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Content: Worse still is the observer who says, “It was great but I can’t give you a 1 because [insert stupid reason here].” There is a special hell reserved for such people. Lesson observation, if it is to be productive and actually help teachers improve, needs to focus less on making judgements and more on teasing out teachers’ expertise. To that end the observer needs to adjust their stance and assume that the teacher knows far more about their class than they are likely to pick up in the 20 minutes or so that they hang around. Instead of making silly comments like, “That boy made no progress.” They need to ask, “Has that boy made any progress?” Now, if as a teacher, we answer, “I don’t know.” Then we’re asking for it. We’re giving up our right to be treated like an expert. But if we can demonstrate our knowledge of said student and point (in his book) to the progress he has made over time, what rational human being could argue with this?