Observation of Rachel Molko by Lissa Pompos Mansfield

Friday, September 23, 2016

ENC 1102: Composition II
CNH 207E
9:30 10:20 am
What Happened During Class
This was an interactive and full fifty-minute class period. At this point in the termthe
fifth week of classesstudents had recently submitted their first major writing task (an initial
inquiry into the literate activities of a particular group) and were working on their second major
writing task (a focused data analysis of selected primary and secondary texts). According to
Rachels assignment sheet, students will need to make clear connections between they key
pieces of data [they have] collected and key readings from class... To that end, the focus of this
class session was explaining Swales CARS (Create a Research Space) model so that students
would be able to introduce their topics, briefly describe any prior research about their literate
activities, state the gaps that their inquiry projects were addressing, and preview the focus of
their research. When asked what her goals for this class session were, Rachel responded that she
wanted students to be able to apply the CARS model to their essays and understand how each
students introduction would look different due to the unique nature of their projects.
To facilitate these goals, Rachel designed three activities for students to complete during
the class period. The first activity was a quick write. The prompt of the quick write was as
follows: Propose a plan for collecting textual data relating to the literate activities/genres from
your community. Why is this relevant to your research question? What are you hoping to learn
from analyzing this? Beneath these questions, Rachel also included a note that students should
write down any questions they have about their projects or homework. Her students began
working on this quick write at 9:30 and were given approximately six minutes to complete it.
Once most students were done writing, Rachel asked the class if anyone had a general question
they would like to ask. A few students responded with questions about the expectations for
different drafts of their assignments and what kinds of content they should be including in their
second major essay (e.g., research questions, appendix items). Rachel answered these questions
and then transitioned to the next activity.
The second major activity of this class session was a lecture and discussion about Swales
CARS model. To begin, Rachel pulled up a Google slide presentation titled Were Talking
CARSs Three Big Moves: Establishing a Territory, Establishing a Niche, Occupying a Niche.
She then asked students to get out their textbooks. One student near the front did not have a
book, so she lent him her copy. For the next twenty minutes, Rachel and her students discussed
each move (and sub-step) of the CARS model. During this time, Rachel asked questions to check
for understanding (e.g., Where can we find the CARS model in a research article?, What does
it mean to establish a territory?, What is a topic generalization?, Tell me about question
raising) and students responded by reading sections of the article and restating those ideas in
their own words. This discussion seemed valuable because it accomplished three important
things: 1) students essentially read the article for a second time, which suggests that they
refreshed their memories about this important course concept, 2) students used their textbooks to
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support their answers, and 3) students connected this abstract concept to their own research
projects by asking questions about how they might use these moves in their own essay
introductions.
At this point in the class session, students seemed to have a good grasp of the purposes
for each of the three CARS moves. The third and final activity of the day was a small group
discussion aimed at helping students to identify the three CARS moves in articles they had
already read. The reading choices were Green, Grabill, Fishman, Winsor, Marro, Grant-Davie,
Prior, and Straub. At around 10:00, Rachel gave instructions for the small group activity:
students were to get into their peer review groups, identify where the three moves were located
in the article Rachel assigned them, and prepare to present their findings to the class.
Unfortunately, because of time constraints, students were not able to present their findings to the
entire class, but they did discuss their articles with Rachel.
During the last twenty minutes of class, Rachel explained students homework, collected
their quick writes, and walked around to each peer review group at two different points. The first
time she visited each group, Rachel asked the students how they felt about identifying the three
moves in their assigned article. The second time she visited each group, Rachel asked the
students to explain where they were seeing examples of each CARS move. The students seemed
comfortable sharing their findings with Rachel, and, for the most part, students stayed on task
throughout the duration of this last activity. At 10:21, Rachel dismissed her students.
Overall Impressions and Thoughts
Overall, I believe that Rachel did a good job of using different types of activities to
promote her students engagement with the class material; in less than an hour, Rachels students
completed an individual quick write, contributed to a class discussion, and worked in small
groups to identify an application of a course concept. That is a lot of ground to cover in such a
small amount of time. Moreover, during each of these activities, students played an active role in
contributing to the knowledge of the class through their questions and examples.
One of the aspects of this class session that I was most impressed by was how well (and
often) students used their textbooks to support their discussions. During the whole-class
discussion and small group activity, students had their books open on their desks and they were
clearly using them. Another impressive aspect of this class session was the way Rachel allowed
students to interact with the material at different levels: individually, with small groups, and with
the entire class. In sum, Rachel did an excellent job of facilitating her students understanding of
a complex concept, and it was a pleasure to observe her teach.
Sincerely,
Lissa Pompos Mansfield
Instructor and Composition Coordinator
Department of Writing and Rhetoric
University of Central Florida
Melissa.Pompos@ucf.edu

writingandrhetoric.cah.ucf.edu P.O. Box 161345 Orlando, FL 32816-1345 407-823-2295 FAX: 407-823-1287

UCF is an equal opportunity and affirmative action institution