Class Observation Materials: ENGL391 (TA: Justin Chang)
The room is in Tawes 0207, which is a decent sized classroom- it was arranged so that the students were sitting in a large circle along the perimeter of the classroom facing the front (and subsequently the professor and TA). Ms. Thomas and Justin were in the room when I arrived, and they had the projector set up already and were quietly discussing something related to food (the class is ENGL391: Advanced Composition- Writing About Food). As the students file in, they all pull out their laptops and quietly use them in the minutes before 5:00. There isn’t much interaction between the students and Ms. Thomas/Justin for now; some of them are on Facebook, some of them are looking at what seemed to be notes from the previous class.
Ms. Thomas started speaking and the attention shifted in the room; there was no warm up but she did briefly recap what they went over last week, and said that she would be introducing the next assignment for the course. Although there are fewer students blatantly scrolling through social media, I didn’t see people exit out of their browsers to listen to Ms. Thomas. However, even the students who had Instagram up on their laptops were answering and asking questions as she talked about the assignment and all of its parts. From what I gathered, the students did not know the full details of what assignment was being introduced that day, but they were aware that there would be one. Because it was a new assignment, there were no prior homework or readings to be completed. The assignment criteria and components were printed and passed out, as well as shown on the projector, and Ms. Thomas went through each component of the overall assignment. It was a “Food or Health Related Proposal”, consisting of a rough idea, elevator pitch, case study, memo of intent, and then a final draft. The students were placed into groups, and each group was decided by the content areas of the last assignment they completed (students who chose similar topics were placed in groups together). The students then got into their groups to discuss how they would go about working on the project. Ms. Thomas had to leave at this point (30 minutes into the 50) and Justin was in charge the rest of the time. The students worked in their groups on planning their projects for the rest of the time, with Justin fielding any questions they had and reminding them about upcoming deadlines.
During class, Justin sat in the front with Ms. Thomas, and was paying attention to her speak while intermittently checking his laptop. They seemed comfortable with each other on a professional, formal level. Facilitation was dominated by Ms. Thomas, but I think that if Justin had anything to add, it wouldn’t have been out of character for him or out of the bounds of their relationship. The students seemed to respect Justin, and I would say that he rested in a place between one of authority and equality. When Ms. Thomas was gone, the students didn’t act any differently than when she was present, and asked him questions that implied they knew he was knowledgeable about the course. Justin works as a line cook at a restaurant in DC, and has experience with food writing, which seemed to be apparent to the class.
One note I have about the class is general is that it’s ENGL391: Advanced Composition, but Ms. Thomas made it a class about food writing; not all 391 sections do this. I spoke to Justin about this and he said that some students are aware of this when they sign up for the class- apparently there’s a Reddit page that talks about it- and others don’t. I asked him if that affects the class’ attitude towards the coursework and he said that it didn’t seem to have made a significant difference.
This made me think of my relationship with Justin (as in my instructor, whom I will refer to as Mr. Lohr for the rest of this reflection in the interest of clarity). Mr. Lohr is definitively an “English person,” having majored in creative writing and theology, if my memory serves me right. He also teaches at Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth for creative writing. Then there is me, a Behavioral & Community Health major with a heavy science background. I like how Mr. Lohr and I have these distinct backgrounds but are bringing them to dialogue in our 395 class, much like Justin is doing with his 391 class.
Ms. Thomas started speaking and the attention shifted in the room; there was no warm up but she did briefly recap what they went over last week, and said that she would be introducing the next assignment for the course. Although there are fewer students blatantly scrolling through social media, I didn’t see people exit out of their browsers to listen to Ms. Thomas. However, even the students who had Instagram up on their laptops were answering and asking questions as she talked about the assignment and all of its parts. From what I gathered, the students did not know the full details of what assignment was being introduced that day, but they were aware that there would be one. Because it was a new assignment, there were no prior homework or readings to be completed. The assignment criteria and components were printed and passed out, as well as shown on the projector, and Ms. Thomas went through each component of the overall assignment. It was a “Food or Health Related Proposal”, consisting of a rough idea, elevator pitch, case study, memo of intent, and then a final draft. The students were placed into groups, and each group was decided by the content areas of the last assignment they completed (students who chose similar topics were placed in groups together). The students then got into their groups to discuss how they would go about working on the project. Ms. Thomas had to leave at this point (30 minutes into the 50) and Justin was in charge the rest of the time. The students worked in their groups on planning their projects for the rest of the time, with Justin fielding any questions they had and reminding them about upcoming deadlines.
During class, Justin sat in the front with Ms. Thomas, and was paying attention to her speak while intermittently checking his laptop. They seemed comfortable with each other on a professional, formal level. Facilitation was dominated by Ms. Thomas, but I think that if Justin had anything to add, it wouldn’t have been out of character for him or out of the bounds of their relationship. The students seemed to respect Justin, and I would say that he rested in a place between one of authority and equality. When Ms. Thomas was gone, the students didn’t act any differently than when she was present, and asked him questions that implied they knew he was knowledgeable about the course. Justin works as a line cook at a restaurant in DC, and has experience with food writing, which seemed to be apparent to the class.
One note I have about the class is general is that it’s ENGL391: Advanced Composition, but Ms. Thomas made it a class about food writing; not all 391 sections do this. I spoke to Justin about this and he said that some students are aware of this when they sign up for the class- apparently there’s a Reddit page that talks about it- and others don’t. I asked him if that affects the class’ attitude towards the coursework and he said that it didn’t seem to have made a significant difference.
This made me think of my relationship with Justin (as in my instructor, whom I will refer to as Mr. Lohr for the rest of this reflection in the interest of clarity). Mr. Lohr is definitively an “English person,” having majored in creative writing and theology, if my memory serves me right. He also teaches at Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth for creative writing. Then there is me, a Behavioral & Community Health major with a heavy science background. I like how Mr. Lohr and I have these distinct backgrounds but are bringing them to dialogue in our 395 class, much like Justin is doing with his 391 class.
Notes Taken for Justin Chang's Class:
- Assignment introduction
- Classroom situated in a circle
- Assignment: Food/Health related proposal
- Rough idea
- Elevator pitch
- Memo of intent
- Final
- Must include case study: real-world example analyzed
- Students are allowed to have laptops
- Justin didn’t say anything while Ms. Thomas spoke
- Ms. Thomas broke down each component of the assignment
- (elaborate on this later with assignment details)
- They revealed groups for the project and they broke off into these respective groups to discuss course of action