Who Are Your "Go To" Teachers?

Take a second and imagine this situation:

You have an unexpected visitor at your school: someone from the community, a local elected official, maybe even the Assistant Superintendent.  They would like to visit a couple classrooms.  Quickly decide without hesitation--where are you going to go?

The teachers which entered your mind are who I like to consider your "Go to" teachers.  These are the teachers that seem to always be on their game when you perform your routine Walk-Through's.  These are the teachers where the student engagement level is always very high and the classroom environment is consistently conducive to maximize instructional time.

These are the teachers that possess an enthusiastic personality and excitement about the content and day-to-day instruction that occurs in their classroom.  You are confident bringing anyone into these classrooms any day of the week, and more importantly, these teachers would welcome any visitor.  I remember a veteran Social Studies teacher once told me, "You know, I don't care if the Governor comes in to observe me.  They just better be ready to participate!"

The best part about this is that I haven't even discussed which students you would bring the visitor to observe.  What does this indicate?  Any student can thrive with a "Go to" teacher, regardless of grade-level, economic status, etc.  And every student deserves a "Go to" teacher.

It's our job as educational leaders to provide a school full of "Go to" teachers.  Therefore, when the visitor arrives and wishes to visit some classrooms, your quick response can be, "anywhere."

Thanks for reading and please follow me via Twitter @CSmithGoBlue

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.