Jordan Brown

Justin Lohr
ENGL388V – 3001
15 February 2019
Returning UTA Class Observation’s

UTA Observed:
Mattie Solomon (ENGL398A – Writing about the Arts)

Reflection:

This semester, I had the opportunity to observe Mattie as she served as the UTA for
ENGL398A, Writing about the Arts. Although this was my second observation it was the first
time I was able to witness another UTA in “action”. Last semester, being the only student in
Justin Lohr’s section, I ended up observing his class, Writing for the Health Professions. While I
thoroughly enjoyed observing Justin, it was equally nice to watch a fellow UTA in the
classroom. Specifically, I was most interested in observing how the UTA balanced the
responsibilities (and relationship) of being a peer while also establishing her leadership role in
the classroom.
In this particular class, Mattie was flying solo as her instructor was out of town. This
served as an excellent scenario to establish her role as a supplement to her instructor. Although I
know that is not the typical dynamic of the class, it was interesting observing Mattie take lead.
Prior to class Mattie emailed me notifying me that during class, the students would be engaging
in a draft workshop, thus, she wouldn’t be giving much instruction after the beginning of class.
Nevertheless, in the beginning of class Mattie did a great job engaging students. Before class
began Mattie asked the student’s if they had done anything fun or relating to the arts recently.
Aside from the obvious connection to class, I think afforded room for Mattie to become
personable with the students, and vice versa. Allowing the students to share their interests and
events that happened in their non-academic life appeared to help establish Mattie’s role as both a
peer but also an interested instructor. After some of the students shared, Mattie addressed the
obvious elephant in the room, her leading class instead of the instructor. Despite this, Mattie led
right into the plans for the class and passed out the draft workshop worksheet. While observing, I
really admired how clear Mattie was when detailing the assignment and the expectations with
students. I think spending the time up front to iron out any concerns left space for students to
maximize their draft workshop time with peers.
After splitting the students into groups, Mattie walked around asking students if they had
any questions before beginning the assignment. At this time, a couple of students entered the
class late. After disseminating the two into pre-existing groups, Mattie worked with the two
groups to decide how to peer review the drafts of the two new additions. For the rest of the class,
Mattie mostly monitored students from the front of the class. Nonetheless, I think Mattie’s clear
instructions in the beginning of class aided to the activity running so smoothly.
As a fellow UTA, this observation allowed me to consider parallels I would like to see
implemented in my own classroom. There are a variety of differences between our classes, such
as Mattie UTA-ing for a Professional Writing course (meaning all students are in junior standing
or higher), and I UTA for ENGL101 (mostly, if not all freshmen). These differences, I believe,
account for aspects such as UTA involvement and leadership. For example, the amount of
instruction required for the assignments in ENGL definitely restrict the amount of interjections to
ensure we complete all of the material outlined for that class. Despite limitations as such,
observing Mattie definitely reminded me that there are ways to engage with students in a
personable manner without compromising the professional role of the UTA. During draft
workshops, I want to perhaps send a reminder/ speak before class to outline the expectations
clearly and ensure students are really getting the most out of their time in order to improve their
writing.
Observation Notes: