Teaching Observations

Observation #1

Lead Teacher Observation

During the first two weeks of the semester I observed my lead teacher Jessica in the English 101.10 course. Unfortunately I was only able to observe her for three out of the five days that the class met per week. During those days I felt as if she really set the tone for the class. I noticed that she was very confident, direct and detail when disseminating information the class. She let the students know that she was not going to lead them by the hand, and that since they were in college they should act like responsible adults.

Follow-Up

Afterwards Jessica and I discussed my role as the co-instructor and how she envisioned my relationship with the students. She said that it would be best if I modeled her behavior when addressing student concerns; mainly holding them responsible for their own learning, “Everything that we do in-class will be posted to the course web-site and to the instructor folders.” She let me know that our teaching styles might not be the same, but we must come together as one in order to have a successful semester.

Observation #2

Peer Observation

On November 13th I observed peer Rob Pickett’s English 101 class which only meets on TR from 8-9AM. I intentionally can to the class thirty minutes after he had started because I wanted to observe him without his knowledge. I stood and watched Rob for about a half an hour. I noticed that he used the chalkboard and stood up in front of the class during the entire time that I was observing him. I also noticed that he did a lot of explaining and had to answer numerous questions raised by students on the subject of grammar mechanics. I got the impression that his students were experiencing difficulty with grammar in their papers and therefore I was also under the impression that Rob must have really focused in grammar when grading students’ papers.

Follow-Up

After the class ended I let Rob know that I had been observing him and asked for his permission to put my observations in my teaching journal. Upon agreeing, I told him that since I knew he had an INFJ personality, I thought he would be more laid back. I let him know that he taught using the current/traditional approach. He let me know that this particular class was giving him many problems, therefore he had to change his teaching style to fit the situation that he was experiencing with his students. He did let me know that in other situation, his would use the a collaborative learning, teacher as facilitator approach.

Teaching Observations (cont.)

Observation #3

Program Assistant Observation

On November 17 I observed Jeff Ludwig’s English 246 class. I noticed a enormous amount of differences between the first-year English 101 composition course and the third year expository writing course. I thought Jeff was a pretty laid back instructor and that the students seemed to be very comfortable with him. I did not notice any problems with him having to assert authority or with any disrespect from the students. I also noticed that Jeff was able to do more during his peer response and revision sessions. He was also able to be one of the group members during the in-class peer review session. He was able to let his students utilize email for an out-of class response to drafts and students would divide into groups and discuss the comments that they made to each others’ papers. What I liked most about this method for peer response was that there were four students peer day who were chosen for students to respond to their papers only. The next day each of the four selected students rotated from one group to another, receiving peer response from all of his/her classmates.

Follow-up

After class, Jeff and I discussed the differences between the first year English 101 course and the third year English 246 course. We both agreed that I would not be able to do the type of peer response that he does in his class, because students are not as mature. In addition Jeff told me that all of the students in class were English students and were therefore more committed to giving and receiving helpful responses to each other. Unlike the students in English 101, who ranged in majors and mainly cared about the comments they received instead of the comments that they were giving to peers.