Dear

Tyler,

Thank you for letting me observe your class on September 20 from 8:00-8:50 AM in Reed Hall 417. Your goals for
that day were to ensure that students understood the Profile of a Place genre using the Socratic Circle, and to
have them start collecting information and drafting Essay 2.

You began class by giving a recap of what you did last time, and then you spoke about conferences and due dates.
I feel you have a great teachers voice because of how it projected across the room. (No, I do not mean to say that
you are loud J ). You explained that the students would be doing an active annotation of Saturday Night at the
Zydeco for around 15 minutes, and that then they would sit in the Socratic Circle. Most of your students were
listening closely to what you were saying, except for a few football players who were either chatting together or
looking at their phones. You quickly addressed the issue, though, by mentioning that they should be focusing on
the assignment instead of talking. Then, you gave out highlighters and pens and described what students would
be doing for this activity (what to highlight, what to underline, and to write notes in the margin, etc.) Most
students were done before the 15-minute deadline, so you asked for some examples of what they annotated. It
seemed that they had done this activity before and that they enjoyed using the highlighters to draw attention to
important information. I really liked this idea and might try it in my class because I found it to be helpful to
students to closely read a text, especially for writing RAPs or identifying features of the form.

After your students were done annotating, you explained the rules of the Socratic Circle and how it is more of a
discussion than a debate. You also made it clear that they would be leading this discussion and that you would
watch them, take notes, and only intervene if they got stuck. I appreciated how enthusiastic you were about this
activity and I think that made students excited to try it. I wasnt sure how the football players would react in the
circle, but I was pleasantly surprised as they took part, just like the rest of the students. I was also impressed at
how well this activity went; there wasnt a silent moment, save for a few times when you guided them by asking
another question to keep the discussion going. They switched from inner to outer circle a couple of times, so that
every student got two turns in the inner circle and two in the outer. All in all, it seemed like the students really
benefited from this activity and I believe you should see the evidence of that in their drafts.

Finally, you wrapped up the session by telling students what they needed to bring for next class, and what you
would be working on next time. Overall, I believe this class demonstrated your great time-management skills
because you met every single deadline you set for yourself. You didnt run over time, and yet the activities didnt
feel too rushed, either. You also did a great job of connecting these activities to your main purpose, which is to
have them know what to include in their Profile of a Place essay and how to organize their information. Most
importantly, I feel the students enjoyed and benefited from these activities. One thing I sympathize with you
about is having to deal with those football players. The three sitting in the front seemed to be the ones who, I
assume, give you the most trouble in terms of paying attention, talking too much (with each other), or playing
with their phones. However, you handled those issues directly and, for the most part, they listened.

Thanks again or letting me visit! Good luck for the rest of the semester!

Dana Aicha Shaaban