Over the last few years, almost all local education boards in Japan have redesigned their teacher evaluation methods. Consequently, questions then arise as to whether the new policies and practices are control measures for teachers' performance and competence or do they represent an opportunity for authentic professional development? With this in mind, in the present paper, I will focus on how the new teacher evaluation methods are engendering and endangering relationships with teachers. For this purpose, I will employ what I call a "work through", as opposed to a "work upon", model of performativity. This "work through" model of performativity, which pays more attention to micro-politics and micro-power relations, would allow us to draw a more subtle picture of not only the manner in which teacher evaluation is being conducted in schools but also how performativity is being applied in schools. An analysis of the teacher evaluation procedures will be presented to illustrate the necessity and usefulness of this model. (Contains 2 tables and 2 notes.)