After over 10 years of teaching and probably over 50 observations under my belt, you'd think I'd be cool with observations by now! Sadly, I've come to accept that it just won't get any easier or less daunting. So why am I writing about loving lesson observations then?! Do I really love them? Well not exactly (who does) but there is something to love about them - really! Keep reading to see how you can learn to love them too and why you should!

There's always this pattern of emotions that I go through with planned observations, tell me if this sounds familiar:

1) Dismay: you get the email informing you of the observation "nooooo!"
2) Denial: I have weeks to deal with this. *Ignore, ignore, ignore*
3) Fret: gawd, the date is creeping up on me, I really need to start planning something...
4) Panic: OMG I don't know what to teach, why can't I think of anything? *research all the things*
5) Anticipation: OK I've exhausted Pinterest for ideas and I've planned a new lesson I've never tried before. I think it's good, I just really hope it works well...
6) Bravery: taking risks is scary..! What if it goes wrong? I may trial something similar beforehand to see how it goes.
7) Panic 2.0: Must print, photocopy and laminate all the things!
8) Dread: OMG it's observation day, I really don't want to do this...
9) Acceptance: there's no going back now, we're on. These kids better behave today...
10) Relief: oh thank goodness that's over!!! Time for feedback, o-oh... *cue next roller coaster of emotions*
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Sound about right? So as you can see, when I say "love" observations, I clearly don't mean that I shout "woohoo observations baby, yeah!" at the top of my lungs, but there is a process involved that is very beneficial to helping us grow as teachers that I do love: the key areas are steps 5 and 6.

I believe there are 2 types of teachers in this world: ones who play it safe and ones who take risks.

In your every day teaching it is next to impossible to take risks every single lesson and try new things all the time. However, when observation time rolls around it is a great opportunity to try something different and challenge yourself a bit. In my career, the best observations I have ever done are always the ones where I took risks and tried new things - always. I still use all of those lessons and methods I experimented with to this day as part of my teaching arsenal, that I may never had tried if it wasn't for the pressure of an observation.

Now, I realise doing new things on an observation that you are being judged on is very risky as you want to at least know if it will work or not. Well, that's fine, you can still check! Once you've planned your new and exciting observation lesson, you can try out similar techniques before hand to see how it goes and whether it needs tweaking. But the key is using the observation as a tool to you challenge yourself in the first place.
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A recent example of this is I was recently trying out independent learning stations in my classroom in preparation for an upcoming observation. I wasn't sure on the best way to lay it out in my classroom, so I trialed out stations in some of my other lessons to experiment. In some classes I put my stations around the edge of my classroom and in others I spread them out among the students' desks to see what would work best. I also experimented with timings, music and group arrangements to find the sweet spot of success! I ended up choosing to put the stations around the edge of the room as it encouraged my students to actually get up out of their seats, I chose not to use groups as I wanted students to be able to work at their own pace, and I definitely liked the timer and music as it created a real buzz in the classroom!

So you see my point is this: you can learn to love observations if you use them as a tool to challenge yourself and take risks in your teaching. Although the idea of being watched and judged on your teaching feels stressful and horrible at first, if you choose to use it as an opportunity to make your teaching better, it can continue bring out the best teacher in you, year after year!
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If you're looking for fun ways to jazz up your lessons and don't know where to start, one of my favourite books that I always dive into when I want to spice things up a bit is "Pimp Your Lesson" by Isabella Wallace and Leah Kirkman:

It offers some really fun techniques and ideas to try out to give your lessons that little extra "somethin' somethin'!" Here are some country specific Amazon affiliate links to the book if you're interested in getting your own copies!
Amazon US: Pimp Your Lesson
Amazon UK: Pimp Your Lesson

Tell me if this sounds familiar to you...

• You dread staff meetings as they're generally really dull.
• If you have to run a staff meeting, you worry about it being dull.
• Even if the topic is interesting, teachers have been working their butts off all day long and are exhausted so anything other than a nap is going to feel dull.
• Rock → You ← Hard place.

Basically, staff meetings with teachers are a very difficult thing to get "right". We are a tough crowd and we are trying to preserve every ounce of energy to stay awake so there's very little left for being an engaging audience!

If you have to run a teacher meeting and are panicking about how to do it well, fear not - I got you. As someone who runs a department and has to deliver after school meetings around once a month or so, I do this a lot and have developed a few aces up my sleeve to make it quick, painless and ensure everyone leaves on a high!

Keep reading, or watch the video below to find out how I do it:

First off, don't panic: delivering a staff meeting does not have to be tedious or scary. I have actually learnt most of these tricks from watching others do it WRONG, so when in doubt, just do the opposite of what you hate and you'll be home free! Here are my top tips for delivering a successful staff meeting for teachers:

1) Come prepared 
I like to email out an agenda a few days before the meeting to give the team a chance to look it over and think about what they'd like to contribute. I've been in meetings where the agenda was printed off for us so we could write notes on it, but honestly this involves extra work and resources which I don't believe is really necessary for you. If people are desperate for it they can print one for themselves, no biggie.


2) Stick to the point
The worst meetings are those where the person leading it has taken it waaay off tangent with no hopes of coming back quickly. This is generally frustrating for everyone else - we're trying to get through this agenda quickly, don't add other things on there to drag it out further!? As I try to make my meetings interactive with lots of discussion, it's likely someone else might steer the meeting in the wrong way. As captain, it's your job to acknowledge their point and steer things back on the right track. You can always say you'll come back to their point at the end or another time (and make sure you actually do).


3) One conversation at a time
As I mentioned in point 2, I like discussion based meetings where everyone gets a chance to talk and share their ideas with the team. Sometimes this can lead to people breaking off into mini conversations, especially in large groups. If that happens and you didn't instruct it, nip that in the bud right away. It's really important that everyone is involved in the same conversation - plus you need to be taking accurate minutes! 


4) Take minutes
Ideally, everyone should be in the habit of taking notes in meetings but there should also be someone taking  "official" notes that are kept on file and emailed to administrators etc. Check your school's policy on this - sometimes there is someone designated to take minutes but honestly, I just do mine myself and type as a we go. 


5) Finish on time
Seriously though. Everyone is counting down to home time. I've been in meetings where the person delivering has still been talking half an hour after the cut off point - it does not make anyone feel good! Let people go when you say you will - sitting in a meeting when you have no idea when it will end is a form of torture. If you can't get through everything on your agenda, cut what can just be put in an email and let people go on time.

6) Offer an opportunity for A.O.B.
"Any Other Business" is an important part of the agenda. It offers team members a chance to share important information / raise an important topic / share successes in an open forum with the whole team present. Some meetings I've been to want the A.O.B. in advance (usually if there are lots of people attending so the meeting doesn't overrun - see point 5). However you want to do it is fine but give people a chance to say what they need to!


7) Listen to your team 
It's sad that I have to write this one. But seriously, most of the meetings I to go to are not actually collaboration. They just regurgitate info (that could all just be put in an email, ugh) that they have already decided without much input from us. That's personally not how I like to do things. My advice is to listen to the people and get everyone to work together to come up with solutions as a team: be a leader, not a boss.

OK, now onto the fun stuff!

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8) Bring snacks and beverages
You'd be amazed what a few snacks and a drink does for staff morale, plus it gives a boost to the afternoon slump! My team actually look forward to seeing what goodies I pick up for them - and it doesn't have to be extravagant. You could bring some chocolates and biscuits (cookies, for my American friends!) but my team are a healthy bunch so I bring them grapes, nuts, dried fruit, chopped fresh fruit etc. and they lurve it! Being British, we also enjoy a pot of tea while we work too - it's just such a mood lifter!


9) Keep it positive
As teachers, we have more to moan about than anyone, that's for sure! But, in order to have a successful meeting you want to try and keep things positive and moving forward. People will likely want to vent a little bit and that's OK, but they key is make sure every moan is counteracted with a solution or action step. Don't just moan for moaning's sake. It just brings everyone down. Plus they're tired, don't make it worse :P


10) Lighten the mood
For the really tough meetings, especially those with lots of staff who might not know each other well, start off with a fun game or starter activity!

I've done quizzes, wordsearches and crosswords but nothing has worked as well as these Ice Breaker "This or That" dilemmas! I first created a version of these a few years ago when I had to deliver a whole staff meeting to a room of tired teachers, so I really wanted to create a fun buzz in the room. 

I hope this list has helped you plan your next awesome staff meeting - you can do it! Do you think I missed anything important? Drop me a comment below!

Teaching is just like driving a car. Sometimes it's like driving a red Ferrari at sunset, with the top down, shades on and a warm breeze blowing in your hair: your lessons are amazing, you meet your deadlines on time, you get an outstanding observation, your students are learning so much, they tell you how much they love your lessons and you feel like a superhero making a real difference in the world!
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​At other times however, teaching is like driving a beat up tin can, as the gas light comes on, in a storm, as you burst a tyre: you're exhausted (even your exhausted is even exhausted), there are endless pointless meetings, you are being told your students need to be performing better, the photocopier jams (usually during an emergency), and you burst into tears while you Google things in despair like "what can I do instead of teaching" (oh yes, don't try and deny it -  I know you guys are out there in abundance, just check out the top Google searches below). I wonder how many hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of teachers search this phrase for it to come up as most searched on Google. This is incredibly alarming... 

So, I'm going to stick with the car analogy to explain the secret I have found to surviving teaching - but first, I want to share a little background story to help you understand my journey so far.


My first school was rough. I mean really, really rough. I'm talking students high on drugs, in gangs, sent to prison, drug dealing for pocket money, sex trafficking, abandonment, physical violence, sexual assault in the playground etc... that kind of rough. It was a tough gig that's for sure, and for a 21 year old baby only a few years older than some of these kids , it was a shock to my system: University did not prepare me for this!?


Aside from being a "police officer", I also had to try and somehow teach these kids whose last care in the world was their education! Yah, those were the most challenging years of my life. There were many days I would cry driving to work and cry driving home... Nights I would wake up sweating from nightmares about school... Endless hours on the internet Googling "behaviour management strategies" (most of which by the way, are laughable as they're are so generic and are not effective on those kind of kids.) So I had to teach myself with lots of trial and error. And boy did I learn... I'll have to share some of those stories with you one day!


I was tested to breaking point, pretty much on a daily basis. I honestly wanted to quit most days - this was not how I dreamed it would be! But there was another part of me that wouldn't let me give up on these kids. I got to know them, their stories, their lives, their backgrounds and I deeply cared about them - even if they would scream at me and storm out of my room at first! :P In time, when they realised I was not going to abandon them and I showed them I really did care, things started to change. This is when my passion for well-being and character education began to develop. Many of these kids had poor role models at home and their response to most situations was just anger and aggression as they didn't know any other way. It became my passion to nurture positive characteristics within them so they could begin to change their lives for the better. This is why I choose to share these ideas and resources with you so you can help your students in the same way too.

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If you're wondering, I stayed committed to that school and my students for 8 years. Although it was traumatic at times and hard to stay motivated, I wouldn't change a moment: those kids taught me to be a better teacher, way beyond the curriculum. In fact, think about any inspiring teacher movie you have ever seen: doesn't it usually involve the teacher emotionally connecting with students and developing positive characteristics that turns them around? There's something to be said for that... and that's why I refuse to eliminate Character Education from my teaching schedule. Even 10 minutes first thing in the morning is better than nothing and it makes the world of difference.

​So, knowing all this, I'm sure you can imagine the state of my well-being during all those years!?! Every day was purely survival and I had to keep learning new strategies just to get through. I am now in a different school with a very contrasting intake, but obviously I still experience lots of stress - just a different kind! Over this past decade, I have learnt a lot about work / life balance and taking care of my own well-being, so now I feel I am effective at reading the signs and changing direction before I reach the dreaded "burn out" city.


So here's my analogy for surviving teaching: think of teaching like driving a car. 


Imagine you're driving along a path and even now and then, the terrain changes - sometimes it's smooth but more often than not, it's a little rough! The terrain symbolises variables like your mood, student behaviour and other incidences that occur on a daily basis that may disrupt your "ride".


On your journey, your goal is to pick up some hitchhikers and take them where they need to go. Some of these are compulsory, but then there are some that are optional. Each of these hitchhikers represent a responsibility you have to fulfill (compulsory things being lesson preparation, grading, parents' evenings, teaching, family etc. and optional being extra-curricular clubs, creating your own resources, attending sports games, staff committee meetings, social commitments etc.)

​More often than not, being the generous, nice people that we are, we feel bad leaving all those hitchhikers in the lurch so we pick up loads of them and of course, our car gets a little too full; before we know it, it becomes much harder to drive. The car gets sluggish from all the extra weight and so more fuel is needed to run it. Soon you realise your tank is almost empty and you're physically not able to go on much longer. Sound about right so far?


You see a gas station in the distance but you're not sure you have enough in the tank to make it there.


You have 2 choices. You can either:

a) put your foot down and force the car to drive as hard as it can to hopefully make it to the place where you can finally refuel (also known as a weekend / long  break!) or,
 
b) you can choose to pause, breathe and just let some people out of the car to lighten the load so you can get to the gas station safely in one piece.  
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I've found that the key to survival and protecting your well-being is recognising when you reach that crucial point of: do I put my foot down and push myself to exhaustion just to say "I made it carrying all these hitchhikers even though it almost killed me"? Or do you say "Sorry, but what use is my car if it breaks from trying to push it too hard carrying hitchhikers that I didn't even need to pick up? Some of the extra load has to go so I can carry the essential hitchhikers to the end and do my job well".


Does that make sense? Feel free to back and read it a few more times if you need to as I want to be sure you really get this!


It's all about priorities. Know what your non-negotiables are and do what you have to to get them done. By all means pick up some extra responsibilities if you can take them, but don't feel obliged to if your "car" is already full and you know you don't have the energy to carry them right now. And not that you would, but it shouldn't be an excuse to do the bare minimum of course! You want to be the best teacher you be and you should pick up a few hitchhikers every now and then to contribute to your school and support your community, but you must know when it is getting too much and take steps to protect yourself: stop the car and get rid of some of the "extra weight" you're carrying.

Your main goal is to reach your destination (do your job) with your car in one piece (your body in full health). 

Final note from me that I have learnt and wish someone had told me earlier: you have to protect yourself in teaching. Others will happily drive past and let you pick up all the hitchhikers. Believe me, they're not monitoring what is an appropriate workload for you: it's down to you to accept or decline anything not compulsory. Only you know your limits. Recognise the signs and do not feel bad if you have to start cutting some things loose, whether in school or even your home life.