Catalina - Class Observation #3

Monday at 10.00am I visited Ron’s composition class. It’s a lower level class. He was in class before time and wrote down on the board all those things the students had been over already regarding composition class so they can briefly revisit them. He then asked about the group writing the class is producing to see what the progress was. The class seemed very indifferent and very divided. There was a group of Arab women sitting at one of the tables, speaking to each other in their language and a group of Arab men at the other side of the class. In the middle tables are a Latin American, some Asian and an African student. It takes them time to start off the class, so while they pull out their group work, Ron gives them back they prior compositions with some feedback – these had been biographies of one another. The group writing is a good way of actually making students have to interact.

There is a very big difference in the class. Those that know the American alphabet are focused on their actual composition whereas most of the students are still struggling with capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc. I can't even imagine how difficult evaluation has to be. Ron lets the more advanced students write the compositions on the computer, since this will change automatically the smaller errors and is a good practice for academic composition writings, while the other student still have to write their compositions down. When the students are divided by groups, he walks from one to another helping out with their composition and pointing things out. The Arab girls are still talking to each other in their native language at times, even though they have a South Korean in their group! I end up working with a girl from Venezuela that had missed the previous classes on her composition. We do some brainstorming and organization of ideas for the paper. Slowly but surely Ron has managed to engage all the students in the class, including myself, and they all end up working despite their initial uninterest. I am impressed at his subtle perseverance. Oh, and have I mentioned I love his accent? I am sure Matthew would appreciate its southern quality....