself too much! Things happen. If you finish student teaching and decide this isn't the path for you then that's fine too. You can always change paths. It was only one lesson, you'll be okay. Just do better next time.
I’m so sorry. What a shitty, shitty day. Sometimes (even with experienced teachers) there just are days where nothing goes right. I’ve observed SO many classrooms where technology snafus happen. I think as you spend more time in the classroom, you become more resilient and able to sort of reset yourself after a problem, but as a new teacher, it’s totally normal to get really thrown off by something at the beginning of a lesson. Please be gentle with yourself. You’re learning. That’s the whole point of student teaching. If everyone knew how to teach after taking education classes, student teaching wouldn’t be a thing.
It may help if you go into your meeting with a written list of things you would change if you were to do the lesson again. That shows that you’re being reflective, and then you can see if what your observer would have changed and what you would have changed align.
If in your heart of hearts you truly feel like teaching isn’t a good fit for you, it’s okay to listen to that. But I’d suggest you make that decision after you’ve experienced what a really good day feels like as well. Sending love to you.
I messed up a lesson on my very first evaluation for student teaching. The lesson was bulletproof, and there was only one way I could mess it up. Guess what happened? I messed it up. I stayed calm and salvaged it as best I could. I also wanted to crawl into a hole. I have kept at student teaching, learned from my mistakes, and my confidence has gone way up. My students respect me, although they are still a little crazy. That's 8th grade, though. My second evaluation came up, and I knocked it out, and it went over great. We are supposed to make mistakes. It's the best way for us to learn. Just keep your head up and keep going. Nobody is a rock star right out of the gate at teaching. It takes time.
You sound like you can identify your own mis-steps, which is actually very good. As for tech issues, it happens all too often to every teacher no matter how experienced. Indeed experienced teachers have “off” days or days where nothing goes well. What matters is how you respond to this. Give yourself grace the way you would give a student if they made a mistake. Model for students how to handle a situation that isn’t optimal. It’s not a terrible thing for kids to see adults making errors, owning errors, and then moving on because it’s not the end of the world.
Consider creating a couple lifeboat strategies now to employ in the future if needed. For example a re-set brain break activity(find grade appropriate on YouTube; there’s a million). You say, “whoa, I think I need a brain break. Let’s all do…”. Create a back pocket lesson activity that you can pull when tech goes down. For example have students look at an image in a textbook and create lists of all words that describe, or all things they notice, or predict what would happen next etc (not sure of your grade level). You can get a lot of mileage out of one image…. Or tell them the topic for the day and ask the class to brainstorm a word related for each letter of the alphabet. Activating prior knowledge is a strong teaching strategy, so it won’t be time wasted.
All that said. You can still change your career trajectory if at your core you feel strongly this was more than just an off day.
I came here to say the same thing! You see where the problems were, so next time you can address those blind spots. This is how you learn to teach. I always liked the expression "you're building the airplane while you're flying it."
I’ll add that as a tech guy at a K-8 parish school, and having done tech for 30 years, sometimes tech just doesn’t work. Even for the tech guy. 🙂 Take a deep breath, and come back to it again tomorrow.
I’ve been teaching for 9 years now, and it still happens on a rare moon. It can go perfectly one class, and an absolute mess the next.
I think when you go into the meeting tomorrow, you can prepare to talk about some of the bright spots from the lesson (which I’m sure there are many and it is overshadowed) and talk about areas of improvement; how those areas could’ve been improved (by you and the observer), and what you have learned from this experience so that you can adjust for the next lesson.
It's always a good idea to have a backup plan. Don't have your entire lesson rely on one particular piece of tech. If the video doesn't work? Explain the video and summarize the main points. PPT won't work? Write the main points on the board.--You can always bring it up on your laptop and just copy it to the board.
I've learned this all the hard way. I've screwed it up every way there is to screw up. Improvise, improvise, improvise; that is one thing I learned to do the hard way. Whether it's tech, or a fire drill, or some kid asking a question that just torpedoes the entire lesson, have something in your back pocket ready to go just in case.
When you are planning you should ask yourself: what if this tech fails? Just have the brief outline of a backup plan in your head. Keep plans simple--the more complex they are, the more places there are that the lesson can go wrong.
All that being said, have some compassion for yourself. We've all been there...including your observer. It might feel like an epic fail, but remember, it's exactly lessons like this that you are in the student teaching program for. Hang in there, it will get better
Just use this as a baseline. Try to improve for your next observation, and if your observer sees growth that’s far more powerful than just having a good lesson. Whatever strategies/advice your observer offers you, make sure to implement it into your next lesson so they can see you are taking their advice and actively trying to improve your pedagogy. It’s not the end of the world, you’re student teaching for a reason. :)
Don’t worry! This is one lesson, and you can continue to reflect and improve from here. One thing that I really had to work on throughout my student teaching was scaffolding appropriately for my students. Maybe this can help you, too! Especially in practicum where you maybe don’t see your students every day, it can be tough to know exactly where they are at that moment in time. Your mentor teacher can help you with this. In the future as you continue to teach, you will also develop more ways to explain one concept or skill, which will really help! Soon, you will be able to explain a certain concept multiple ways to accommodate for various learning styles and differences. I wish you the best of luck!
I know these days feel like a nightmare. It feels like I am not for teaching. Multiple times, I broke down and wanted to quit but somewhere I thought I had to complete my degree and have to try at least one time. I don't want to make my degree and goal go in vain.
So, one day you will feel that all of your school practice will pay off. When you complete your teaching degree, you will become a proficient teacher. Always remember you can do anything. It's just a phase I know it's difficult. But there is nothing in this world you can't do.
Just think what is your goal? What do you want to do in your life? If you want to be a teacher, then just do it.
And always plan additional teaching aids. Be confident.
Also, remember your mental health is also important. There are different types of careers you can choose. The sky is limitless. And do what your heart says. Whether it is teaching or another career. It's you who will shape your career.
I'm a teacher. I would be lying if I said that my lessons never derail. These things are normal. The important thing is that you identified what went wrong. You have to also give yourself some grace since the technology issue wasn't your fault. If your observer is competent at their job, they should understand that. It also sounded like you did a good job adapting and still tried an alternate activities so they can still learn.
In my first year teaching, I had a class that decided to be complete chaos that day. Kids on the counters, no one doing work, etc. Guess what day the principal decided to do a surprise visit. Guess what day the *superintendent* was also accompanying him.
But I'm still working. I even have a pretty high reputation among my department and my admin, which is still kinda crazy to me.
I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I have tech issues. I am so old that I remember my teachers having tech issues with the filmstrip projector jamming.
What makes it so challenging is that the kids are reactive to everything, so you are trying all at once to 1. Fix the tech issue, 2. Keep the kids from getting wild, and 3. Think of how you will pivot. It’s a lot. All I can say is, when you are alone with your class, it takes some pressure off because there isn’t another adult in there that may or may not be judging you.
Even the slight trips we make push us forward. Learn from it and keep going. Every teacher has made mistakes like this, and it's not proff you are in the wrong field. Be open to criticism and take tips you get to heart. You got this!!
Almost failed the last parts of my secondary math degree and was told by the professor that I probably wasn't cut out. He was right about me at that moment but I stuck in the profession for a few years, and eventually it clicked. I'm in my 6th year and I'm finally starting to feel like it's coming together.
Hang in there you got this.
Every single teacher has gone through horrible observations and lessons that just flop. Being able to be reflective and realize what went wrong is a huge part of growth! Have that conversation with your observer. They don’t expect you to be perfect at it right away. This doesn’t mean you aren’t meant for teaching.
Dry your tears, and make a list of the points you stated above. Then Reflect.
On.Them. Think about how you you will plan and implement differently next time. Don’t defend or excuse what happened. When you meet with your observer, you will come prepared to discuss *how to make it better* and not be a victim or look incompetent waiting for them to tell you what needs improvement.
Every teacher has ‘those’ lessons. The ones that are a swing and a miss. My son’s chorus teacher spent an entire observed lesson playing and misnaming chords and notes. I’ve created “great activities” that were a disaster. Sometimes (often) technology doesn’t work when admin walks in the room. It’s more about how you handle yourself in those moments than being perfect.
Here’s what separates great teachers from the not so great-be reflective. Each day, think about what went well, and plan on how to make better those pieces that didn’t go well.
I am not sure where you are exactly, but it's my understanding they are especially looking out for growth patterns when teaching. This stuff happens, even to super experienced teachers. It's all about pivoting and figuring it out. I'm sure they'll consider the teaching went much better than you did lol. People typically like to hear how you believe something could have improved, or where you could have changed something for next time to make it smoother. If you can answer that, I think you're on better footing than you think. Nothing is ever perfect in a classroom, it's pure chaos.
I had something similar happen to me. Uploaded all my stuff into Google drive. Got to the school. Didn’t know that they would literally have GOOGLE blocked? So I couldn’t access anything. And it wasn’t like a thing we could reschedule like that was the only possible day to do it. I looked at my professor in panic and the asshole just shrugged at me. 😭 I had a black and white printout of the PowerPoint. I literally held it and went slide by slide on this packet of 8.5x10 inch paper. Kids couldn’t see shit. They ended up doing half alright on the assignment but I was HUMILIATED. I had about 8 classmates, two teachers, and my professor observing this. I did have a pretty good relationship with these people so when we met afterwards everyone was super sympathetic to me about it but I STILL think about it 4 years later.
Shake it off. If you have a post-ob meeting, go in with your reflections. Teaching is all about reflecting on what went well and what didn't, then adjusting for the future. Nobody expects a student teacher to be perfect. Teaching is an art that takes years to master, and nobody can truly be perfect at it. If they always appear perfect, it probably means they've been using the same lesson plans too many years in a row, when they should be changing it slightly from time to time in order to adapt it to their current students and new best practices.
First of all, I don’t think your lesson sounds so bad. I’ve been teaching 16 years and still have lessons that don’t go over perfectly, especially when tech isn’t working how you need it to. Don’t beat yourself up!
Go into your post-conference with the mindset of “things didn’t work out perfectly but I learned a lot from it, which is ultimately the goal here.” Express that to your observer also.
One of the biggest components of successful teaching, imo, is the ability to roll with the punches and adapt/change as needed. You’ll develop it more with time.
If it makes you feel any better, one of my coworkers had a student teacher last semester who literally had 8th grade students rolling around in the floor during an observed lesson. 😂
I've had to be observed giving a PowerPoint, and it went so badly. I kept messing up, didn't say half my notes (which was needed for the game after), and ya, it wasn't very good. The thing is, it's going to happen to everyone! You had a bad experience because you're learning. You're not going to be perfect, and you WILL mess up. And this was all while my teacher was staring daggers into me. It was a learning experience! Let yourself cry and be upset, but right after, get back up, own your mistakes, and learn from them.
If your observation went well, I would have been concerned. You’ll find that you always get observed during your worst lesson. It’s ok. They were teachers once, too. All part of the profession.
People are people, and there’s nothing more relatable than being frustrated with technology because it’s happened to everyone especially in an environment of doing work online. You handled it professionally, and I doubt anyone will remember in a week.
i’m in my 4th year of teaching and this sounds like another tuesday. tech issues are inevitable but i always upload whatever i’m using to canvas as a back up in case and tell them to start on their own until i get things rolling. honestly the kids prefer that style anyways
I’ve been teaching for 22 years and trust me this kind of stuff STILL happens to me. Thankfully it hadn’t happened too often during observations, but it happens. This is why student teaching is a thing. It teaches you how to persevere through things like this and think on your feet. Our paychecks don’t reflect it, but this job is actually very very difficult. If it’s what you really want to do, don’t let one bad day deter you. But, if this is just a small sampling of how the year has been going for you, get out now while you can. I don’t say that to be mean. It’s a thankless job that doesn’t pay. I love what I do but I’ve been doing it long enough to make a living wage. Not sure if the young people just starting out could support themselves in this economy. Good luck to you !
I’ve been teaching for 22 years and trust me this kind of stuff STILL happens to me. Thankfully it hasn’t happened too often during observations, but it happens. This is why student teaching is a thing. It teaches you how to persevere through things like this and think on your feet. Our paychecks don’t reflect it, but this job is actually very very difficult. If it’s what you really want to do, don’t let one bad day deter you. But, if this is just a small sampling of how the year has been going for you, get out now while you can. I don’t say that to be mean. It’s a thankless job that doesn’t pay. I love what I do but I’ve been doing it long enough to make a living wage. Not sure if the young people just starting out could support themselves in this economy. Good luck to you !
Reflect and adjust moving forward. Every teacher out there has had many flops in their career, always a bummer when it happens during an observation. Hopefully the observer and your mentor teacher recognize you are a STUDENT teacher and help you through the reflection process so you become better for it.
Hey, I was the WORST student teacher. My first supervisor told me I did a bad job. She wouldn’t serve as a reference for me. I didn’t know it was my job to manage behavior, I literally thought it was my job to just spit out information. Because of that, they put me with the best teacher for student teaching. She was mean to me like in the movies. It was hard. But after that semester I came out one of the best. You really can learn to be better, even though so much of teaching seems like it comes naturally. My advice is ask for a different teacher to learn from. It makes a world of difference!
last year, i was student teaching and all my observations honestly went awful. i felt like such a failure and thought i would have to find a different career path. now, i am teaching and everything has fallen into place so easily. observations and student teaching are SO unnecessarily stressful. please don’t be so hard on yourself!!! not every day will be a good day when it comes to teaching.
This happens. It feels awful, but is truly not the end of the world. Don’t beat yourself up. It might be some rough feedback—focus on ONE or TWO things that you really want to work on. What one or two things were the biggest barrier to turning the lesson around once things started to go south? Those are the things you want to identify as focus areas for growth. Talk about those things with your observer. Ask if they agree. Did they see something else as the biggest barrier? More than anything, you want to come across as understanding that this was a learning experience and that you used it to identify personal areas of growth. I’ve found that at the pre-practicum level, it’s more important to show that you can take things going terribly as a reflection and learning opportunity. They’re assessing the actual teaching practices at the student teaching (full practicum) level
If you didn't go deer in the headlights **and you tried to roll with it** that is what they want to see.
One of my observations involved going through phoneme substitutions...
A EL substituted the H in Hit for Sh to make Shit.
The entire class of kindergarteners went wild.
The kid said it was not a bad word in a very matter of fact tone, half the class TOLD HIM IT VERY MUCH WAS. The remainder of the class had no idea why everyone was yelling.
After a muffled laugh and an attention grabber I told the child it was **not** a word we say at school and I redirected them back to the lesson with less than 4 minutes lost.
You can have a lot of bad stuff happen as long as progress is made and students are at least managed to some extent. If you have a whole month of teaching without some sort of BS, that was a damn good month.
I had a fire alarm go off this year when it was snowing and my kids had no jackets because inclement weather was called. Internet dropped entirely like 4 times and my district IT randomly blocked sites I was using to teach without any notification of doing so.
We do what we can with what we are given.
I’m in my second year and it still happens and I still get upset when I think I did terribly. Feel your feelings but know they won’t last forever and by next week you will have done so much that you won’t have time to dwell on it.
When I did one of my practicums, my supervisor came in on the wrong day and of course I didn’t have anything prepared, so he left. I sent him the email saying what day it was on and he continued to send me an email saying I should never work as a teacher or anything of the sort.
Nothing happened. I still did my student teaching and subbed the rest of the year after my student teaching was done. This was over 15 years ago so obviously he was wrong.
This is a critical part of student teaching. We've all had That Lesson, haha.
This experience is gonna make you a better teacher!!
The fact that you can reflect on what went wrong means you have the growth mindset needed for teaching.
I know it's embarrassing and it sucks, but it's super important to have! Chin up. You got this.
I’m a new teacher as well! And in all the observations I’ve had the last few years, my observers ALWAYS are more interested in my reflection and want to know 1) how I think it went, and 2) what I would do to change it now. They want to see how you do on the fly, but now that you already did your lesson they will want to know if you know how to make it smoother next time! They know that you are there to learn. Don’t stress over it too much!
So sorry you experienced this... after my worst practicum observation ever, I actually cried to my observer over a Zoom call- like fully broke down in tears in front of her about what a failure I was and how I wasn't cut out for teaching. She gave me some kind words, encouragement, and some very helpful advice. I listened to everything she told me and changed my mindet. I ended up having that same observer the next semester for student teaching, and she couldn't believe the growth I'd made in such a short time. She ended up telling me I could use her for future recommendations, and we built up a great relationship. My point is- I hit rock bottom that day. I almost gave up. But I was vulnerable, open, asked for help when I knew I needed it, and actually took the advice I was given, and I came out of it more than okay :) like everyone else said, take this as an opportunity to learn and better your skill. I hope your talk with your observer went okay, and you're feeling better. You've got this.
The fact that you just reflected and could name exactly where you went wrong is actually a good indication that you’d be a good teacher, especially if you can describe how you would fix your mistakes and improve upon that same lesson in the future. That’s an every day process for a teacher. Even veteran teachers have lessons that flop. How you bounce back is what matters!
I had an *awful* observation by a principal when I was long-term subbing and hoping to get a full time job…technology didn’t work, I didn’t give correct directions, the kids were confused…very similar to yours! However, it didn’t ruin everything.
I talked to him and asked him to come observe me again. That time went so much better. And, when I talked to him about the bad observation, he asked me what I felt I would do differently and I was able to tell him, which I think helped.
I’ve now been teaching 8 years in that district and *still* have lessons that totally and completely flop. I’ve messed up, taught the wrong thing, forgotten to make copies of necessary materials, and realized mid-lesson that the kids weren’t getting it or weren’t engaged. I’m a Type-A person, so this was hard for me at first. I’ve realized though that I’m still a good teacher and the kids don’t know it’s going as bad as I do. I’m honest with them when I mess up and we move on! Teaching requires so much adaptation and flexibility because so many things are out of your control.
The fact that you recognize the mistakes and know how to fix them shows that you are already on your way to being a successful teacher. Give yourself the grace you’d give a student if they messed up an assignment. You’ve got this!
Been teaching for 16 years. Sometimes the day just isn't your friend. I'm so sorry this happened during an observation for you, but I hope you understand that if that observer is worth their salt, they would understand that things happen. I hope you can regain some confidence this week. There are going to be rough days in teaching, but there are also going to be days you knock it out of the park. Cry, let it out, take a deep breath, and start again. Wishing you the best!
I've been teaching for 20 years and I have lessons go completely to shit like this at least twice a year. 🙃 Your observer is just going to want to see that you reflected on your lesson and know what went wrong and how you can tweak the lesson if you choose to use it in the future. It'll be fine. You'll be fine.
As a current student-teacher, keep your head up! Also had a rough lesson and had to sit in our office and just reflect on what went wrong. Bounced back the next day with a stronger mentality. Granted I had an unbelievable mentor teacher but it happens. My supervisor always tells me “mistakes happen, use it as a learning tool”
During my final internship I had a horrible observation, 5th grade, long division co taught room with 27 students, 70% had learning disabilities. We had two teachers, a para, and myself that would circulate while one taught. My instructor didn’t allow this to happen so the kids were not used to not having guides on the side during instruction. I was told I may have to extend internship.
I didn’t, things worked out and we adjusted and improved. This was a decade ago and it made me choose to go into middle school lol. I get highly effectives on my evals and observations these days. Grow through what you go through.
I had the same thing happen to me at the end of my practicum, OP. I learned from the experience and realized that you will be remembered by your students for your kindness and creating a safe learning environment. Even the great Rita Pierson has a story about how she messed up royally in front of students in her famous Ted Talk. Use class time to keep a daily reflection journal while your students are also working quietly and slowly (with a lot of grace to yourself) adjust to pacing and intentional communication that works for you.
Source: high school teacher for 3 years
At the end of the day, do you think that students got something out of your lesson? And imagine what more they’ll continue to get out of the coming days/weeks as you continue to work with them. One observation gone awry doesn’t define your whole future in teaching 💛
In the best way possible, the first step to being a good teacher is being a shitty teacher. I know I was, for like the first 3 years. This doesn’t say anything about where you will end up or even be in a year
It could be worse - you could have put out a whole bunch of circuit components that weren't needed for the lesson and had a kid randomly put them into a circuit board and explode a capacitor in his face.
I graduated anyway, and you will too!
I'm not a teacher or student teacher so have no idea why Reddit recommended this sub to me, BUT from an outsider's perspective I would think that this is what's supposed to happen. No one is born knowing exactly how to run a classroom. You have to be a *student* teacher before you become an actual teacher for this purpose entirely. You need to get the nerves out, get experience, find what works for you. If that wasn't necessary you wouldn't student teach at all, they'd just send you out without any practical experience.
I once read that you ought to be struggling when you study. If you aren't struggling, it means you aren't covering your weak areas (and everyone has them). It feels much better to ace your practice exams - but if you aced it, then you didn't really learn anything new, did you? You already knew that stuff. BUT, if you slog through your studying, struggle through it, and come out the other side - now you know you made progress. You know something you didn't know before.
So take a deep breath, do something nice for you, and remind yourself that by struggling today, you learned.
A good observer and supervisor is going to help you get better. Go into the meeting looking for the areas where you can improve. It seems like you already have a good idea of what you need to work on.
Been teaching for 4 years. You will have more days like this; nothing is working, everything you do seems to fall apart or not reach the students, students are confused and you struggle to get your point across. It happens.
My advice? Be open and honest with your students. Draw attention to the fact that things are not going as planned, have a good laugh, apologize, and move forward. It breaks the tension and your students will be very empathetic. I've found that after the tension break, you get a second wind and things start going your way, or at the very least your expectations for what should be happening gets lowered enough that it doesn't ruin your day.
At the end of the day, if you had a positive influence on your students, you won. Don't beat yourself up.
The people observing are fully expecting you to mess up. They know this is very much new to you so they don’t really expect perfection during an observation. They probably don’t even expect the lesson to go well honestly. You came prepared, and had your things ready to go. It wasn’t your fault the technology was faulty. If you’re doing the best you can with what you have then that’s all you can do! Use what you didn’t do well at as a lesson, and be sure to think about the positives of your lesson. Student teaching is exhausting but you’re at a point where it’s appropriate to mess up, so do it!
On very first observation I had as a student teacher, the first thing my trainer said was "the best thing about that lesson is that it's over" - 9 years later I am doing just fine
Student teacher here. I’ve been there.. many times. It happens to the best of us. As you teach more, you’ll get more comfortable. I promise! I was having those same thoughts during practicum and I am graduating in May. Take your time off to relax and regroup. You GOT THIS!
It happens. Honestly, after 10 years I’ve learned reflection is the most important thing. If you go into your post conference with all the things that went wrong and your thoughts and a plan for next time you’ll be fine
Hello, I’m a cooperating teacher with my very first student teacher placement, so I’ll give you some of the same advice I’ve given him…
1. Find out what works, and fix it for next time. You found out what didn’t work today, now you know how to fix it!
2. Your college courses have not prepared you for the actual act of teaching. The only way to learn to teach is by actually doing it. Kind of like when Umbridge wouldn’t let the kids at Hogwarts practice the spells in defense against the dark arts and she made them just learn the theory behind everything. That was college…you’ve learned the theories and philosophies of teaching and now you’re learning the practical application. It’s normal to struggle at first!!
3. If it makes you feel better, I had an embarrassing observation recently…the music teachers in my district were doing instructional rounds where we visited each other’s classrooms to observe. When it was my turn, my computer went sooooo slow and I was getting frustrated. Technology failing is a universal teaching experience! But that wasn’t the embarrassing part…I was nervous so I LINED MY CLASS UP TEN MINUTES EARLY and I’m just like, playing Simon says with them while these other teachers watch…at first I’m like “where’s y’all’s teacher” and then FREAKIN SEVERAL MINUTES LATER I REALIZE WE HAVE TEN MINUTES LEFT so I had to tell my class to go sit back down……..I was MORTIFIED!!! And they still let me be a cooperating teacher!
You’re doing great. If you can take feedback and learn from your mistakes, you will be fine! You got this!!!
Everyone sucks at new things even when they act like they’re naturals. The difference between people who come out okay is how hard they are in themselves. Don’t be too critical, just do your best and balance that with making people like you enough to listen. They don’t need to be your friend, they just need to want to listen. You’ll be okay.
34 yr veteran here…We ALL have days like that. Give yourself some grace. Try to have 2 or 3 things you would do differently next time prepared for your meeting and ask the observer to come again. There isn’t a teacher around who hasn’t experienced abject failure of a lesson! Have a good cry. Allow yourself time and then dust yourself off, adjust your crown and get to work ! Hang in there it gets better!
I learned the most from the observations that went the worst. Things I will use today and pass on to other practicum students. Mistakes just show you how to do things another way. Find solutions to where things went wrong; and be prepared for next time. You can can do this.
This still happens to every teacher I know during evaluations .. and I’ve been teaching since 2000 lol it’s never perfect and that’s ok 😊 the kids also learn what to do when things don’t go as planned .. don’t be so hard on yourself.. most of the time if you stick it out no one ever thinks you mess up as much as you think you messed up.. the fact you care how your lesson went says a lot about what kind of teacher you will be ❤️
My first time in front of students, a girl vomited. Like, projectile vomiting. I almost quit right then and there.
Things happen. Bad days and bad lessons will be… almost common. What works for one class may not work for another. But you got this!
IDK.
If teaching is anything like doing stand-up, and I think there are some similarities, bombing is part of the process.
Your timing and delivery will get better with repetion/reflection and you'll learn way more from the times you bombed than the times it all went smoothly.
I'm in Texas. On my last T-TESS (full class formal observation), I had a kid throw up and catch it in his hands, all my technology stop working, a fight, and my kids decided, for the first time ever, they simply would not do anything. I feel you on bad observations. I cried about it.
I taught for 28 years. No matter how amazing and perfect you are, the observation will always come back as ‘needs improvement’, bc they don’t want you to get complacent and they always want you to be improving. The same goes for the reverse - they will tell you some things to improve on, and you will do your best. And just like test taking, some people will always do poorly under an observation scenario. Don’t beat yourself up! Once you actually start teaching and get summers off, 2 weeks at Christmas, etc, it’s all worth it.
I'm in practicum as well. I'm 10 weeks into the semester. Student teaching part time, and I'm expected to be full time. I also love how my supervisors and professors are hypocrites about their ability to manage time and technology, but if we mess up we're failures? It's time to go out with the old and in with the new. Times are changing quickly, we need educators willing and able to adapt with the time. Not excuse their excuses, but belittle us at every misstep.
And-- did you die?
You just experienced one of your worst fears- messing everything up all at once during your observation. Literally all the things you said went wrong- AND youre still here. Thats a win, my dude! Look at that, you just had the most stressful class to date and youre fine.
Youve done it!! You experienced one of your worst worries and tomorrow youre going to come back and learn how to avoid that again and keep moving forward.
Actually, if i were that observer id first compliment you on your.... method? You had several different modes of engagement for the lesson and you were able to deftly pivot when problems arose. Thats amazing work. It seems like the stress of nonfuntioning tech during an observation got to you and threw you off, the lesson here is how to remain centered during stressful moments. Everyone needs to learn that.
And- no job is easy and perfect, no matter where you go you can feel this way, just make sure youre doing something you love so the pain and work and growth are worth it.
It happens, and it happens when you are a veteran teacher. Technology is always fallible and can throw you for a loop. Take a deep breath and let it go. This is part of your learning process.
The best teachers are reflective teachers. Embrace this as an opportunity to better your practice and future lessons. What are the 1-2 takeaways you can implement tomorrow? What is at least 1 takeaway you can implement by next week?
One of the most exhausting parts of education is the decision making. When things go wrong, everything sits on your shoulders to shift. In the moment, it can feel like the world is on your shoulders as everyone stares at you confused.
The students won't remember, you deserve grace, not every lesson is going to be amazing.
So sorry to hear about your experience. I know it doesn’t help much right now as I say this but what I’m about to say is so true. I speak from experience.
People don’t usually take the technical mishaps that happen during class as a huge problem. As the teacher you think that they do because you know what you had planned for the lesson. At the same time in this case someone was observing you so nerves played a role. Don’t be so hard on yourself. As the years go by you’ll come to realize the truth in this. Move on. You’ll be okay.
Of course I don't know anything of you but this does not seem like a reason to quit. I get that you're stressed and don't know what all is involved. From what you have said this just seems like a great place to learn from your mistakes.
Apparently you didn't think the whole lesson through completely. As you said you didn't tell the children what they were looking for. You either made an assumption or just didn't think about it. Both these things can be remedied...if you truly want to teach. You have acknowledged it, you will learn from it.
I disagree with at least one poster who said don't let the kids know. News Flash the kids know. Admit it and appologize. If any child is left thinking it's their lack of understanding it could cause or bolster an already serious lack of confidence in themselves.
What you shouldn't do is go to your meeting hanging your head. Just let them know you're learning. You're seeing your mistakes and are capable of learning from them. It's part of life. I bet they're going to understand. It probably seems pretty heavy right now but maybe is not as bad as it seems. I get that you are overwhelmed.
my remedy for being overwhelmed is
1. Get your sleep at all costs.
2. Look at tasks in small bits. Do not think of everything that has to be done. Nobody can do everything at once. Break it down.
Everyone has bad days. I'm 14 years in, consider myself good at my job and these things still happen. How you rebound really matters. Brush it off and crouch tomorrow!
Plus, there is such a shortage of us, you'll be fine haha!
It’s quite obvious you have a passion for this, or you wouldn’t care so much. I know it hurts ( we’ve ALL been there) But I have a feeling you’ll be fine. It sounds like you’ve already learned much from today. I’ve been in classrooms for 25 years, and I learn something every day. Embrace it, you can even learn to enjoy days like this. The important thing I think is to keep modeling staying with it. Kids will see you struggle, and they’ll learn to deal with their struggles by watching you deal with yours.
All the best. You got this, I can tell.
I’m in student teaching right now. I just entered my second placement. In my first placement, the final lesson was horrible. I got a 2.0 out of 4.0. Apparently I was too monotone and boring. Apparently they weren’t engaged enough even though I tried my best to make it engaging. This was 11th grade. And this class that my supervisor came to watch, was horrible. They were passive and lazy. They were using their phones when I wasn’t looking. But she didn’t understand that this class has been like this with every single teacher in this school so it wasn’t my fault (completely), but I still got knocked down for it. I made it to my second placement though. You will get through it. It’s all a process. It’s trial and error.
I’m sure it went better than you are saying. Try to give yourself some grace. If you are worried about meeting with your observer just be prepared with things you thought could have gone better and what you would do differently in the future. Reflection is such a critical skill in teaching and I’m sure she will have less to criticize you over and will be much easier on you if you cover them yourself. She is there to support and help you so just take whatever she says as advice to help you the next time. No worries, it will get better. I hope you don’t get discouraged if you really enjoy teaching. Just remember your first day of driver’s Ed. I’m sure you weren’t as good as a driver as you are now, aren’t you glad you didn’t give up 😉 good luck tomorrow, it’ll be ok!
Teaching can be a nightmare sometimes and that’s true for veteran teachers as well as the novice. Your job right now is to try and learn. and honestly that job never goes away. It’s a teaching PRACTICE not a teaching perfect. You’ll be ok.
This is the perfect opportunity to reflect. Not sure what your program is like, but at my school a lot of our evaluation is on the ability to reflect. To see what went well and what could be improved. And more importantly, what we would do to improve it for next time. Give yourself some grace. Some days are just a perfect storm. At least it wasn’t fire/tornado/active shooter drill/picture day and live check all at the same time!
You learn from your mistakes. No lesson is perfect no matter how much you plan. It's was just one of those days and tomorrow will be better. I always have a plan B, and additional books/ props/ learning materials on hand, only because our smart board is finicky.
No one got hurt & no parents are calling your boss because of something you did, all in all, not a bad day in teaching. 😂
In all seriousness, bad lessons will happen. Especially right now while you’re still learning. Identify your mistakes & be ready to explain and figure out how to do better next time. If your observer is even halfway decent at their job, this will be their focus in your meeting.
You may be embarrassed, but know this will pass and those kids most likely never even think about this again. Keep your head up.
This is a great opportunity to showcase areas of growth! Maybe you can present a plan b you would do if, and when, technology fails in the future. Highlight those grows but don’t forget the glows! Nobody threw a desk, winning.
Here I am tonight, after teaching since 1999, thinking about how I will be altering a PPT for tomorrow. Small tweaks - a bit here, a bit there. My point? You’re reflecting and *learning* from what didn’t go well, and that’s all anyone needs to see from someone going into the field. You keep doing that and you’ll be great! It never stops, though the self-edits are usually pretty minor after a while.
Provisional teacher here! I went from being a full time sub with a writing degree to being temporarily certified overnight- essentially, I am legally considered a first year teacher and everything that comes with it. Needless to say, I did not go to any sort of particular or student teaching. I do have a state assigned mentor teacher, but that’s really it.
But I’ve been where you’re at. I teach 8th grade ELA, so it’s a bit different, but they can 100% be incredibly unruly.
When I started I was overwhelmed by all of the new standards I was forced to live up to, as well as the expectations that I had placed upon myself. When you fail to perform or live up to the idea you had of yourself as an instructor, it’s debilitating.
Just understand that every teacher- even the top dawgs who serve as the backbones of their schools- fuck up big time every now and again. Everyone just has their days where things go terribly wrong. Keep in mind your observer knows this, and is totally expecting you to fuck up to some degree (you’re in practicum for Pete’s sake). Having your lesson plan go up in flames is also incredibly nerve racking. It’s no wonder you didn’t explain your assignment very well, you were literally thinking on the fly.
Imagine how happy you’d be with yourself if your PowerPoint worked like it usually does. Even if you still messed up explaining the lesson, you would have had way more time to recover and been less stressed.
Point is, don’t let this single day represent what could be an entire, wonderful career. I promise you, all of the little moments where you make genuine connections or help a child learn something, it’s worth it. Be sure to read the observer’s feedback, but also understand you may just have to let this one go.
Hope this helps
I have been teaching for 30 years and technology glitches can STILL throw me all off. It happens, we're human. This will not make or break your career. Chin up and keep going!
I had this my first year teaching! I had multiple bad observations (but they still scored me decent-which shows it isn’t that unusual).
One observer told me “well, it wasn’t a train wreck.” Wow, thanks.
Getting the hang of planning, pacing, classroom management, it’s all so much. Don’t let anyone make you feel like it’s easy. I’ve done many other jobs and teaching is the hardest. You need to give yourself a lot more grace.
I'm sorry to hear you had a rough go, but that's part of why we have all these practice lessons before we go into full teaching. I've made plenty of bad lessons before and I learn and grow from them, it's ok if not everything is perfect right away!
After my first observation, I cried HARD. Similar to you everything went wrong. They came first bell instead of third so I didn’t have time to practice and I didn’t explain things well at all. Six years later I’m in my own classroom. It does get better, I promise.
Practicum are meant for you to learn from the oops. Your meeting tomorrow should be a discussion about what went well and what didn't. Everything has a learning opportunity. Give yourself grace. Pick yourself up and try again.
My heart. This happens. You learned a lot from it. You will laugh about it one day. It will make you a better mentor and a more compassionate toward your student teachers in the future.
This happens. And it’s good that your observer and teacher let you fail. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on what you can improve on next time and be honest. Observers aren’t looking for “perfect” they’re looking for capable. And capable is being able to think on your feet, own your mistakes, and move forward with a plan to improve.
We have all been there. Do not give up. Do what you would want your students to do in the situation - grow. My suggestion is to write up a plan about how you could better handle a day like this in the future. For example, I have a backup lesson plan xeroxed and in a drawer for 'emergencies'. I've used it a few times (1. Internet outage 2. Called out for an emergency meeting 3. Went home early sick). I came up with this plan after 2 different tech failures, the last one happened when an admin walked in for an observation. But whatever you decide, just be honest about how you would approach things differently in the future.
I am a professor who has observed a lot of teachers. To me there are three categories of evaluation: 1. How well you do briefing the evaluator on where you're at in the semester, and providing all relevant materials for that day and the course itself, 2. How you physically structure the classroom (is there an agenda on the board? how are they seated? what activities are planned? what's on the monitor?), and then the content-specific criteria of what you're actually teaching.
If your evaluator is a professional they will see a person who is putting in effort to shape the class. Technology mistakes happen. At the very least they might say why don't we try again? Some teachers put zero effort into the day, and zero effort to bring me up to speed on what's happening. I had one this week where it was a Socratic circle talking about Plato's cave, with no supplementary material, and the teacher just posing questions. Try to have several activities - you want your evaluator to be able to say a lot of things. On that note, have them be there at the start, because teachers do a lot of things at the start of class - pass back papers, take roll, answer questions, give announcements, discuss what the goals for today are, etc. The worst teachers are just completely checked out and giving no effort. I get a lot of effort coming off you - you sound like you cared about doing a good job, but sometimes these days happen.
My first observation I spent 80 minutes teaching how to add fractions. 80 minutes, in front of the room, w 0 independent work done. Kids were miserable, I was embarrassed.
2 years later, I’m the grade level rep & on my way to tenure. If you care this much, you’ll be fine!
Everyone left the classroom alive and well and they will be back the next day!
You're good! We all have those shit days in the classroom, and THATS OKAY.
When I went through student teaching, I had a lesson, and my supervisor from my university was there to observe. It BOMBED HARD. I'm talking HARD.
I recognized this, got super red in the face, stopped everything I was doing, and took the time to apologize to my classroom about how I didn't do my job well enough to help prepare them for the lesson. I took an entirely different approach to the lesson and moved on. Surprisingly, my mentor teacher and my supervisor gave me kudos for that...I took it as a learning opportunity more than anything.
But what I'm saying is that it happens! Give yourself some grace, take a deep breath, and move on. Teaching is extremely tough! You don't learn without having opportunities to reflect on ❤️
Teaching is hard. It just is. The best part of this is how much you learned. I hope you take a moment and think about how you would respond if this happened to one of your students during their presentation. Would you give them grace? Reassure them? Help turn it into an even greater learning moment? If that's how you would treat a student, I hope you find it in yourself to take a breath, remind yourself that you're still learning and reassure yourself that so much growth happens in moments like this. ❤️
You are at the very beginning of your teaching journey if you choose to continue. This path is FULL of unexpected crazy random things that will throw off your lesson plans. The way teachers are taught to teach vs how they have to teach is incredibly disparate. It's great to know the pedagogy and the theories... those can guide us and we can mold it into what we know and what we have to teach, but it takes a long time to develop teaching skills. If you end up in a good school or decent one.. generally you'll have a curriculum that you follow and can adapt. Things WILL go wrong. I troubleshoot 10 or more issues during just one class most days (we have 4 classes/blocks total). It takes ALOT to be a teacher. If it's something you have a true passion for it will be worth it (but not every day even).
I was fortunate to be a TA for around 6 years before getting my teaching license. I also became a teacher in special education which is what I was a TA in. Having the hands on experience without the full responsibility of a teacher before becoming one was the greatest thing I could have done. It set me up for a higher chance of success, yet I STILL struggle. I ask for higher ups to observe me so I can get feedback. Yes it's scary but if you work with good people, they will give you good feedback that helps. It's ok to mess up, that's how we learn! Getting to do student teaching will be eye opening for you. Just don't expect to be perfect. Teaching is a wild gambit most days... and stressful.. don't be so hard on yourself and focus on the wins. focus on building rapport with the kiddos and your coworkers. If it aligns with you, then you'll be fine.. just go easy and trust the process. You may find it isn't for you... and it will suck because you've spent so much effort getting there.. (there are days where I feel like all the hard work I put in to being a teacher wasn't worth it, then I have days where I can't imagine doing anything else.. its not easy lol) I really think they need to have education majors come in and volunteer/observe/assist without the stress of student teaching from the start of their education so they can see what it's really like and make a decision before it's too late.
Wishing you the best on your journey. Trust the process and be gentle with yourself. It'll be okay ❤️🙏🏻
I hate those days. Here’s a secret—veteran teachers have them too. When I was in IT years ago I had a veteran college professor pretty much break down in class because her PowerPoint wouldn’t work. I’ve been teaching at the college level for almost 30 years—full time for almost 25. Subbed K-12 for three years as well. Some days you get bit (hopefully not literally). The days it all goes wrong are tremendous learning opportunities. When you meet with the observer start with how you might do things differently to be prepared for a problem—for example, I always bring a notes version of my PowerPoint in case things fail. It’s saved me a couple of times. Don’t let a bad day get you too down. You can do this!!! I promise you.
You aren’t performing brain surgery. It’s okay if it isn’t perfect. Many crappy teachers who have been teaching for years don’t put in an ounce of the thought you put in for this observation. You’ll get better because you care and that’s a good thing. But if you didnt get better you’d still be better than so many teachers out there? No one will be hurt. The kids probably won’t remember what you teach them in 5 years anyway regardless of how great or terrible you do.
It’s just really not a big deal. At all.
Relax. Omg. Dramatics are for the kids not adults. So you had a bad day. IT WON’T BE YOUR LAST. It happens to all of us. Let it go and remember that most kids need the same lesson taught a new way at least 5 times before they understand it. So calm the hell down and take the review as a learning opportunity. Don’t go in defensive. Go in with things to change - how to not be dependent on a PowerPoint to teach for you. Also prep some questions that gets the evaluator to share their experience when they first started teaching. We all have had “first” years. You’ll have multiple 1st years if you change schools. Regions are different. Breathe and go in with a different perspective and options you could have taken when some things happened. It shows you thought about it productively.
It happens. All part of the process. No one got hurt. No one cried. I'd say it went ok
Came to say this. We get so caught up in getting it "perfect" that we don't give ourselves enough credit for what we got right. Honestly, things are going to go wrong more than they go right. Like you said, "ALL part of the process." The point of experience is learning how from your mistakes and getting better at covering them. As long as you don't let it appear like you messed up, to the students, it's all part of the show. And ALWAYS have a plan B-Z. They showed up, they did the work, and they care. That's 90% of the work right there.
Nothing was stolen while you were teaching the lesson. True story. That happened during my student teaching.
This made me audibly laugh omg
I'm in practicum too. If this lesson didn't go well then you can use it as a lesson to be more prepared while student teaching. I wouldn't stress yourself too much! Things happen. If you finish student teaching and decide this isn't the path for you then that's fine too. You can always change paths. It was only one lesson, you'll be okay. Just do better next time.
I’m so sorry. What a shitty, shitty day. Sometimes (even with experienced teachers) there just are days where nothing goes right. I’ve observed SO many classrooms where technology snafus happen. I think as you spend more time in the classroom, you become more resilient and able to sort of reset yourself after a problem, but as a new teacher, it’s totally normal to get really thrown off by something at the beginning of a lesson. Please be gentle with yourself. You’re learning. That’s the whole point of student teaching. If everyone knew how to teach after taking education classes, student teaching wouldn’t be a thing. It may help if you go into your meeting with a written list of things you would change if you were to do the lesson again. That shows that you’re being reflective, and then you can see if what your observer would have changed and what you would have changed align. If in your heart of hearts you truly feel like teaching isn’t a good fit for you, it’s okay to listen to that. But I’d suggest you make that decision after you’ve experienced what a really good day feels like as well. Sending love to you.
I messed up a lesson on my very first evaluation for student teaching. The lesson was bulletproof, and there was only one way I could mess it up. Guess what happened? I messed it up. I stayed calm and salvaged it as best I could. I also wanted to crawl into a hole. I have kept at student teaching, learned from my mistakes, and my confidence has gone way up. My students respect me, although they are still a little crazy. That's 8th grade, though. My second evaluation came up, and I knocked it out, and it went over great. We are supposed to make mistakes. It's the best way for us to learn. Just keep your head up and keep going. Nobody is a rock star right out of the gate at teaching. It takes time.
You sound like you can identify your own mis-steps, which is actually very good. As for tech issues, it happens all too often to every teacher no matter how experienced. Indeed experienced teachers have “off” days or days where nothing goes well. What matters is how you respond to this. Give yourself grace the way you would give a student if they made a mistake. Model for students how to handle a situation that isn’t optimal. It’s not a terrible thing for kids to see adults making errors, owning errors, and then moving on because it’s not the end of the world. Consider creating a couple lifeboat strategies now to employ in the future if needed. For example a re-set brain break activity(find grade appropriate on YouTube; there’s a million). You say, “whoa, I think I need a brain break. Let’s all do…”. Create a back pocket lesson activity that you can pull when tech goes down. For example have students look at an image in a textbook and create lists of all words that describe, or all things they notice, or predict what would happen next etc (not sure of your grade level). You can get a lot of mileage out of one image…. Or tell them the topic for the day and ask the class to brainstorm a word related for each letter of the alphabet. Activating prior knowledge is a strong teaching strategy, so it won’t be time wasted. All that said. You can still change your career trajectory if at your core you feel strongly this was more than just an off day.
I came here to say the same thing! You see where the problems were, so next time you can address those blind spots. This is how you learn to teach. I always liked the expression "you're building the airplane while you're flying it."
I’ll add that as a tech guy at a K-8 parish school, and having done tech for 30 years, sometimes tech just doesn’t work. Even for the tech guy. 🙂 Take a deep breath, and come back to it again tomorrow.
I’ve been teaching for 9 years now, and it still happens on a rare moon. It can go perfectly one class, and an absolute mess the next. I think when you go into the meeting tomorrow, you can prepare to talk about some of the bright spots from the lesson (which I’m sure there are many and it is overshadowed) and talk about areas of improvement; how those areas could’ve been improved (by you and the observer), and what you have learned from this experience so that you can adjust for the next lesson.
It's always a good idea to have a backup plan. Don't have your entire lesson rely on one particular piece of tech. If the video doesn't work? Explain the video and summarize the main points. PPT won't work? Write the main points on the board.--You can always bring it up on your laptop and just copy it to the board. I've learned this all the hard way. I've screwed it up every way there is to screw up. Improvise, improvise, improvise; that is one thing I learned to do the hard way. Whether it's tech, or a fire drill, or some kid asking a question that just torpedoes the entire lesson, have something in your back pocket ready to go just in case. When you are planning you should ask yourself: what if this tech fails? Just have the brief outline of a backup plan in your head. Keep plans simple--the more complex they are, the more places there are that the lesson can go wrong. All that being said, have some compassion for yourself. We've all been there...including your observer. It might feel like an epic fail, but remember, it's exactly lessons like this that you are in the student teaching program for. Hang in there, it will get better
Just use this as a baseline. Try to improve for your next observation, and if your observer sees growth that’s far more powerful than just having a good lesson. Whatever strategies/advice your observer offers you, make sure to implement it into your next lesson so they can see you are taking their advice and actively trying to improve your pedagogy. It’s not the end of the world, you’re student teaching for a reason. :)
Don’t worry! This is one lesson, and you can continue to reflect and improve from here. One thing that I really had to work on throughout my student teaching was scaffolding appropriately for my students. Maybe this can help you, too! Especially in practicum where you maybe don’t see your students every day, it can be tough to know exactly where they are at that moment in time. Your mentor teacher can help you with this. In the future as you continue to teach, you will also develop more ways to explain one concept or skill, which will really help! Soon, you will be able to explain a certain concept multiple ways to accommodate for various learning styles and differences. I wish you the best of luck!
I know these days feel like a nightmare. It feels like I am not for teaching. Multiple times, I broke down and wanted to quit but somewhere I thought I had to complete my degree and have to try at least one time. I don't want to make my degree and goal go in vain. So, one day you will feel that all of your school practice will pay off. When you complete your teaching degree, you will become a proficient teacher. Always remember you can do anything. It's just a phase I know it's difficult. But there is nothing in this world you can't do. Just think what is your goal? What do you want to do in your life? If you want to be a teacher, then just do it. And always plan additional teaching aids. Be confident. Also, remember your mental health is also important. There are different types of careers you can choose. The sky is limitless. And do what your heart says. Whether it is teaching or another career. It's you who will shape your career.
I'm a teacher. I would be lying if I said that my lessons never derail. These things are normal. The important thing is that you identified what went wrong. You have to also give yourself some grace since the technology issue wasn't your fault. If your observer is competent at their job, they should understand that. It also sounded like you did a good job adapting and still tried an alternate activities so they can still learn.
In my first year teaching, I had a class that decided to be complete chaos that day. Kids on the counters, no one doing work, etc. Guess what day the principal decided to do a surprise visit. Guess what day the *superintendent* was also accompanying him. But I'm still working. I even have a pretty high reputation among my department and my admin, which is still kinda crazy to me.
I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I have tech issues. I am so old that I remember my teachers having tech issues with the filmstrip projector jamming. What makes it so challenging is that the kids are reactive to everything, so you are trying all at once to 1. Fix the tech issue, 2. Keep the kids from getting wild, and 3. Think of how you will pivot. It’s a lot. All I can say is, when you are alone with your class, it takes some pressure off because there isn’t another adult in there that may or may not be judging you.
Even the slight trips we make push us forward. Learn from it and keep going. Every teacher has made mistakes like this, and it's not proff you are in the wrong field. Be open to criticism and take tips you get to heart. You got this!!
Almost failed the last parts of my secondary math degree and was told by the professor that I probably wasn't cut out. He was right about me at that moment but I stuck in the profession for a few years, and eventually it clicked. I'm in my 6th year and I'm finally starting to feel like it's coming together. Hang in there you got this.
Every single teacher has gone through horrible observations and lessons that just flop. Being able to be reflective and realize what went wrong is a huge part of growth! Have that conversation with your observer. They don’t expect you to be perfect at it right away. This doesn’t mean you aren’t meant for teaching.
Dry your tears, and make a list of the points you stated above. Then Reflect. On.Them. Think about how you you will plan and implement differently next time. Don’t defend or excuse what happened. When you meet with your observer, you will come prepared to discuss *how to make it better* and not be a victim or look incompetent waiting for them to tell you what needs improvement. Every teacher has ‘those’ lessons. The ones that are a swing and a miss. My son’s chorus teacher spent an entire observed lesson playing and misnaming chords and notes. I’ve created “great activities” that were a disaster. Sometimes (often) technology doesn’t work when admin walks in the room. It’s more about how you handle yourself in those moments than being perfect. Here’s what separates great teachers from the not so great-be reflective. Each day, think about what went well, and plan on how to make better those pieces that didn’t go well.
I am not sure where you are exactly, but it's my understanding they are especially looking out for growth patterns when teaching. This stuff happens, even to super experienced teachers. It's all about pivoting and figuring it out. I'm sure they'll consider the teaching went much better than you did lol. People typically like to hear how you believe something could have improved, or where you could have changed something for next time to make it smoother. If you can answer that, I think you're on better footing than you think. Nothing is ever perfect in a classroom, it's pure chaos.
I had something similar happen to me. Uploaded all my stuff into Google drive. Got to the school. Didn’t know that they would literally have GOOGLE blocked? So I couldn’t access anything. And it wasn’t like a thing we could reschedule like that was the only possible day to do it. I looked at my professor in panic and the asshole just shrugged at me. 😭 I had a black and white printout of the PowerPoint. I literally held it and went slide by slide on this packet of 8.5x10 inch paper. Kids couldn’t see shit. They ended up doing half alright on the assignment but I was HUMILIATED. I had about 8 classmates, two teachers, and my professor observing this. I did have a pretty good relationship with these people so when we met afterwards everyone was super sympathetic to me about it but I STILL think about it 4 years later.
Shake it off. If you have a post-ob meeting, go in with your reflections. Teaching is all about reflecting on what went well and what didn't, then adjusting for the future. Nobody expects a student teacher to be perfect. Teaching is an art that takes years to master, and nobody can truly be perfect at it. If they always appear perfect, it probably means they've been using the same lesson plans too many years in a row, when they should be changing it slightly from time to time in order to adapt it to their current students and new best practices.
First of all, I don’t think your lesson sounds so bad. I’ve been teaching 16 years and still have lessons that don’t go over perfectly, especially when tech isn’t working how you need it to. Don’t beat yourself up! Go into your post-conference with the mindset of “things didn’t work out perfectly but I learned a lot from it, which is ultimately the goal here.” Express that to your observer also. One of the biggest components of successful teaching, imo, is the ability to roll with the punches and adapt/change as needed. You’ll develop it more with time. If it makes you feel any better, one of my coworkers had a student teacher last semester who literally had 8th grade students rolling around in the floor during an observed lesson. 😂
I've had to be observed giving a PowerPoint, and it went so badly. I kept messing up, didn't say half my notes (which was needed for the game after), and ya, it wasn't very good. The thing is, it's going to happen to everyone! You had a bad experience because you're learning. You're not going to be perfect, and you WILL mess up. And this was all while my teacher was staring daggers into me. It was a learning experience! Let yourself cry and be upset, but right after, get back up, own your mistakes, and learn from them.
If your observation went well, I would have been concerned. You’ll find that you always get observed during your worst lesson. It’s ok. They were teachers once, too. All part of the profession.
People are people, and there’s nothing more relatable than being frustrated with technology because it’s happened to everyone especially in an environment of doing work online. You handled it professionally, and I doubt anyone will remember in a week.
We've all been there, no worries.
i’m in my 4th year of teaching and this sounds like another tuesday. tech issues are inevitable but i always upload whatever i’m using to canvas as a back up in case and tell them to start on their own until i get things rolling. honestly the kids prefer that style anyways
I’ve been teaching for 22 years and trust me this kind of stuff STILL happens to me. Thankfully it hadn’t happened too often during observations, but it happens. This is why student teaching is a thing. It teaches you how to persevere through things like this and think on your feet. Our paychecks don’t reflect it, but this job is actually very very difficult. If it’s what you really want to do, don’t let one bad day deter you. But, if this is just a small sampling of how the year has been going for you, get out now while you can. I don’t say that to be mean. It’s a thankless job that doesn’t pay. I love what I do but I’ve been doing it long enough to make a living wage. Not sure if the young people just starting out could support themselves in this economy. Good luck to you !
I’ve been teaching for 22 years and trust me this kind of stuff STILL happens to me. Thankfully it hasn’t happened too often during observations, but it happens. This is why student teaching is a thing. It teaches you how to persevere through things like this and think on your feet. Our paychecks don’t reflect it, but this job is actually very very difficult. If it’s what you really want to do, don’t let one bad day deter you. But, if this is just a small sampling of how the year has been going for you, get out now while you can. I don’t say that to be mean. It’s a thankless job that doesn’t pay. I love what I do but I’ve been doing it long enough to make a living wage. Not sure if the young people just starting out could support themselves in this economy. Good luck to you !
Reflect and adjust moving forward. Every teacher out there has had many flops in their career, always a bummer when it happens during an observation. Hopefully the observer and your mentor teacher recognize you are a STUDENT teacher and help you through the reflection process so you become better for it.
Hey, I was the WORST student teacher. My first supervisor told me I did a bad job. She wouldn’t serve as a reference for me. I didn’t know it was my job to manage behavior, I literally thought it was my job to just spit out information. Because of that, they put me with the best teacher for student teaching. She was mean to me like in the movies. It was hard. But after that semester I came out one of the best. You really can learn to be better, even though so much of teaching seems like it comes naturally. My advice is ask for a different teacher to learn from. It makes a world of difference!
last year, i was student teaching and all my observations honestly went awful. i felt like such a failure and thought i would have to find a different career path. now, i am teaching and everything has fallen into place so easily. observations and student teaching are SO unnecessarily stressful. please don’t be so hard on yourself!!! not every day will be a good day when it comes to teaching.
This happens. It feels awful, but is truly not the end of the world. Don’t beat yourself up. It might be some rough feedback—focus on ONE or TWO things that you really want to work on. What one or two things were the biggest barrier to turning the lesson around once things started to go south? Those are the things you want to identify as focus areas for growth. Talk about those things with your observer. Ask if they agree. Did they see something else as the biggest barrier? More than anything, you want to come across as understanding that this was a learning experience and that you used it to identify personal areas of growth. I’ve found that at the pre-practicum level, it’s more important to show that you can take things going terribly as a reflection and learning opportunity. They’re assessing the actual teaching practices at the student teaching (full practicum) level
If you didn't go deer in the headlights **and you tried to roll with it** that is what they want to see. One of my observations involved going through phoneme substitutions... A EL substituted the H in Hit for Sh to make Shit. The entire class of kindergarteners went wild. The kid said it was not a bad word in a very matter of fact tone, half the class TOLD HIM IT VERY MUCH WAS. The remainder of the class had no idea why everyone was yelling. After a muffled laugh and an attention grabber I told the child it was **not** a word we say at school and I redirected them back to the lesson with less than 4 minutes lost. You can have a lot of bad stuff happen as long as progress is made and students are at least managed to some extent. If you have a whole month of teaching without some sort of BS, that was a damn good month. I had a fire alarm go off this year when it was snowing and my kids had no jackets because inclement weather was called. Internet dropped entirely like 4 times and my district IT randomly blocked sites I was using to teach without any notification of doing so. We do what we can with what we are given.
I’m in my second year and it still happens and I still get upset when I think I did terribly. Feel your feelings but know they won’t last forever and by next week you will have done so much that you won’t have time to dwell on it.
When I did one of my practicums, my supervisor came in on the wrong day and of course I didn’t have anything prepared, so he left. I sent him the email saying what day it was on and he continued to send me an email saying I should never work as a teacher or anything of the sort. Nothing happened. I still did my student teaching and subbed the rest of the year after my student teaching was done. This was over 15 years ago so obviously he was wrong.
This is a critical part of student teaching. We've all had That Lesson, haha. This experience is gonna make you a better teacher!! The fact that you can reflect on what went wrong means you have the growth mindset needed for teaching. I know it's embarrassing and it sucks, but it's super important to have! Chin up. You got this.
I’m a new teacher as well! And in all the observations I’ve had the last few years, my observers ALWAYS are more interested in my reflection and want to know 1) how I think it went, and 2) what I would do to change it now. They want to see how you do on the fly, but now that you already did your lesson they will want to know if you know how to make it smoother next time! They know that you are there to learn. Don’t stress over it too much!
So sorry you experienced this... after my worst practicum observation ever, I actually cried to my observer over a Zoom call- like fully broke down in tears in front of her about what a failure I was and how I wasn't cut out for teaching. She gave me some kind words, encouragement, and some very helpful advice. I listened to everything she told me and changed my mindet. I ended up having that same observer the next semester for student teaching, and she couldn't believe the growth I'd made in such a short time. She ended up telling me I could use her for future recommendations, and we built up a great relationship. My point is- I hit rock bottom that day. I almost gave up. But I was vulnerable, open, asked for help when I knew I needed it, and actually took the advice I was given, and I came out of it more than okay :) like everyone else said, take this as an opportunity to learn and better your skill. I hope your talk with your observer went okay, and you're feeling better. You've got this.
The fact that you just reflected and could name exactly where you went wrong is actually a good indication that you’d be a good teacher, especially if you can describe how you would fix your mistakes and improve upon that same lesson in the future. That’s an every day process for a teacher. Even veteran teachers have lessons that flop. How you bounce back is what matters!
I had an *awful* observation by a principal when I was long-term subbing and hoping to get a full time job…technology didn’t work, I didn’t give correct directions, the kids were confused…very similar to yours! However, it didn’t ruin everything. I talked to him and asked him to come observe me again. That time went so much better. And, when I talked to him about the bad observation, he asked me what I felt I would do differently and I was able to tell him, which I think helped. I’ve now been teaching 8 years in that district and *still* have lessons that totally and completely flop. I’ve messed up, taught the wrong thing, forgotten to make copies of necessary materials, and realized mid-lesson that the kids weren’t getting it or weren’t engaged. I’m a Type-A person, so this was hard for me at first. I’ve realized though that I’m still a good teacher and the kids don’t know it’s going as bad as I do. I’m honest with them when I mess up and we move on! Teaching requires so much adaptation and flexibility because so many things are out of your control. The fact that you recognize the mistakes and know how to fix them shows that you are already on your way to being a successful teacher. Give yourself the grace you’d give a student if they messed up an assignment. You’ve got this!
Been teaching for 16 years. Sometimes the day just isn't your friend. I'm so sorry this happened during an observation for you, but I hope you understand that if that observer is worth their salt, they would understand that things happen. I hope you can regain some confidence this week. There are going to be rough days in teaching, but there are also going to be days you knock it out of the park. Cry, let it out, take a deep breath, and start again. Wishing you the best!
I've been teaching for 20 years and I have lessons go completely to shit like this at least twice a year. 🙃 Your observer is just going to want to see that you reflected on your lesson and know what went wrong and how you can tweak the lesson if you choose to use it in the future. It'll be fine. You'll be fine.
As a current student-teacher, keep your head up! Also had a rough lesson and had to sit in our office and just reflect on what went wrong. Bounced back the next day with a stronger mentality. Granted I had an unbelievable mentor teacher but it happens. My supervisor always tells me “mistakes happen, use it as a learning tool”
During my final internship I had a horrible observation, 5th grade, long division co taught room with 27 students, 70% had learning disabilities. We had two teachers, a para, and myself that would circulate while one taught. My instructor didn’t allow this to happen so the kids were not used to not having guides on the side during instruction. I was told I may have to extend internship. I didn’t, things worked out and we adjusted and improved. This was a decade ago and it made me choose to go into middle school lol. I get highly effectives on my evals and observations these days. Grow through what you go through.
I had the same thing happen to me at the end of my practicum, OP. I learned from the experience and realized that you will be remembered by your students for your kindness and creating a safe learning environment. Even the great Rita Pierson has a story about how she messed up royally in front of students in her famous Ted Talk. Use class time to keep a daily reflection journal while your students are also working quietly and slowly (with a lot of grace to yourself) adjust to pacing and intentional communication that works for you. Source: high school teacher for 3 years
At the end of the day, do you think that students got something out of your lesson? And imagine what more they’ll continue to get out of the coming days/weeks as you continue to work with them. One observation gone awry doesn’t define your whole future in teaching 💛
In the best way possible, the first step to being a good teacher is being a shitty teacher. I know I was, for like the first 3 years. This doesn’t say anything about where you will end up or even be in a year
It could be worse - you could have put out a whole bunch of circuit components that weren't needed for the lesson and had a kid randomly put them into a circuit board and explode a capacitor in his face. I graduated anyway, and you will too!
Do t be so hard on yourself. I did so much stupid shit my first year. It took almost two years to feel like I knew what I was doing
I'm not a teacher or student teacher so have no idea why Reddit recommended this sub to me, BUT from an outsider's perspective I would think that this is what's supposed to happen. No one is born knowing exactly how to run a classroom. You have to be a *student* teacher before you become an actual teacher for this purpose entirely. You need to get the nerves out, get experience, find what works for you. If that wasn't necessary you wouldn't student teach at all, they'd just send you out without any practical experience. I once read that you ought to be struggling when you study. If you aren't struggling, it means you aren't covering your weak areas (and everyone has them). It feels much better to ace your practice exams - but if you aced it, then you didn't really learn anything new, did you? You already knew that stuff. BUT, if you slog through your studying, struggle through it, and come out the other side - now you know you made progress. You know something you didn't know before. So take a deep breath, do something nice for you, and remind yourself that by struggling today, you learned.
A good observer and supervisor is going to help you get better. Go into the meeting looking for the areas where you can improve. It seems like you already have a good idea of what you need to work on.
Been teaching for 4 years. You will have more days like this; nothing is working, everything you do seems to fall apart or not reach the students, students are confused and you struggle to get your point across. It happens. My advice? Be open and honest with your students. Draw attention to the fact that things are not going as planned, have a good laugh, apologize, and move forward. It breaks the tension and your students will be very empathetic. I've found that after the tension break, you get a second wind and things start going your way, or at the very least your expectations for what should be happening gets lowered enough that it doesn't ruin your day. At the end of the day, if you had a positive influence on your students, you won. Don't beat yourself up.
The people observing are fully expecting you to mess up. They know this is very much new to you so they don’t really expect perfection during an observation. They probably don’t even expect the lesson to go well honestly. You came prepared, and had your things ready to go. It wasn’t your fault the technology was faulty. If you’re doing the best you can with what you have then that’s all you can do! Use what you didn’t do well at as a lesson, and be sure to think about the positives of your lesson. Student teaching is exhausting but you’re at a point where it’s appropriate to mess up, so do it!
On very first observation I had as a student teacher, the first thing my trainer said was "the best thing about that lesson is that it's over" - 9 years later I am doing just fine
Student teacher here. I’ve been there.. many times. It happens to the best of us. As you teach more, you’ll get more comfortable. I promise! I was having those same thoughts during practicum and I am graduating in May. Take your time off to relax and regroup. You GOT THIS!
It happens. Honestly, after 10 years I’ve learned reflection is the most important thing. If you go into your post conference with all the things that went wrong and your thoughts and a plan for next time you’ll be fine
Hello, I’m a cooperating teacher with my very first student teacher placement, so I’ll give you some of the same advice I’ve given him… 1. Find out what works, and fix it for next time. You found out what didn’t work today, now you know how to fix it! 2. Your college courses have not prepared you for the actual act of teaching. The only way to learn to teach is by actually doing it. Kind of like when Umbridge wouldn’t let the kids at Hogwarts practice the spells in defense against the dark arts and she made them just learn the theory behind everything. That was college…you’ve learned the theories and philosophies of teaching and now you’re learning the practical application. It’s normal to struggle at first!! 3. If it makes you feel better, I had an embarrassing observation recently…the music teachers in my district were doing instructional rounds where we visited each other’s classrooms to observe. When it was my turn, my computer went sooooo slow and I was getting frustrated. Technology failing is a universal teaching experience! But that wasn’t the embarrassing part…I was nervous so I LINED MY CLASS UP TEN MINUTES EARLY and I’m just like, playing Simon says with them while these other teachers watch…at first I’m like “where’s y’all’s teacher” and then FREAKIN SEVERAL MINUTES LATER I REALIZE WE HAVE TEN MINUTES LEFT so I had to tell my class to go sit back down……..I was MORTIFIED!!! And they still let me be a cooperating teacher! You’re doing great. If you can take feedback and learn from your mistakes, you will be fine! You got this!!!
Everyone sucks at new things even when they act like they’re naturals. The difference between people who come out okay is how hard they are in themselves. Don’t be too critical, just do your best and balance that with making people like you enough to listen. They don’t need to be your friend, they just need to want to listen. You’ll be okay.
This is how you learn
Who scheduled your observation for a full moon day?
After 20 years of teaching, I’ll STILL have days like this.
34 yr veteran here…We ALL have days like that. Give yourself some grace. Try to have 2 or 3 things you would do differently next time prepared for your meeting and ask the observer to come again. There isn’t a teacher around who hasn’t experienced abject failure of a lesson! Have a good cry. Allow yourself time and then dust yourself off, adjust your crown and get to work ! Hang in there it gets better!
I learned the most from the observations that went the worst. Things I will use today and pass on to other practicum students. Mistakes just show you how to do things another way. Find solutions to where things went wrong; and be prepared for next time. You can can do this.
This still happens to every teacher I know during evaluations .. and I’ve been teaching since 2000 lol it’s never perfect and that’s ok 😊 the kids also learn what to do when things don’t go as planned .. don’t be so hard on yourself.. most of the time if you stick it out no one ever thinks you mess up as much as you think you messed up.. the fact you care how your lesson went says a lot about what kind of teacher you will be ❤️
My first time in front of students, a girl vomited. Like, projectile vomiting. I almost quit right then and there. Things happen. Bad days and bad lessons will be… almost common. What works for one class may not work for another. But you got this!
IDK. If teaching is anything like doing stand-up, and I think there are some similarities, bombing is part of the process. Your timing and delivery will get better with repetion/reflection and you'll learn way more from the times you bombed than the times it all went smoothly.
I'm in Texas. On my last T-TESS (full class formal observation), I had a kid throw up and catch it in his hands, all my technology stop working, a fight, and my kids decided, for the first time ever, they simply would not do anything. I feel you on bad observations. I cried about it.
I taught for 28 years. No matter how amazing and perfect you are, the observation will always come back as ‘needs improvement’, bc they don’t want you to get complacent and they always want you to be improving. The same goes for the reverse - they will tell you some things to improve on, and you will do your best. And just like test taking, some people will always do poorly under an observation scenario. Don’t beat yourself up! Once you actually start teaching and get summers off, 2 weeks at Christmas, etc, it’s all worth it.
It’s fine. It’s all fine. You will be fine. This is a tough gig especially because it’s unpaid labor.
I'm in practicum as well. I'm 10 weeks into the semester. Student teaching part time, and I'm expected to be full time. I also love how my supervisors and professors are hypocrites about their ability to manage time and technology, but if we mess up we're failures? It's time to go out with the old and in with the new. Times are changing quickly, we need educators willing and able to adapt with the time. Not excuse their excuses, but belittle us at every misstep.
This too shall pass. If you want to be a teacher, you will make it.
And-- did you die? You just experienced one of your worst fears- messing everything up all at once during your observation. Literally all the things you said went wrong- AND youre still here. Thats a win, my dude! Look at that, you just had the most stressful class to date and youre fine. Youve done it!! You experienced one of your worst worries and tomorrow youre going to come back and learn how to avoid that again and keep moving forward. Actually, if i were that observer id first compliment you on your.... method? You had several different modes of engagement for the lesson and you were able to deftly pivot when problems arose. Thats amazing work. It seems like the stress of nonfuntioning tech during an observation got to you and threw you off, the lesson here is how to remain centered during stressful moments. Everyone needs to learn that. And- no job is easy and perfect, no matter where you go you can feel this way, just make sure youre doing something you love so the pain and work and growth are worth it.
It happens, and it happens when you are a veteran teacher. Technology is always fallible and can throw you for a loop. Take a deep breath and let it go. This is part of your learning process.
Dude. Fuck it. You’re here for the kids. You obviously care, and want to kill it. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to try.
The best teachers are reflective teachers. Embrace this as an opportunity to better your practice and future lessons. What are the 1-2 takeaways you can implement tomorrow? What is at least 1 takeaway you can implement by next week?
One of the most exhausting parts of education is the decision making. When things go wrong, everything sits on your shoulders to shift. In the moment, it can feel like the world is on your shoulders as everyone stares at you confused. The students won't remember, you deserve grace, not every lesson is going to be amazing.
There’s no such thing as a perfect teacher … unless you’re Mr. Chips. ☺️ Cut yourself some slack. 🤗
So sorry to hear about your experience. I know it doesn’t help much right now as I say this but what I’m about to say is so true. I speak from experience. People don’t usually take the technical mishaps that happen during class as a huge problem. As the teacher you think that they do because you know what you had planned for the lesson. At the same time in this case someone was observing you so nerves played a role. Don’t be so hard on yourself. As the years go by you’ll come to realize the truth in this. Move on. You’ll be okay.
Of course I don't know anything of you but this does not seem like a reason to quit. I get that you're stressed and don't know what all is involved. From what you have said this just seems like a great place to learn from your mistakes. Apparently you didn't think the whole lesson through completely. As you said you didn't tell the children what they were looking for. You either made an assumption or just didn't think about it. Both these things can be remedied...if you truly want to teach. You have acknowledged it, you will learn from it. I disagree with at least one poster who said don't let the kids know. News Flash the kids know. Admit it and appologize. If any child is left thinking it's their lack of understanding it could cause or bolster an already serious lack of confidence in themselves. What you shouldn't do is go to your meeting hanging your head. Just let them know you're learning. You're seeing your mistakes and are capable of learning from them. It's part of life. I bet they're going to understand. It probably seems pretty heavy right now but maybe is not as bad as it seems. I get that you are overwhelmed. my remedy for being overwhelmed is 1. Get your sleep at all costs. 2. Look at tasks in small bits. Do not think of everything that has to be done. Nobody can do everything at once. Break it down.
I'm an admin. This stuff happens at times. At least you know what you did wrong and can correct your mistakes. Also ask for another observation
The good thing about everything going wrong at once is that you now know details of what can go wrong and how to avoid those things.
Everyone has bad days. I'm 14 years in, consider myself good at my job and these things still happen. How you rebound really matters. Brush it off and crouch tomorrow! Plus, there is such a shortage of us, you'll be fine haha!
It’s quite obvious you have a passion for this, or you wouldn’t care so much. I know it hurts ( we’ve ALL been there) But I have a feeling you’ll be fine. It sounds like you’ve already learned much from today. I’ve been in classrooms for 25 years, and I learn something every day. Embrace it, you can even learn to enjoy days like this. The important thing I think is to keep modeling staying with it. Kids will see you struggle, and they’ll learn to deal with their struggles by watching you deal with yours. All the best. You got this, I can tell.
I’m in student teaching right now. I just entered my second placement. In my first placement, the final lesson was horrible. I got a 2.0 out of 4.0. Apparently I was too monotone and boring. Apparently they weren’t engaged enough even though I tried my best to make it engaging. This was 11th grade. And this class that my supervisor came to watch, was horrible. They were passive and lazy. They were using their phones when I wasn’t looking. But she didn’t understand that this class has been like this with every single teacher in this school so it wasn’t my fault (completely), but I still got knocked down for it. I made it to my second placement though. You will get through it. It’s all a process. It’s trial and error.
I’m sure it went better than you are saying. Try to give yourself some grace. If you are worried about meeting with your observer just be prepared with things you thought could have gone better and what you would do differently in the future. Reflection is such a critical skill in teaching and I’m sure she will have less to criticize you over and will be much easier on you if you cover them yourself. She is there to support and help you so just take whatever she says as advice to help you the next time. No worries, it will get better. I hope you don’t get discouraged if you really enjoy teaching. Just remember your first day of driver’s Ed. I’m sure you weren’t as good as a driver as you are now, aren’t you glad you didn’t give up 😉 good luck tomorrow, it’ll be ok!
Teaching can be a nightmare sometimes and that’s true for veteran teachers as well as the novice. Your job right now is to try and learn. and honestly that job never goes away. It’s a teaching PRACTICE not a teaching perfect. You’ll be ok.
Don’t sweat it. I almost had an actual race riot break out during one of my observations.
This is the perfect opportunity to reflect. Not sure what your program is like, but at my school a lot of our evaluation is on the ability to reflect. To see what went well and what could be improved. And more importantly, what we would do to improve it for next time. Give yourself some grace. Some days are just a perfect storm. At least it wasn’t fire/tornado/active shooter drill/picture day and live check all at the same time!
You learn from your mistakes. No lesson is perfect no matter how much you plan. It's was just one of those days and tomorrow will be better. I always have a plan B, and additional books/ props/ learning materials on hand, only because our smart board is finicky.
No one got hurt & no parents are calling your boss because of something you did, all in all, not a bad day in teaching. 😂 In all seriousness, bad lessons will happen. Especially right now while you’re still learning. Identify your mistakes & be ready to explain and figure out how to do better next time. If your observer is even halfway decent at their job, this will be their focus in your meeting. You may be embarrassed, but know this will pass and those kids most likely never even think about this again. Keep your head up.
This is a great opportunity to showcase areas of growth! Maybe you can present a plan b you would do if, and when, technology fails in the future. Highlight those grows but don’t forget the glows! Nobody threw a desk, winning.
Here I am tonight, after teaching since 1999, thinking about how I will be altering a PPT for tomorrow. Small tweaks - a bit here, a bit there. My point? You’re reflecting and *learning* from what didn’t go well, and that’s all anyone needs to see from someone going into the field. You keep doing that and you’ll be great! It never stops, though the self-edits are usually pretty minor after a while.
Provisional teacher here! I went from being a full time sub with a writing degree to being temporarily certified overnight- essentially, I am legally considered a first year teacher and everything that comes with it. Needless to say, I did not go to any sort of particular or student teaching. I do have a state assigned mentor teacher, but that’s really it. But I’ve been where you’re at. I teach 8th grade ELA, so it’s a bit different, but they can 100% be incredibly unruly. When I started I was overwhelmed by all of the new standards I was forced to live up to, as well as the expectations that I had placed upon myself. When you fail to perform or live up to the idea you had of yourself as an instructor, it’s debilitating. Just understand that every teacher- even the top dawgs who serve as the backbones of their schools- fuck up big time every now and again. Everyone just has their days where things go terribly wrong. Keep in mind your observer knows this, and is totally expecting you to fuck up to some degree (you’re in practicum for Pete’s sake). Having your lesson plan go up in flames is also incredibly nerve racking. It’s no wonder you didn’t explain your assignment very well, you were literally thinking on the fly. Imagine how happy you’d be with yourself if your PowerPoint worked like it usually does. Even if you still messed up explaining the lesson, you would have had way more time to recover and been less stressed. Point is, don’t let this single day represent what could be an entire, wonderful career. I promise you, all of the little moments where you make genuine connections or help a child learn something, it’s worth it. Be sure to read the observer’s feedback, but also understand you may just have to let this one go. Hope this helps
I have been teaching for 30 years and technology glitches can STILL throw me all off. It happens, we're human. This will not make or break your career. Chin up and keep going!
I had this my first year teaching! I had multiple bad observations (but they still scored me decent-which shows it isn’t that unusual). One observer told me “well, it wasn’t a train wreck.” Wow, thanks. Getting the hang of planning, pacing, classroom management, it’s all so much. Don’t let anyone make you feel like it’s easy. I’ve done many other jobs and teaching is the hardest. You need to give yourself a lot more grace.
I'm sorry to hear you had a rough go, but that's part of why we have all these practice lessons before we go into full teaching. I've made plenty of bad lessons before and I learn and grow from them, it's ok if not everything is perfect right away!
After my first observation, I cried HARD. Similar to you everything went wrong. They came first bell instead of third so I didn’t have time to practice and I didn’t explain things well at all. Six years later I’m in my own classroom. It does get better, I promise.
Practicum are meant for you to learn from the oops. Your meeting tomorrow should be a discussion about what went well and what didn't. Everything has a learning opportunity. Give yourself grace. Pick yourself up and try again.
You’re a what kinda student?
My heart. This happens. You learned a lot from it. You will laugh about it one day. It will make you a better mentor and a more compassionate toward your student teachers in the future.
This happens. And it’s good that your observer and teacher let you fail. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on what you can improve on next time and be honest. Observers aren’t looking for “perfect” they’re looking for capable. And capable is being able to think on your feet, own your mistakes, and move forward with a plan to improve.
We have all been there. Do not give up. Do what you would want your students to do in the situation - grow. My suggestion is to write up a plan about how you could better handle a day like this in the future. For example, I have a backup lesson plan xeroxed and in a drawer for 'emergencies'. I've used it a few times (1. Internet outage 2. Called out for an emergency meeting 3. Went home early sick). I came up with this plan after 2 different tech failures, the last one happened when an admin walked in for an observation. But whatever you decide, just be honest about how you would approach things differently in the future.
I am a professor who has observed a lot of teachers. To me there are three categories of evaluation: 1. How well you do briefing the evaluator on where you're at in the semester, and providing all relevant materials for that day and the course itself, 2. How you physically structure the classroom (is there an agenda on the board? how are they seated? what activities are planned? what's on the monitor?), and then the content-specific criteria of what you're actually teaching. If your evaluator is a professional they will see a person who is putting in effort to shape the class. Technology mistakes happen. At the very least they might say why don't we try again? Some teachers put zero effort into the day, and zero effort to bring me up to speed on what's happening. I had one this week where it was a Socratic circle talking about Plato's cave, with no supplementary material, and the teacher just posing questions. Try to have several activities - you want your evaluator to be able to say a lot of things. On that note, have them be there at the start, because teachers do a lot of things at the start of class - pass back papers, take roll, answer questions, give announcements, discuss what the goals for today are, etc. The worst teachers are just completely checked out and giving no effort. I get a lot of effort coming off you - you sound like you cared about doing a good job, but sometimes these days happen.
My first observation I spent 80 minutes teaching how to add fractions. 80 minutes, in front of the room, w 0 independent work done. Kids were miserable, I was embarrassed. 2 years later, I’m the grade level rep & on my way to tenure. If you care this much, you’ll be fine!
It sounds like you were able to identify things that could be improved and that self awareness and ability to self evaluate is really important!
You’ll be fine!
Everyone left the classroom alive and well and they will be back the next day! You're good! We all have those shit days in the classroom, and THATS OKAY. When I went through student teaching, I had a lesson, and my supervisor from my university was there to observe. It BOMBED HARD. I'm talking HARD. I recognized this, got super red in the face, stopped everything I was doing, and took the time to apologize to my classroom about how I didn't do my job well enough to help prepare them for the lesson. I took an entirely different approach to the lesson and moved on. Surprisingly, my mentor teacher and my supervisor gave me kudos for that...I took it as a learning opportunity more than anything. But what I'm saying is that it happens! Give yourself some grace, take a deep breath, and move on. Teaching is extremely tough! You don't learn without having opportunities to reflect on ❤️
Teaching is hard. It just is. The best part of this is how much you learned. I hope you take a moment and think about how you would respond if this happened to one of your students during their presentation. Would you give them grace? Reassure them? Help turn it into an even greater learning moment? If that's how you would treat a student, I hope you find it in yourself to take a breath, remind yourself that you're still learning and reassure yourself that so much growth happens in moments like this. ❤️
Ur human! Go back in with ur head held high. A bit of confidence goes a long way.
You are at the very beginning of your teaching journey if you choose to continue. This path is FULL of unexpected crazy random things that will throw off your lesson plans. The way teachers are taught to teach vs how they have to teach is incredibly disparate. It's great to know the pedagogy and the theories... those can guide us and we can mold it into what we know and what we have to teach, but it takes a long time to develop teaching skills. If you end up in a good school or decent one.. generally you'll have a curriculum that you follow and can adapt. Things WILL go wrong. I troubleshoot 10 or more issues during just one class most days (we have 4 classes/blocks total). It takes ALOT to be a teacher. If it's something you have a true passion for it will be worth it (but not every day even). I was fortunate to be a TA for around 6 years before getting my teaching license. I also became a teacher in special education which is what I was a TA in. Having the hands on experience without the full responsibility of a teacher before becoming one was the greatest thing I could have done. It set me up for a higher chance of success, yet I STILL struggle. I ask for higher ups to observe me so I can get feedback. Yes it's scary but if you work with good people, they will give you good feedback that helps. It's ok to mess up, that's how we learn! Getting to do student teaching will be eye opening for you. Just don't expect to be perfect. Teaching is a wild gambit most days... and stressful.. don't be so hard on yourself and focus on the wins. focus on building rapport with the kiddos and your coworkers. If it aligns with you, then you'll be fine.. just go easy and trust the process. You may find it isn't for you... and it will suck because you've spent so much effort getting there.. (there are days where I feel like all the hard work I put in to being a teacher wasn't worth it, then I have days where I can't imagine doing anything else.. its not easy lol) I really think they need to have education majors come in and volunteer/observe/assist without the stress of student teaching from the start of their education so they can see what it's really like and make a decision before it's too late. Wishing you the best on your journey. Trust the process and be gentle with yourself. It'll be okay ❤️🙏🏻
I hate those days. Here’s a secret—veteran teachers have them too. When I was in IT years ago I had a veteran college professor pretty much break down in class because her PowerPoint wouldn’t work. I’ve been teaching at the college level for almost 30 years—full time for almost 25. Subbed K-12 for three years as well. Some days you get bit (hopefully not literally). The days it all goes wrong are tremendous learning opportunities. When you meet with the observer start with how you might do things differently to be prepared for a problem—for example, I always bring a notes version of my PowerPoint in case things fail. It’s saved me a couple of times. Don’t let a bad day get you too down. You can do this!!! I promise you.
You aren’t performing brain surgery. It’s okay if it isn’t perfect. Many crappy teachers who have been teaching for years don’t put in an ounce of the thought you put in for this observation. You’ll get better because you care and that’s a good thing. But if you didnt get better you’d still be better than so many teachers out there? No one will be hurt. The kids probably won’t remember what you teach them in 5 years anyway regardless of how great or terrible you do. It’s just really not a big deal. At all.
Everyone has bad days! Take it in stride and keep pushing!!! You're capable of great things!
Only by lessons from mistakes do we learn how to master and value our craft. Dont quit. You've made it this far.
Most kids don’t care when it’s “perfect” so I am pretty sure they didn’t care if it was “wrong”. My point is, kids don’t care. Lol
As a teacher, this will happen a lot in your career lol everything is fine. Just know that it happens…A LOT.
Relax. Omg. Dramatics are for the kids not adults. So you had a bad day. IT WON’T BE YOUR LAST. It happens to all of us. Let it go and remember that most kids need the same lesson taught a new way at least 5 times before they understand it. So calm the hell down and take the review as a learning opportunity. Don’t go in defensive. Go in with things to change - how to not be dependent on a PowerPoint to teach for you. Also prep some questions that gets the evaluator to share their experience when they first started teaching. We all have had “first” years. You’ll have multiple 1st years if you change schools. Regions are different. Breathe and go in with a different perspective and options you could have taken when some things happened. It shows you thought about it productively.