CLUELESS ABOUT EDUCATION ? PICK A GOLDEN APPLE
The Golden Apple Foundation in my city is looking for volunteers to observe teachers and help select the 2012 Golden Apple Award winners. The foundation said that the volunteers don’t need to have a background in education. The volunteers must attend a 90-minute training session on observing and evaluating the teaching process. Volunteers will observe three or four finalists for one hour each and complete their evaluations.
What could be more simple than that ? Remember, everyone is an expert on education and teachers. (See one of my previous posts on “everyone being an expert on what makes a good teacher”). Ninety minutes of training, a one hour observation, and bingo, we’ve got an evaluation. What if the volunteer is a hidden white racist? Oops, there goes the black teacher’s chances. What if the volunteer hated science when they were in school ? Oops,