Class Details: For my first two hours of in-class observation, I observed class 0480. The class was a level 4 writing course consisting of around twenty students from various countries around the world. The class ran for a total of two hours with a ten-minute break in the middle of class time. The class today consisted of four unique activities regarding the chosen topic of the day. The chosen topic for the day was Descriptive essays with a focus on how to identify key components found throughout the introduction and body paragraphs of descriptive essays. The class began with the teacher welcoming the students and going over their previously assigned homework on descriptive paragraphs. The students were assigned a short paragraph and asked to correct the mistakes within, which included spelling, tense, and pluralization errors. After the teacher and the class went over the homework answer, the teacher introduced the students to the concept of the northern lights via a brief video showcasing them with a short lecture on what they are. The teacher then assigned the students a short descriptive essay on the topic of the northern lights. After students finished reading the essay, they taught the similarities between the previously studied descriptive paragraphs and descriptive essays. Students were then tasked with locating the hook and thesis within the introduction paragraph and all of the main ideas found within the two body paragraphs.

The physical setting of the classroom comprised of small groups of desks ranging from 3-4 set around the room. I believe that this setting is conducive to learning as it easily enables group collaboration and work, something that featured heavily in the teacher’s lesson.

The teacher introduced the day’s topic by relating it to the previous topics covered in class as well as the homework topic covered at the start of class.

The teacher asked questions relating to the class’s prior knowledge often throughout the video and group reading session.

Questions were asked relating to students’ prior knowledge on the topic of northern lights, aspects of an introduction paragraph for essays, and if students had visited certain landmarks mentioned throughout the essay.

Many language skills were integrated, such as grammar, speaking, reading, and writing. While reading the essay aloud to the class, the students were tasked with following along and quite often asked to finish saying the sentence the teacher had begun to read. Students were also tasked with identifying mistakes in grammar, tenses, and pluralization during their homework review.

Students seemed to respond well to the group work and oral participation activities. They remained engaged, with very few side conversations occurring while the teacher was speaking. The teacher provided the students a good amount of time to talk amongst themselves throughout group work and activities, which seemed to limit side conversations during other times.

I learned more about class engagement and how to handle distracted students, as well as how to handle mistakes on the teacher’s part in a non-disruptive way.