Reflection on the observation of Jyoti Grewal from SAIT instructing in a CLB 5 class in Writing.
I am glad I had the opportunity to see a writing class. The first thing I noticed was how engaged the class was. How friendly and open at the start of class. All the cameras were on and there was general chatter going on amongst students and with Jyoti. My first impression was how friendly the class was.
This is the second time I watched Jyoti work with Situation Cards. What a great idea and it worked well even online. I sat in on one of the breakout rooms and students were engaged in the task.
She gave the students 25 minutes to complete the task – everyone was quiet and writing and when time was up she had them submit to a task dropbox on D2L. I liked that she used the class time to let them write and then read and provided feedback right away. The option would be to do as homework but I think this was more effective as the feedback was immediate and all the students could contribute.
The final step in class was an Analysis – this was where students could now see a completed (good) sample of the task and read it. This was a chance for the students to see new vocabulary and to see how they may have used a similar sentence structure. Good class – very engaging
| Time | Activity | Comment |
| June 17 1300 MST | Warm Up Thought for the Day Things money can’t buy Manners Morals Respect Character Common Sense Trust Patience Class Integrity Love Idiom of the Day Get out of hand – | All students had their cameras on. Students added to the list Added at least 5 other examples Students knew what this met. |
| May 14 1600 MST | Part 1: Task of Day Functions: Explaining a sequence of events Describing a situation | Other situation card ideas Jyoti gave me is Point of View Or Perspective or Descriptions |
| May 15 1315 MST | Pre-Task Put in to Partners for 10 minutes Read a situation card, brainstorm answers to the following questions How did the incident happenWhat was the possible sequence of eventsWho would you contact regarding the incidentWhat would you say? Jyoti gave each student a letter of the alphabet and it matched the situation on the card. Two people for each letter and put in to breakout rooms | Situation cards – a great idea – with focused questions I liked |
| May 15 1320 MST 1330 | In the breakout room students needed to research what a scaffold was. Their situation was “ A construction worker fell from some scaffolding, resulting in a broken arm. 1. We are painting 2. MaryAm climbed the structure 3. She wasn’t aware of her footing 4. She slipped on paint 3. She fell down She would report to the construction safety committee Back in main room | Jyoti popped in to see if students were talking and double checked that student knew the world scaffolding One group came back to the room and did not understand the task so they did not do it. The word they didn’t understand was custodial department of Situation A |
| June 17 1340 MST 1405 1445 | Task Writing You work in a downtown office. Something happened at work today. Write a paragraph to report the incident to the necessary authority figure. Students were to use their same situation and now write a paragraph 25 minutes to do the task individually Students uploaded writing to a drop box on d2L She also had them think about Report Planning – What transitional words did you use to connect the events leading to the accident (after, next, once, unfortunately, as a result) What verb tenses did you use and why? Sharing Before she had them share, she asked them what the challenge was them for today. One student said vocabulary Time of 25 minutes was not enough Challenge for another they did not know the name of the authority in their situation. Students uploaded an image of their handwritten work….and students discussed. Select students read their paragraph. Jyoti did some minor grammar/spelling corrections Second student read hers She asked students to provide some feedback. Third student read hers She did an excellent job of making a sequence of events in her situation Analysis Uploaded an additional document where students read out load Students had some vocabulary questions In Chat box | Jyoti stayed on but this was 25 minutes of quiet time where the students worked individually on their paragraph Not sure what the analysis is for – its purpose. I will ask Jyoti. |
| May 15 1915 MST | Closing – Homework | Practice worksheet and some reading homework was loaded to D2L Gave them employment standards document to write down a few points to bring back to next class |