Date: Wednesday, September 16th, 2016
Unit: Assignment #3
Lesson: Citations and Self-Research Time

__________

General Rundown of the Class:

1. Delanie greeted the class, reminding them of upcoming due dates
2. She used a Powerpoint for the first half of the class; this Powerpoint showed the upcoming schedule for the day as well as MLA Citation notes
3. Afterwards, she talked the students through the paper, reminding the class of important aspects to remember, focus on, tweak, look for in research, etc. It was fairly general Assignment #3 information, given that the Assignment was still in its earlier stages
4. Then she used the Everyday Writer to talk about the Strategies of Development chapter. She asked the class for input on the matter, to lukewarm effect.
5. The class was given time, about 15 minutes, to do research on their topics on their own.
6. The class concluded/wrapped up with closing remarks from Delanie and, again, reminders.

Delanie was trying to communicate a couple of things to her class before Assignment #3 became due, with one greater purpose in mind. With the first half of the class being devoted to examining how to tackle citations and the latter half devoted to self-directed research time, I saw independence being taught as a primary principle. Making the students self-sufficient is an important strength to instill early in their college careers, rather than later. During our conversation after the class, Delanie mentioned that she was having trouble with some students who didn’t follow her directions or amendments to the Assignment sheet, as they were too preoccupied with what was strictly on the Assignment sheet in its original form. Unfortunately for said students, thinking on one’s feet and adapting to (sometimes sudden) change can be a skill as valuable as deep, protracted critical thinking. Fittingly, the students were given that time in class to direct their own learning. However, I feel that, as an extension of the overall atmosphere of the classroom, they didn’t find much merit in this individual learning. Or, if they did, they might have seen it as just an extension of professorial dictation.
Just from sitting down, I had noticed that the class was split into two distinct sides, each which hosted two distinct groups of students. Students who appeared to know each other were in tightly-knit and packed groups on (from where I was sitting) the right side of the room, whereas the quieter students without larger groups to integrate into, sat spread out on the left. As a result, when Delaine declared it was time to begin working individually, the students on the right side of the classroom almost immediately back to socialize instead, whereas the students on the left side began to work quietly and asked questions once in a while. In our post-class conversation, Delanie mentioned this was fairly typical for the class which, spread out throughout the large room and clustered together in their peculiar way, tended to divide itself quite clearly into a cluster of students who wanted to follow instructions and those that, frankly, did not.
Interestingly, I did not observe the students to be taking notes as Delanie ran through the Powerpoint on citations. Even though those citations are extremely important for Assignment #3 (as I learned later from Delanie, these extremely important lessons were seemingly ignored by a good number of her students in that Assignment), most of the students, by my reckoning, were either overwhelmed and lost by the material or were confused and too shy to ask about it. However, as Delaine came away from her desk at the front of the class to circulate around as the students worked individually, those that were quiet or intimidated-looking began to speak up and raise their hands more. I noted that these were virtually never the students who were already in well-established groupings. As a result, Delanie mentioned after the class that she wished she had tried re-arranging the students earlier in the year and brought the students closer to the front of the class so they weren’t so spread out. Still, she said that she would likely try to re-arrange the seating, just to make the most of the space she had and to bring other students’ confidence and sociability up to speed (all of the ESL students in Delanie’s class sat in the quiet left-hand section).
On a more surface level, seeing somebody else teaching 150 using different technology and handling a different classroom than myself got me thinking about ways I can handle my class on a session-by-session basis. In fact, since observing that class and noticing how some of Delanie’s woes with her students not taking notes or being engaged may be slightly assuaged by compiling greater class-wide master lists of ideas and concepts so the whole class can see what progress is being made in a particular subject. An example would be: compiling what students know about MLA citation, what they know but are unsure about, and what they still have burning questions over. Then, as a class, the students can piece together a kind of class-wide quilt of information. I speak in the hypothetical here, but I’ve already applied those strategies to my own class with varying degrees of success (but never failures, happily enough).
I do, as a more advanced student who understands the value of the economy of that kind of teaching, appreciate Delanie’s very business-like and straightforward method of dealing with the cold, impersonal subject of MLA citation. I’ve been, thus far, dancing around the subject of citation with my students, mostly. While I do give them some concrete examples and ask the class and individuals about citation qualms, I know there are still some lingering doubts in my class. So, I think waging a kind of frontal assault on the issue, devoting time in class to lay out everything clean and tidy will, at the very least, hold students accountable for the information they were explicitly provided. In my class, where my students are more energized in the class and have a kind of pride for their written work thus far, I think they may even seize upon the concrete facts and be more accurate (they’re plenty confident about their citation skills, however sometimes slipshod or inconsistent they may be) going forward.