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Lessons · Teaching · the observations a candidate must receive

Somebody watches you teach, and it is written down

Every Texas candidate in a placement is assigned a field supervisor by the programme, who must carry out a published minimum number of formal observations spread across the placement, each one built from a pre-conference, the observation itself, and written feedback afterwards.

Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

An intern reached April with two observations on file and was told she could not be recommended, because the state sets a minimum and the programme had let the calendar run. It was not her failure and it was still her problem. A candidate who counts her own observations from the first month is never the person having that conversation in April.

How to think about it

Ask your programme in the first week for two things in writing: how many formal observations the state requires for your route, and how soon after the assignment begins the first one must happen. Then keep your own count, with dates, and chase the third as hard as the first. A visit with nothing written afterwards is not a complete cycle.

Worked example

One observation is three parts, and a visit missing any of them does not count
The count on your file is a count of complete cycles.
First one due within the published number of weeks after the start
The clock starts at the assignment, not at the programme's convenience.
Required 5, done 2 by January, so 3 left across the months that remain
The arithmetic that tells you whether to start chasing.
Dates kept in my own notebook as well as on the programme's system
Two records disagree far less often than one record goes missing.

Your turn

Name the written part that completes an observation cycle after the lesson.

One cycle is three parts: pre-conference, the observation, and written

The trap

Counting an informal drop-in as an observation. A formal one has a pre-conference and something written attached to it, and a supportive head of department who pops in for twenty minutes has given you something valuable that counts for nothing on your file.

Practise the observations a candidate must receive on HoneA question on it now, a real problem where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.