I’m just reposting this because I’m being observed in a formal setting this week on Wednesday and it makes me nervous to be observed. It’s a good reminder:
When we get observed, we can’t shrink. The method requires that we be big. It doesn’t matter how we feel. We have to show up for our own class.
Susan Gross showed up for two of my sessions at NTPRS. I was quite aware of how that took lots of wind out of my sails. Go figure. No, don’t. I don’t want to figure. It’s not about figuring. It’s about showing up. Except when it’s Susan Gross, right?
Really, how the energy flows in our classes when being observed can be so much different if that part of us that doesn’t like to be judged gets the upper hand. What we do, the power in it, has so much to do with who is in the room.
Where is this going? It’s just a prayer that we all learn the art of mojofication of our classrooms, especially when we are being observed.
It has to do with Austin Powers. Grant and I have been talking about it. Many of us are starting to get observed at this time of year. One of my main evaluations of the year (DPS does a ton of evaluating with all that Bill Gates money it is awash in) came at the end of the day last Friday. I mojofied the situation and it worked.
I know – I haven’t explained mojofication yet. It’s not my idea. Just watch the clip below. It will get our heads on straight. It demonstrates one way to deal with observors. The theory is that you do some cross mojination. If someone is judging you in your classroom, then just do what Austin Powers does in this clip:
In it, Powers demos what we should do with visitors. There is always that feeling of being judged, and the only thing we can do to counter their critical mojo is to return the mojo. The key dialogue from Powers starts at about 4:15 into the clip, when he says about the fembots who were sent to attack him:
“So I thought I’d work my mojo, right, to counter their mojo; we got cross-mojination, and their heads started exploding.” [bold text mine]
So, when we are observed, we want to come out of cross mojination on top, with their heads exploding and not ours…
Just some thoughts in case you get observed this week. Like it or not, people who teach using comprehensible input are going to get observed more and more as districts push towards standards, which in our WL standards are all aimed straight at the ACTFL Position Statement at the center of which is the 90% use of the TL in the classroom statement. So if you do CI, practice your presenting skills and know that you are going to have to get out there one day, and read on here:
When we present and teach, for that matter, we need to learn to have fun. If we can’t have fun at our jobs then we can’t have fun in our regular lives. Because the two cannot be separated. Our jobs and our lives overlap for a good portion of the day! So, if we want to be happy, then we can’t fear anyone. We can’t fear those seriously underqualified people sent to evaluate us. And here is my main point: this way of teaching requires that we be relaxed and in flow, to the extent possible, which we decide, not others. This allows us to see what is possible in our discussion with our students. Just like Kierkegaard said:
…If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the
sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible….
Related:
https://benslavic.com/blog/?s=emancipation
https://benslavic.com/blog/2010/04/14/letting-go/