Observer: Wendy Schmiedeler

Teacher: Ms. Abby Hasebroock

Date: October 31, 2016
Class: Junior British Literature- H Period- C Day

Dear Abby,

Thank you for the opportunity to visit your H period British Literature class on Monday,
10/31/16. I arrived at 11:47 and left at 12:07. Below is a summary, with comments, of what
I observed:

As I entered the room, students were gathered in groups at six different stations*
around the perimeter of the room. Students were reading documents on the wall,
discussing among themselves, and recording notes. Projected on the white board was
the following:

Stations Activity
- In our last class, you did some research on anti-feminism in the Middle Ages.
Spend a few minutes reading over the
collaborative Google Slides presentation that your classmates worked on. . .
- Lets connect that research to key passages from The Wifes Prologue.
- Visit the 6 stations around that room; each presents a passage or a task or
questions for analysis.
- Find the specified passages in your text.
- Annotate or bracket each passage.
- In the margins, compose a response to the question.
* The six stations included passages/ideas from the Wifes Prologue that reveal her views on
1.) marriage, 2.) virginity, 3.) sex as a tool, 4.) the first literary feminist, 5.) what men say
about women, 6.) what a woman knows.

As students were working, you circulated among the groups. You stopped to talk with a
student at the back/window-side station. The student pointed to a portion of the
posted document and asked, Do you know what this says? You replied, I do know
that it says. What do you think it says? Two additional students joined the group and
you engaged in a conversation with the group about the artifact. Students nodded their
heads as you discussed and seemed to understand the explanation.

At 11:49, you moved to help another group at the back (3 boys). After listening to them
talk, you said, See, youre great at this. . .This reminds me of the Pardoner. You
listened for a bit longer and at 11:52 moved to another group of students (3 girls, 1 boy)
working at the front/window-side of the room. The girls finished their work and left;
you stayed with the boy. You asked him to read the passage out loud and then you
asked him a series of questions, which he was able to answer.

At 11:54, you moved to a group of five boys working at the front. After briefly listening,
you said, This is probably the greatest quote of the whole thing. The student replied,
Wait, so youre saying. . . [something about the Bible]. You affirmed the students
interpretation and explained the double standard (men having multiple wives/women
not) the Wife articulates in her "Prologue." You also stated to the entire class, We are
about half-way through, so keep working your way around to all six stations.
 At 11:55 you moved to the fifth station (by the door) and worked with two students there.
At 11:58, you returned to assist a group of three boys working at the front.

At 11:59, you gave a 4-minute warning. You encouraged students to keep working
together.

At 12:01 you joined a girl working alone at the back/window-side station. The student
said, THIS is scandalous . . . You engaged her and asked her questions about why she
felt the quote was scandalous. The student seemed uncomfortable with the Wifes
claims; you encouraged her to consider the context of the time.

At 12:03 you gave a 1-minute warning. Students calmly and quietly returned to their
seats.

At 12:05, you waited for Robert to finish and take his seat. You then began to synthesize
the activity. You encouraged students to put on their historical goggles in order to
pull their findings together. You said,At this point, you are armed with ample
evidence of anti-feminism sentiments from the Middle Ages, as well as the Wifes
response to these sentiments and instructed students to return to their previous
research small groups to discuss their findings. I left at 12:07.

Thank you for allowing me to visit this class, Abby. Your students were engaged, participatory,
and respectful. It was clear that you had crafted a thoughtful and organized lesson, and your
reminders to students showed you were cognizant of pacing. Throughout the duration of this
activity, you circulated among students, assisting and encouraging them as needed. You did a
good job getting to all students/stations in a short amount of time; your interactions were
efficient, but not rushed.

Station activities are an excellent way to get students engaged and physically interactive in their
learning, but the challenge is often managing the completion of all the tasks/stations. I wonder
if there might be a way to streamline how the students complete the tasks? (For example, in
reviewing the tasks, I suspect that Task 5 could take 15 minutes alone.) Perhaps students could
read all six tasks, but then complete three? Maybe you could jigsaw the small groups, so that
each member completes two and then reports back to the group? Given the time limitations of
our classes, it seemed like it would be difficult to complete all the tasks as expected and still get
to all six. Clustering/physical space is also a challenge. I wonder if there is a way to designate
how many students are working on a task at an given time. Perhaps you could create a system
for rotating around the room? The benefits of this activity far outweigh the challenges, so I
would encourage you to continue using these strategies and experiment with some
modifications.

Abby, you have a nice rapport with your students and a good command of the material and
instruction. Thank you for your continued hard work. I look forward to seeing more of your
classes.

Best,

Wendy
P.S. Thanks, also, for your patience with this report. I am finally catching my breath from the
November 1 deadlines!