Jaime CO1

On July 7^th I observed Ryan Flemming’s upper level speaking class. The class had around 12 people and Ryan started with a warm welcome and a roll call which was evident that he tried to pronounce his students’ names as closely as possible to their native language. (At least for the ones who didn’t have English names.)
Ryan went over a review (by asking the class) of what had been done yesterday. He then presented a schedule of the day’s activities. (The schedule listed presentation, feedback, and discussions.)
One of the students, Ahmed, gave a presentation on Earth’s Atmosphere, during which the class was engaged and cheerful. I thought it was good that Ryan sat with the students during the presentation, giving full attention to the presenter as well as being close to moderate any chatter. It was apparent that students were learning their presentation style from Ryan. Ahmed began with a schedule and incorporated some student interaction. (I learned quite a bit from his presentation.)

During the feedback part of the class, Ryan made sure to explain his rubric before giving out small sheets that contained students’ errors. Ryan also provided all the students with a calendar and alerted them about changes to the schedule. He made sure that all students wrote down their error quiz that would be on the following Monday. Ryan had eight sentences or phrases on his feedback sheets that students had made ‘beautiful mistakes’ on during their presentations. “Ask classmates for help and then consult me.” Students paired off naturally, and reviewed each other’s mistakes. I liked that Ryan had students get into pairs with someone with a different native language than their own to review each other’s grammar and pronunciation mistakes. (five minutes for each)

As a teacher Ryan is confident, friendly, and encouraging. He maintains a natural and efficient flow in class that seems to make his students feel comfortable as well as productive.

The last part of class was dedicated to impending student lead discussions. Students had to get in pairs, and pick a controversial topic where one student would be pro and one would be con. Together they would lead a class discussion. Ryan showed students useful websites, presented them with a list of topic ideas, and walked around to supervise group feedback as well as provide any guidance students might need. Overall the students seem thoroughly engaged.