Observation: Abbie Upham

Practicum Supervisor: Patricia Vreeland

Course: 9th gr Humanities, HTHI
Date: 9/23/14 (8:25-10:35 )

Time
Observation
Comments/Questions
8:25
Class starts. Some kids late.
T: we are going to.
T: count off 1-6, change seats [calls out table #s]
Kids were in testing.
8:30
T: Open to p 81 so I can see it
S: We have extra books..

8:33
S: about abused fragile women You have her repeat this for the class.
T: [reads orally]
T: Whos talking right now? To whom?



Good quick check.

8:35
S: Whats happening?
T: Talk about it in your groups
Some irrelevant talk going on.
8:37
S: [makes text ref] So Im thinking that.
T: what do we know about how she looks?
S: beautiful
T: What does E want from her?
Ss: [lots of attn.]
T: how oppressed?

8:39
T: [reads Minerva]
Interesting that this topic is in the news lately, like the Ray Rice controversy (the football
player who beat up his fianc and she married him a week later). Why do women stay?
--there was an interesting NPR program on this, plus magazines, etc.
8:41
T: talk in group


T: Whats going on in this vignette?
S: [abused.]
Two girls enter class.
T: other options?
S: [yes/no]
S: why every guy abusive?
T: why? What does she want us to know?
S: wants to leave

Good that you used term.


Where are they going? Is that OK with you?
8:45
T: [reads next section Bums]
T: Everett, whats going on?
Ss:..
T: Why? [neighborhood]
T: [calls on S]
T: Why wont she go look at houses with them?
S:.
Glad you switched up the process and asked directly. Works well here, because the
meaning is more obvious than on some others.
8:50
T: [read Beautiful
S:
T: who can help her out?
S:.
T: which route?
S: kinda like [another char.]

Good way to involve others.
8:52
T: [reads] like a man..
What kind of woman?
[beautiful but not dependent]
S: she wants to be the one to leave
S: be the man in the relationship..
T: what does that mean?








Good Q!

T: [reads a smart cookie]
T: who knows how to pronounce that name?
Ive always thought this is one of the most poignant pieces.
Good to call on kids expertise.

S: Mom can[refers to text]
S: When subwayability but does not aspire to
T: the other thing you said
Two boys answer (yay) and quote from text (yay).
Youre really listening to the kids and building upon their answers. (big yay)

T: What Sally Said Who is Sally?[reads]
T: Angel, whats going on?
S: He beats her.
S:
Three hands up. Kids are listening to each other!
S: Like what Bennie said
T: Whats his excuse?
S: He feels bad.
Good quick check.
Good to ask her, because she seemed confused before.

Lots of comments, listening to each other.
9:05
T: gender equality Write about What is feminism? Who are feminists?

Also written on board good.
9:07
[some noise] T: This is individual time
Good brief, clear reason, and they followed along.

Meanwhile, you are setting up a film clip.
Good use of time.
9:10
T: share..[they share ans to the 2 Qs in groups

9:13
T [asks for reponses]
S: feminism means being abusedfeminists are abusers
S: against women

Hmmm.some misunderstanding remains. Your response to all answers was neutral.
After responses, have Ss summarize/ reiterate best answers.

T: who are feminists
S: [discuss women, men who support equality]
Some good answers, but again some of these are better than others and its OK to
distinguish between them.

[video doesnt work, so you move on to peer response to poems]
Good adjustment. It happens.
9:24
T: Hold up [another Ss poem]
Read through it once
now pick up pen
read it another time mark grammar, literary tools
Good check that they are prepared for the activity.
Generally its a good idea to comment on meaning, then literary tools, then mechanics
(spelling and grammar). That way the emphasis is on does it make sense? before
they get to put a comma here. You could even give them the same time frame, but
break it into two parts so they are conscious of revising and editing as different
operations.

9:25
Collecting papers.
Much noise, passing of staplers. Maybe consider a tool bin for each table. Or you ARE
allowed to require each S to have a small stapler !
9:27
T calls on S to tell about Emma Watsons speech on feminism.
T: men included as feminists
T: I passed out [papers on different feminist campaigns] Each group is going to
create a sloganquote from HoMS..
Productcampaign platform, e.g. run, ice bucket challenge any of these four [on
board] issues: gender equity, poverty, racism, pressure to grow up too fast.
Sorry the video didnt work.





They seem excited about this task.

Good that topics are listed on board. Good that you pulled topics from the lit and that
there are several options.
9:45
T calls on tables to identify their issue.
Really good way to get them to commit and get working right away.


Ss working in groups on mini-project.
They seem very involved. Good that you have a project checklist.
10:12
T: Indiv ans these Qs: [on board] why is my campaign important/ How is it going to
make a difference?
Good
Will revisit tomorrow (screen shots.)
10:30
T: 5 min. Ans these two Qs. HW? [Ss tell] Everett will collect the QWs.
Good hw reminder by asking kids to list. Another little trick is have them make an
acronym (e.g. revise poems, study info for quiz, finish collage, = PIC) to remember hw
Bring PIC tomorrow
Good exit slip (QW).

Questions:
Who is the other woman in the room? Is she the aide for IEP Ss? What would
you like her to be doing to help (as opposed to nothing, which seems to be her
current job)? Make her work to your advantage. Send email asking how you can
collaborate?
Qs about the campaign how real does this have to get? (i.e. do they really
have to market a product, have an event?) Instagram dont need follow-up
maybe a disclaimer?
Some groups seem to be working well together and others not so much. How
will you account for individual effort in the grading? You might try some kind of
private report in which each group member evaluates him/herself as well as all
the other members. They could mark off what the person actually DID and
assign a number of points (out of a possible total which you determine) that the
person earned in that category. I put a really rough idea at the bottom of this
page.

Strengths:
Meaningful lessons from House on Mango Street vignettes. Without such
consciousness-raising, I suspect that some of these girls might fall prey to the
dependent-on-men syndrome.
Fabulous adaptability to technical difficulties. Yay! Kids seem very involved with
mini-project.
I know from experience that it can be hard to involve kids for two hours straight.
You did a great job of varying the types of activities and whole class/group/
individual configurations.

Areas to work on:
Both in your responses and in kids reading each others work, prioritize
responding to meaning. Separate the revision stage (changing ideas and
images) from the editing stage (punctuation and grammar).


Group Member Name:



Did research for the project



Found passage in novel



Participated in presentation



Drew artwork