Classroom Observation Report, 2/15/2024
Classroom timestamps:
- Before class: Two students ask questions of Sarah before class starts at the lectern. Soft music is playing.
- 2:01-2:02: Attendance via instructor-led roll call
- 2:02-2:04: Check-in question- do students want to finish Beowulf?
- 2:04-2:06: Students complete a warm-up activity summarizing the current status of the Beowulf story individually on paper or laptops. About 70% of students appear to be fully engaged in the task for the entire duration (a few are checking phones, reading a book).
- 2:06-2:10: Sarah summarizes some of the more confusing plot points of Beowulf.
- 2:10-2:13: Students complete a think-pair-share considering the questions “Why are we reading this?” and “How do you feel about Beowulf?”
- 2:13-2:21: Class conversation debriefing their conversations. 10 unique students volunteer, and you call on one student who did not volunteer.
- 2:21-2:25: Students complete a think-pair-share considering the question “What is this story really about?”
- 2:25-2:35: Class conversation debriefing their conversations. 5 additional unique students have volunteered at this point.
- 2:35-2:42: Sarah introduces the Jan. 6 riots and its relevance to Beowulf.
- 2:42-2:59: Class conversation about why Beowulf as a story is appealing to far right extremist groups.
- 2:59-3:05: Wrap up and reminders.
Themes from observer:
Student engagement: There was wide participation by most students throughout the course. Between large and small group activities, only 2 students did not meaningfully participate (e.g. pay close attention to conversation, take notes, share thoughts, listen carefully to others). The instructor encourages this in several ways I saw: Creating a variety of opportunities for reflection and engagement, including minute-papers, think-pair-shares, selective cold-calling after students have prepared with in and out of class work, and large group conversations. Each large group conversation was also scaffolded clearly with small group conversations or out of class work. The tracking of participation was unobtrusive and did not appear to cause stress or anxiety for any students.
Concept complexity: Each activity from the first to the last demanded a high level of subject matter familiarity and higher-order thinking (e.g. not simply ‘remember’ but ‘analyze, apply, create’) from students. This trust in students to be able to do the work appeared to contribute to the intellectually stimulating conversation that took place. There are also opportunities to further clarify complex concepts or flag the pieces of bigger ideas. For example, in this lesson there was significant conversation about historical-context-learned-from-literature and modern categories of analysis, difficult things that senior scholars sometimes forget. It is possible to do both!