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February 2009
Vol 6 No 2
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Teachers.Net Gazette Vol.6 No.2 February 2009

Cover Story by Alfie Kohn
Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated: The (Troubling) Theory and Practice of Control from Within
To inquire into what underlies the idea of self-discipline is to uncover serious misconceptions about motivation and personality, controversial assumptions about human nature, and disturbing implications regarding how things are arranged in a classroom or a society.


Harry & Rosemary Wong: Effective Teaching
To Be an Effective Teacher
Simply Copy and Paste

Columns
»Do You Have a Student Teacher?Hal Portner
»Test-taking Skills Made EasySue Gruber
»Teaching Children Refusal SkillsLeah Davies
»How to Be ConsistentMarvin Marshall
»The Busy Educator's Monthly FiveMarjan Glavac
»Dear Barbara - Advice for SubsBarbara Pressman
»What Side of the Box are YOU On?Kioni Carter
»Global Travel GuruJosette Bonafino

Articles
»Teacher Study Groups: Taking the “Risk” out of “At-Risk”Bill Page
»Can Anyone Learn to Draw?Tim Newlin
»The Heart of Mathematical ThinkingLaura Candler
»Finding Free Art Materials in Your CommunityMarilyn J. Brackney
»The Downside of Good Test ScoresAlan Haskvitz
»February 2009 Writing PromptsJames Wayne
»In The Middle School (poem)James Wayne
»Using Photographs To Inspire Writing IVHank Kellner
»Teacher Performance AssessmentPanamalai R. Guruprasad
»How To Help Victims Of Bullying: Advice For Parents & EducatorsKathy Noll
»Unwilling Student Meets Unwavering Teacher Lauren Romano
»Notes from The JungleJohn Price
»Lead the Class - Teachers as Leaders John Sweeting
»Opposing Views of a Post-Racial SocietyRoland Laird
»Who Really Needs Four Years of Math and Science? Steve A. Davidson

Features
»Apple Seeds: Inspiring QuotesBarb Stutesman
»Today Is... Daily CommemorationRon Victoria
»The Lighter Side of Teaching
»Teacher Blogs Showcase
»Carol Goodrow’s “Healthy-Ever-After” Children’s Books
»Printable Worksheets & Teaching Aids
»Memo to the New Secretary of Education and
John Stossel: American students are NOT stupid
»Lessons, Resources and Theme Activities: February 2009
»All of the Presidents in Under 2 Minutes!, Needle Sized Art, I Am a Teacher!, How It’s Made: Copy paper, and If My Nose Was Runnin’ Money
»Live on Teachers.Net: February 2009
»T-Netters Share Favorite Recipes
»Technology in the Art Classroom
»Newsdesk: Events & Opportunities for Teachers


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Cover Story by Alfie Kohn

Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong

Contributors this month: Alfie Kohn, Sue Gruber, Kioni Carter, Marvin Marshall, , Marjan Glavac, , Hal Portner, Leah Davies, Barbara Pressman, Tim Newlin, Bill Page, James Wayne, Hank Kellner, Josette Bonafino, Marilyn J. Brackney, Barb Stutesman, Ron Victoria, Panamalai R. Guruprasad, Alan Haskvitz, Kathy Noll, Lauren Romano, John Price, John Sweeting, Laura Candler, Roland Laird, Steve A. Davidson, and YENDOR.

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P.R. Guruprasad

Archive | Biography | Resources | Discussion

Teacher Performance Assessment

The quality of classroom processes is a function of how effectively a teacher guides his/her class, and the goal of teacher evaluation should be to improve classroom processes. A simple Teacher Performance Appraisal Form designed by the author is a means toward that goal.
by Panamalai R. Guruprasad
Regular contributor to the Gazette
February 1, 2009

Nine years back, Education NGOs and Ministries of Education from 164 countries met in Dakar, Senegal, committing to expand educational opportunities for all children by 2015 and agreeing on the following goals:

  1. Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children
  2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
  3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.
  4. Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
  5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
  6. Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

With almost two thirds of the target time having passed since the Dakar summit in 2000, there is a lot more to do to achieve the 6 goals, out of which 3 specifically state `quality' as an important element. Major constraints experienced by developing countries in achieving the goals seem to be broad, and include causative factors such as insufficient budget allocation, shortage of well qualified teachers and lack of effective in-service teacher development opportunities.

I think that one of the best indicators of where we stand, as seen from the Dakar point of view, is a measure of how effective and child friendly are classroom processes. As all readers of this article would probably agree, quality of classroom processes is a function of how effectively a teacher guides his/her class.

Although there are numerous strategies and tools used to assess teacher performance in classrooms and redress the issues, many of these are not convenient enough to be used in today's classrooms, due to reasons such as large TPR (Teacher Pupil Ratio), shortage of trained professionals with specific inspection and monitoring skills etc. With such logistic difficulties in mind, I developed a simple Teacher Performance Appraisal Form that can be used in schools.

This format, as shown below, incorporates a wide range of attributes that are central to classroom processes (with teacher being viewed as catalyst of change) and can effectively be used on a regular basis. As in the case of most educational administration documents, the main aim of TPA is to bring about improvement in classroom processes and thereby contribute to quality enhancement.

TEACHER PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FORM

Date: ______________________________________

Teacher’s name : ___________________________

Class handled : ____________________________

Subject specialization: ____________________

Subject handled: ___________________________

Rating Key:

4 Very good
3 Good
2 Average
1 Below average
0 Unsatisfactory

Total score: ______

[* These can be filled in the light of both classroom processes and the respective documents].

Strong points about the teacher:

Issues that require improvement:

Suggestions for improvement:

Date:

Signature of Academic Supervisor/Mentor:

Signature of Principal/Deputy Principal with his comments/suggestions:

Signature of Inspecting Officer (from District/Regional Department of Education etc) with his comments/suggestions:

Teacher’s feedback and signature:

[The documentation is very effective if is shown to the teacher concerned, with non-punitive objective. PRG]

I and my colleagues have been using the form to compare the performance of any teacher over a certain period of time or to compare performances of different teachers at any instant of time.

Besides this format, that is applicable to classrooms in general, I have had the pleasure of developing tools for use in diverse classroom situations.

TPA Form can help school systems to gear up their teacher development programs and achieve EFA within their communities at least, earlier than 2015.



» More Gazette articles...




About P. R. Guruprasad ...

Panamalai R Guruprasad works as Technical Advisor at the Inspectorate of Education attached to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His key professional responsibilities include developing and monitoring K-Grade 6 School Self Assessment Programs at the Central level. He has served as teacher, principal and Education Officer in school systems in India, South Asia and Africa. He has also worked in Macmillan India Limited (an associate company of Macmillan UK), and Chandamama India Limited (the oldest kids magazine in India).

His published works include 41 articles in teacher journals and an ebook entitled “Curiosity, Concepts and the Creative Classroom”.

He holds B.Sc in Physics, B.Ed and MA in Childcare and Education degrees and is currently working toward MS in Education Management (by distance learning).

He can be reached at prg512004@yahoo.co.in or panamalairguruprasad@gmail.com.


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