Kelly 1 Meaghan A. Kelly ENGL 801 Dr. Mary Jo Reiff 11/26/2012 Classroom Observation: Sara A.

Leavens The class starts out like any other: students are trickling in, taking their seats, chatting with one another, and looking at their cell phones. Sara is at the front of the room, greeting students while writing on the whiteboard. She is putting up the daily agenda, entitling the lesson an enthusiastic Debate Day! Today, students will be practicing their own rhetorical skills in an informal debate on a topic that Sara has assigned them. It is scaffolding for their upcoming writing project (a class Blog based on a common topic). The agenda is written on the board, and not only offers an outline of the upcoming debate schedule, but also gives time parameters to make sure that everything set out in the agenda is accomplished within the 50 minute class. Once the clock turns to 11:00, Sara asks everyone to put away their cell phones and focus their attention up to the front of the room. She is kind and casual in her delivery, but her authority is clear in that the students all abide by her request. Sara goes over the agenda on the board, asks for responses from the class, and multiple students offer their input without hesitation. She implores those who are watching while the debates are occurring to take notes on the event, as their journal assignment for the next class will ask them to reflect on their experiences watching their classmates hold discussion. This is also a form of scaffolding, as the students will take part in a higher stakes reflection paper as a part of their upcoming writing project. As the class officially commences, Sara reminds the class that it is Friday, so their free-writing time can be spent on their own personal creative outlets or can serve as preparation time for their debates. She turns on music as the students write, and later, explains to me that at the beginning of the semester students signed up to send in their music choices for Free-write Fridays. Each week,

Kelly 2 three students songs are played while the class free-writes. Saras classroom is just as much her students class as it is hers--she makes it known that their individuality is valued, and Free-write Fridays with music is just one of the ways in which she does this. As the students work for the first fifteen minutes, she visits the groups who have decided to do prep work and converses with them. She smiles often, asks questions, and gives positive feedback as well as suggestions. After the initial free-writing session, Sara brings the class back as a whole group, doing a final once-over of the plan before diving in. This lesson is particularly well-structured, as every student must be engaged, whether they are debating or observing as a part of the gallery. In order to complete their upcoming journal assignment, they must pay good attention to what is happening in the debates. The first two debates begin, and students seem well-prepared and unafraid to express their opinions. In the middle of this first session, a student gets Saras attention and expresses to her that it is challenging for him to argue a side with which he does not agree. Sara takes this students difficulties and uses them as a teaching moment. She pauses the debates and talks to the class as a whole, asking if any one else is having such a difficulty. Multiple students nod their heads, and a few offer their opinions of this challenge. Sara calls on the students who are watching this particular debate (the topic being: Do Beauty Pageants Merely Objectify Women?) and asks what they are gleaning from the experience in watching this particular student argue a side he does not believe. A few students chime in, saying that they, too, must argue a point they do not agree with, and they are gaining a few strategies from this student in watching him. By doing this, Sara has turned one students struggle with the assignment in to a way for the class to bond and problem-solve. It was an impressive display of extemporaneously adjusting the lesson plan, and had a very positive effect on the class as a whole. The debates resume, and Sara takes a mostly hands-off approach from this point.

Kelly 3 However, she is very attuned to what is going on, and steps in when participants dont seem to be pulling their weight in the discussions. This is done with a provoking question which engages the student back in to the conversation. The debates wind down, and Sara uses the last few minutes to open up the floor to a large-group discussion. She asks questions and brings up parts of the debates she thought were particularly interesting, and students are engaged and unafraid to contribute to the conversation. When they do, Sara encourages their input and questions, and celebrates those who take risks, either in admitting their discomfort in arguing a side or congratulating a peer for a job well done. Overall, Sara is an encouraging, attentive, and well-prepared instructor who prioritizes the engagement of her students in the classroom community by challenging them to step outside their comfort zones and by rewarding them when they do so.