CO #1

My class room observation of Natalie’s composition class on 2/12/13 was interesting for me to sit through as I had some concerns about how to go about teaching writing.  Writing is something that seems to make a lot of sense for me, but I also realize that it is not always so easy to get students to actually write in the way that you would like them to.  I had heard a lot of good things about Natalie from my tutee and from my conversation partners, so I was excited to sit in her class and see exactly how she encourages students to write about certain topics.  In the class I sat in, she focused mainly on timed writing because the students were going to have a practice TOEFL timed writing test on that Thursday.  She kept it simple, which seemed to work really well and it also seemed like she had worked on different types of essay writing in the weeks before.  The students were working on writing their timed introductions, which I thought was helpful because even I get a little caught up in writing a thesis for timed writing exercises.  She had the students brainstorm for three minutes and then allowed two minutes for actual writing.  I had thought that maybe the students would find that a bit of a time crunch, but they actually seemed to really have the hang of it.  After the five minute period, Natalie had students read their thesis statement if they should want to.  However, I did take note that she would try to get the more quiet students to read their ideas, but didn’t push them if they seemed uncomfortable.  My tutee, Patricia, seemed very at ease with writing and I was so proud to listen to her read off her statements and could see that she really had a good hang of the idea that was being presented to her in class.  While students were going over their thesis statements Natalie always had some positive reinforcement to make them feel good about sharing.  Even her corrections were made gently and the students didn’t seem to feel upset about being called out in class on them.  The construction noises became REALLY distracting for me at one point, but Natalie made an effort not to let them bother her and the other students seemed to block them out as well.  She told them that maybe they should look into buying earplugs for the timed writing on Thursday and one of the students said, “There are some students learning during the war, so the noise is a small matter to me,” which struck  me as almost beautiful because the student was right.  It also made me fully realize the lengths to which students appreciate learning here at FSU.  Natalie employed great use of the board.  Every time a student had a question about a word or saying she would, more than likely, put it up on the board for the student (and everyone else) to see.  It was pretty obvious that the students respected her and what she had to say.