What are your thoughts or questions around using technology in our teacher supervision process?

This may have some merit.  Doreen and I spent an hour on the phone with Chris Howerton and a new company called Rubrix.  A rubric or scale for observation / evaluation is developed that is unique to your school or division.  They are very interested in working with Westwind with a significant discount (up to 50%).  It works with computers, Iphones, Blackberry.  You could also use the evaluation for maintenance, cleanliness of buildings, counseling, peer evaluation, report cards...

I am certainly in favor of using technology in most anything that we do, and especially in supervision.  I am interested in tools that surely are available to make the process more effective.  For myself, I do a ton of typing which at times is a little distracting in that I cannot observe as much while I am busy typing.  Neither can I interact with the students or their work.  These are challenges to the system I am using. I am still looking for better ideas.... Any suggestions?

The following quote from the ASCD site that Brenda sent to the CLIC group..... needs to have some discussion among the Principals and teachers in WEstwind....  Please read below:  Any comments????

Getting to "Good" and Better

Charlotte Danielson, whose framework for teaching sets the norm for instructional quality in schools worldwide, laments that the current culture of teacher evaluation is one of protection and passivity, not professional inquiry. Whereas teacher evaluation could be a powerful point of reflection, support, and growth, statistics show it's often used solely as a rubber stamp or for punitive purposes.

To reverse the widget effect, the report's authors recommend districts:

• Adopt a fair, comprehensive evaluation system that differentiates between teachers based on their effectiveness and provides professional development supports aligned to instructional goals.
• Provide training for administrators and evaluators and hold them accountable for accurately assessing teacher performance.
• Use performance assessments to guide decisions about professional development, assignments, compensation, retention, and dismissal.
• Adopt lower-stakes dismissal policies for ineffective teachers and a system of due process that is fair and efficient.

"Evaluating teachers is really a lot like evaluating artists or programmers or engineers—it's a highly skilled, highly technical profession," Weber explains. "A lot of the conversation about evaluating teachers focuses on weeding out bad teachers, and I think that misses the point. The real work of this is in helping good teachers get better."