I’m being observed tomorrow. Here’s what I WON’T change about my teaching.

Tomorrow, my principal is coming into my classroom to observe me.

Even after more than 13 years in education, knowing someone will be sitting in the room with a clipboard and a laptop still creates a little extra pressure. Suddenly, it feels tempting to create the most impressive lesson possible, with elaborate activities, perfectly timed transitions, and materials my students have never seen before.

But I’m not doing that.

I’ll make sure my lesson is prepared. I’ll have my materials ready, my learning target posted, and a clear plan for what students should learn.

But I won’t turn observation day into a performance. My principal should see the classroom my students experience every day—not a completely different version created for one carefully scheduled lesson.

Here’s what I won’t be changing for my observation. My hope is that you read this and can take a little of the pressure or stress off of your own shoulders. You don’t need to plan your most spectacular lesson every for your observation, either. Just go in and teach as you always do. It essentially always goes more smoothly that way.

I Won’t Introduce a Complicated New Activity

Observation day is not the day to test an elaborate activity simply because it looks impressive.

If students have to learn three new procedures before they can access the actual lesson, I’m no longer showing what they know. I’m measuring how quickly they can adjust to an unfamiliar routine while another adult watches them.

Instead, I’ll use structures and routines that my students already understand. They’ll know where to find their materials, how to participate, what to do when they finish, and how to ask for help. That familiarity allows them to focus their attention on the content instead of trying to figure out a brand-new activity. Most of my observation rubric where I teach is focused on content knowledge and students’ participation in that content. If I clog up the lesson with a complicated routine, partner activity, or elaborate project…it’s hard for my principal to assess how well the students are learning.

Predictable does not mean boring. It means students have enough mental space to do the important thinking.

I Won’t Pretend My Class Isn’t Chatty

This year, I have an especially talkative group of students.

I could design an observation lesson that keeps them silent from beginning to end, but that wouldn’t give my principal an accurate picture of the class—or of the classroom management decisions I make every day. My students will probably talk. Someone may call out. A transition may take longer than I hoped.

What matters is what happens next. Can I redirect students without stopping the entire lesson? Do they know the expectations? Can we reset and keep going? Have I created routines that help students return to learning?

Strong classroom management does not mean students never make an imperfect choice. It means the classroom can recover without every small problem becoming a major disruption.

I Won’t Remove Student Independence

When someone is observing us, it can be tempting to control every part of the lesson. We explain more, remind more, and step in more quickly because we want everything to run smoothly. This has been my own feedback from my principals on observations more times than I can count.

But if I do everything for my students, my principal won’t get to see what they can do.

Learning is supposed to be messy. And kids learn best when they have the chance to explore and draw conclusions in their own time. If I hyper-control the conversation, the routines, the way they interact with the learning, I may rob them of dozens of lightbulb moments.

Student independence may not look flashy, but it is one of the most important things I can build in my classroom.

I Won’t Create a “Perfect” Class for One Lesson

My classroom includes gifted students, students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and students working at many different levels.

They will not all respond to the lesson in the same way. I could definitely go on a tangent about the observation system, the rubrics, and how we’re scored exactly one way, despite being asked to meet the needs of so many different types of learners…but, I digress. This is the teaching world we currently live in, and we must make the best of it.

Some students will understand the concept immediately and be ready to extend their thinking. Others will need another example, a visual model, a smaller step, or more time. I’m not going to hide that range during my observation. That range is part of my daily teaching life. There will be no way for me to magically get them all on the same page for a single day. So I won’t even try.

Differentiation does not always mean preparing a completely separate lesson for every student. Sometimes it means asking different questions, providing additional support, offering another representation, or adjusting the level of independence.

I want my principal to see how I respond to the students who are actually in front of me, not how smoothly a lesson can move when every difference has been edited out.

I Won’t Rush Because Someone Is Watching

I know what happens when I become too aware of the clock: I start talking faster.

Then I begin moving through examples before students have had enough time to think. I shorten discussion. I answer questions that I should have allowed students to answer. I hurry toward the next part of the lesson because I want my plan to fit neatly into the observation window.

But finishing every activity is not the same as teaching the lesson well. If students need another example, we’ll do another example.

If their responses show that they are confused, I’ll adjust. If a valuable discussion takes longer than expected, I may let it continue.

The lesson plan should guide my teaching. It should not prevent me from responding to my students.

I Won’t Expect Perfection From Myself

There will probably be something I wish I had explained differently.

A student may ask a question I didn’t anticipate. A transition may feel awkward. The technology could refuse to cooperate at the exact moment I need it. That does not automatically mean the lesson was unsuccessful.

I want to walk away from my observation asking useful questions:

• Did students understand what they were learning?

• Were they doing the thinking?

• Did I notice and respond when they needed support?

• Did our routines protect instructional time?

• What should I keep, and what should I adjust next time?

Those questions will help me grow much more than asking whether every minute looked perfect, and will honestly check way more boxes on my principal’s rubric than I would if I tried to make everything as smooth and impressive as possible.

I Want My Principal to See My Real Classroom

I care about doing well during my observation. I want my principal to see thoughtful instruction, meaningful student participation, and a classroom that runs effectively.

But I also want the lesson to be honest. I am doing quality teaching every day, so I don’t need to prepare anything special just because someone is watching.

So yes, I’ll prepare carefully.

I’ll think through the lesson, organize the materials, and make sure I know exactly what I want students to learn.

But I won’t create a one-day version of my classroom.

The goal isn’t to prove that I can produce one perfect lesson while someone watches. The goal is to show that, on an ordinary day, my students and I have built a classroom that works.

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