Observation Notes
Observed: September 22, 2017 - Observing ENGL101S (TA: Corrine)
*Concentration for the class: Political Movements of the 1960’s
Environment / Class
Actual Class
Pre-Class
Student engagement questions
UTA Extra Questions to Consider:
*Concentration for the class: Political Movements of the 1960’s
Environment / Class
- Had to switch rooms last minute
- Set up the projector
- Lights off at first
- Blended Learning Class
- Mondays and Fridays 1-1:50
- Online “Virtual Period” on Wednesday
- They do discussion boards (large ones) and then they talk about the board’s content in the Friday class
- Corrine is online available during the Wednesday class
Actual Class
- (1-1:15PM)
- Corrine’s activity
- Lasted about 15 minutes
- Watched a video from the 1960’s –intro to their responses in their discussion board
- Asking about what’s obvious and what’s not obvious about the cigarette commercial
- “Who do you guys think is the target audience for this commercial?”
- Dating age
- They’re implying that you’ll be more attractive if you’re smoking a cigarette
- “What are the rhetorical appeals of this commercial?”
- Smoking will make you successful and attractive
- Ethos
- New commercial about cigarettes being bad
- Fun video about why you should “left swipe” on a profile that has cigarette
- “What do you guys think about this commercial?
- Saying the opposite of the 1960’s commercial
- If you’re smoking we don’t want to date you
- Showing that you can do something similar in their rhetorical analysis just like this commercial
- Rhetorical appeals
- Using a lot of pathos
- Corrine is trying to show the students what they can do with different rhetorical appeals to make a claim in their papers
- Class is in rows, not a circle like our usual 101S class
- Lights are off completely except the projector
- (1:15-1:25)
- Then they go into the rhetorical analysis assignment (Professor Catherine takes over)
- Different from what we do in John Kim’s ENGL101S
- This assignment:
- “You will analyze two texts, trying to understand their rhetorical elements”
- Using two different pieces of media and how Kairos (rhetorical situation), logos, ethos, pathos plays a part in these pieces of media
- Then makes a blog in which they need to write text about each piece of media
- Then she shows an example
- Will do a blog tutorial next Monday
- In October, they will deliver a 10-minute presentation and 5-minute discussion about what they’ve learned and their most interesting findings along with providing questions
- 10% of their grade
- people tend to do really well with this assignment
- (1:25-1:35)
- Lights come back on
- Throw out ideas for social movements from the 1960’s that are related to rhetoric and might produce fruitful rhetorical analysis
- Students raise their hands and say something, then the professor writes it on the board
- Very quiet class, none of them are writing notes when they could be (the teacher is literally giving them choices for their assignment)
- (1:35-1:40)
- Get into groups based on the movements that the Professor just put on the board so they can talk about it
- Not extremely responsive
- Corrine’s involvement
- Helping Professor Catherine (from her seat) because students are just really quiet
- Get into groups based on the movements that the Professor just put on the board so they can talk about it
- (1:40-1:50)
- Talk about the topics in groups
Pre-Class
- Who's there first--the instructor or the UTA?
- She sits near the professor and discuss the lesson for the day and participate in discussion if no one’s talking
- Professor takes attendance
- Comes in at 12:50 (Catherine is there first because she teaches beforehand)
- Do they interact with each other when the second one enters the room? Do they interact with students before class officially begins?
- Corrine will ask how everything went when she first comes into the room
- Do they seem prepared for class?
- Extremely
- Do students seem prepared for class?
- Maybe, they’re just quiet
- No electronics rule unless they’re needed
- Are students totally in their own worlds until the second the UTA or the instructor starts the class, or are they getting their books/ notebooks/ laptops out in preparation for the next 50 or 75 minutes of their life?
- No electronic rule unless it’s allowed for peer review
- They’re paying attention (besides like 1 boy) but not really taking notes
- But paying good attention to Corrine and the professor
Student engagement questions
- How do students know that class has officially begun?
- Corrine just straight up started talking.
- How do they know what's going on for the next 50 or 75 minutes? How does this tie in to what they did for homework/ the last class/ the larger assignment they're working on?
- She pulls up the syllabus on the projector and that’s how the students know what they’re going to do for the day
- Are students nominally engaged? Lost? Eager? Confused? Asleep? On Mars? Are they comfortable with each other? Do they interact with each other?
- Not engaged, but they are paying attention
- I can notice people falling asleep
- Maybe has to do with the lights being off and just watching the professor talk
- Do they interact with the UTA and/ or the instructor? When the UTA/ instructor asks questions, do the students respond without too much pain?
- The class is pretty quiet, but they will answer questions that Corrine is asking
- Once the professor introduced the assignment, they got even more quiet and looked obviously overwhelmed
- Professor Catherine definitely noticed because she said “I know this looks like a lot but it actually isn’t and this assignment is really fun and we will have a lot of class time to work on this”
- Raised hands and speak very softly
UTA Extra Questions to Consider:
- What is the UTA doing throughout class? Where is s/he sitting?
- Started the class then sat down in the second row next to another student
- Is s/he taking attendance?
- No, professor does
- Interacting with the instructor?
- Paying attention, nodding head
- Interacting with students?
- Paying attention and nods head when students contribute something helpful to the class discussion
- Is his or her laptop out?
- She doesn’t use her laptop during class
- She has the same rules as the students (her decision, not the professor’s)
- How would you characterize the relationship between the instructor and UTA? Formal? Informal? Comfortable? Stilted? Is the facilitation shared, or is it the instructor's room unless the UTA is specifically called on?
- Informal
- Does not call on Corrine but referenced the activity that she did when she started to go over the assignment
- How would you characterize the relationship between the students and the UTA?
- Nothing that I can see