How to Run Your First Teacher Observation
A Principal’s Guide
Feedback Flock is designed to be functional right out of the box; however, for the best long-term experience, we recommend completing the Prerequisites prior to starting your first observation.
Prerequisites:
- Observation form should be setup. You’ll want to modify the supplied observation framework forms or create your own forms. With our drag and drop builder its easy to build a form in just minutes.
- Teacher should be added. Principals and District Administrators can add users individually or import in bulk on the ‘People’ tab.
Getting Started
Running your first teacher observation can seem stressful, but with Feedback Flock it’s much easier than you think. Below you’ll find a step by step observation video tour that walks you through completing your first teacher observation or opt to follow along in the text below.
Observation Steps
Pro Tip: Start the year with a Self-Reflection or Goal Setting Form. A self-reflection preview appears atop of the Observation form, providing Observers unique insights such as what the teacher expects to improve upon.
The Observation process is designed to be user friendly and beneficial to all parties. Follow the instructions below to get started.
- Start you first Observation on the Dashboard or Observations tab by clicking ‘+New Observation’.
- Next you’ll select your Observation form, i.e. Formal, Informal, Pop-in, etc.
- Then in the ‘Person to be Observed’ field type the name of the teacher you’d like to observe. If the user has been added their name should autocomplete.
- For ‘Reason for Observation’ indicate rationale for Observation which may be as simple as “Requested by Instructor” or more specific “New Teacher – 1st Quarter Formal”.
- The Photos & Videos field is an optional field that allows you to click and add a photo or video file relevant to the observation.
Note: If you are working from a laptop type of device where its challenging to take a photo, take a photo with your phone and – while the Observation is still in a draft state – access the Observation from that device and upload the photo. - Scroll down and you should be presented with your custom observation form. Read each question and supply the appropriate answer. For each question you can click ‘Add Note’ to provide additional insights that will help you draft your final feedback. Your score and notes should auto save as you progress.
- When you have completed your feedback, notes, and uploaded any relevant photos, scroll to the bottom and click ‘Submit Observation’.
- You will be presented with the Observations panel, this particular Observation should be listed as Submitted.
- Click the ‘Submitted’ status, review the results and if you are ready to release the feedback to the teacher or draft them a custom email, scroll down and click ‘Feedback’.
- Here you are presented with an email draft to the Teacher. Review the AI draft and modify the feedback as you see fit.
- When you are ready to send the email, you have two options, ‘Send Email’ which will send the custom email but not share their scores yet or ‘Send and Release’ which will release the feedback to the teacher with the email. For the purpose of this instruction process, we will assume you hit ‘Send and Release’
- The Feedback will be delivered to the teacher via email and the Status will change to released. Teachers can sign in and review the feedback in depth, alongside their previous reviews.
Congratulations, you’ve sent your first Observation and are on your way to helping teachers grow professionally and thrive in their classrooms.
Struggling to find time to fit your Observations in your schedule? Invite your Administrative Assistant to Feedback Flock and assign them the ‘School Admin’ role. This role is designed to populate the Calendar View on the Dashboard by scheduling out a series of teacher observations. Observations can easily be synced to your Google Calendar or iCal.
Have an Observation Question?
Reach out to our support team. The Feedback Flock team is here to support you, whether you have a best practices question, feature request, or are just wondering how things work.
