observations

A few months ago (around the start of March) my principal came up with a "Plan for Improvement" for me, after some parent complaints (which the parents never first brought to me). One of the things on the plan was for me to observe the 4th grade teacher 3 times before the end of the year. At the time I wasn't really sure how I was going to do this, since her and I have the same planning periods, meaning the free time that I would have to observe her, she also doesn't have students. There are maybe 1 or 2 times a week, when I'm free and she has students. Anyways, I had pretty much forgotten about the observing. That is until today, when about 5 minutes after I get here in the morning, my pricipal comes in and asks if I've observed the 4th grade teacher yet. I say no and she says that I have to do it before the end of the year. At this point I'm still trying to figure out in my mind when I'm going to do it. This also made for a bad start to the day. Anyways, I later realized that my students have an extra "special" on Thursday afternoons. I decided that I could observe the 4th grade this afternoon. I ask the teacher if this would be okay and she said sure. I then let my principal know this by email. To that she responded that the plan said I have to observe the 4th grade teacher 3 times. I told her that we have the same planning period, so I don't think that I can fit it into my schedule before the end of the year (there is only 1 week left). My principal hasn't responded to that email. I know that I shouldn't have waitied until the last minute, but I honestly had forgotten about having to do the observations until this morning. I also get frustrated because the principal acts like the 4th grade teacher can do no wrong and it the world's best teacher and I know that isn't the case. While I know that I have things to work on, especially in the area of classroom management, I've seen problems with the 4th grade teachers classroom management too. I just feel like the principal thinks that the 4th grade teacher is just the best at everything and that I need to be just like her. Well I'm sorry, but I'm my own person and I have a different teaching style. It's just frustrating because sometimes I feel like I don't do anythingn right. I just do everything wrong and I'll never please anyone.