Classroom teaching observations for Kate Perkins (Fall 2015)

Submitted to Tenure Review Committee by Tim Hood

English 121 Course/observed September 30

Kate began the class by previewing todays content (writing with satire) and
nicely connecting it with previous discussion
Students were asked to divide into groups, after downloading and listening to
popular songs with an ear for lyrics that made use of satireeach group
considering a different song
An excellent guiding question for discussion posed by Kate was, How can
irony or satire effectively be used by writers for impact?
Kate then provided each group with printed lyrics for the song which they had
begun to analyze, and they were asked to search for irony in the messages

Observers note: Students were quite engaged in this exercise and the instructor
did a nice job of moving from group to group to help facilitate discussion.

After 10-12 minutes of discussion, each group was asked to report to class
regarding their observations of the lyrics analyzed
Kate pulled relevant and consistent conclusions from shared comments, then
transitioned discussion to a short story that students had been assigned to
read (The Lottery)
Students were then asked to construct elements of text analysis for the
story, to include questions about the story that were to be complex and openended, and that would elicit responses that are debatable
After giving them several minutes to construct questions, Kate asked
students to write at least one of their questions from analysis of the story on
the board
Once all students had written a question on the board, all were asked to
approach the board and mark their top 5 questions from those offered, in
terms of quality and relevance of questions

Observers note: It was interesting to see students gravitate toward what

seemed to me to be questions which would provoke the highest levels of critical
thinkingand effective pedagogy to have them pose and address their own
best of the best questions as determined by the class (which were mostly the
same questions that I believe most instructors would have chosen).

Next, five new groups were formed, and each group was given one of the five
text analysis questions to discuss and share responses toward
About ten minutes of lively discussion emerged, and all groups once again
seemed quite engaged and serious about exchanging thoughts

After these group discussions (during which, Kate was once again moving
from group to group in a non-intrusive, yet helpful manner), debriefing was
an interesting and natural method chosen to bring the exercise to closure,
and to transition toward an excellent class discussion regarding questions
that writers may anticipate, and in some ways strategically plan, to be
pondered by readers

It was also emphasized by the instructor that critical readers (and thinkers)
need to base conclusions, or answers to their questions, on evidence
provided by writersand that as writers, we should be thoughtful in providing
such evidence

A critical analysis of assigned story was made, and requirements for

addressing text analysis questions were reviewed for the writing assignment

Observers summary:
I was quite impressed with a number of teaching moments (some planned and
expected/some surely unexpected) which resulted from the engaging student
discussions. Kate made the most of each teaching moment, and it was nice that
so many of the questions that she could have posed actually came from the
students.
It was also notable that the students remained on task with their exercises and
direction from Kate, with very few distractions and no indications of boredom at
all. Normally when an outsider (like me) joins the class as an observer, it can be
a distraction; however, with this class during this session, students were so
interested in what they were doing and discussing that my presence made very
little difference to them.
Obviously, this class had truly become a learning community before my visit,
which is remarkable considering how early in the semester it was on this date.
Attendance was good, participation was excellent, and learning was in full
bloom.