Creighton Nicholas BrownDr. Mary Jo Reiff English 80126 November 2012

Peer Evaluation of Simone Savannah

In our pre-evaluation meeting, Simone informed me that her teaching philosophy involves creating aspace where students are about to recognize that the personal is political. In other words, Simoneactively works to construct a communal space where her students are able to share and contextualizetheir experiences. This philosophy was apparent in the manner that Simone and her studentsinteract; that is, Simone appears to have successfully decentered the classroom, where students andSimone interact within the shared experience of the classroom.

I observed Simone on Monday, October 15. At the beginning of class, Simone took attendance andasked if there were any questions. While taking attendance and asking if there were any items thatneeded clarification from the previous class, she handed out a peer review workshop. The worksheetcontained the following prompts:

1.  Have your partner read and identify your controlling idea. (1minute)2.  Does the controlling idea identify the situation and state the writer’s argument? Is there a

so what ? and who cares?  What is the situation? What is the author arguing? (7 minutes)3.   What are the expectations? In other words, what points will the writer need to carry out?

 Are these points actually carried out? Has the writer kept his/her promise, and in whatorder? (12 minutes)

4.  Has the writer carried out these points effectively? How? For example, what evidencedoes s/he provide for the reader? (7 minutes)

5.   What tips can you offer the writer about their controlling idea and subsequentparagraphs? Can you thin of another order? (5 minutes)

 The students divided into groups and began to work. Simone set a timer, and during each promptshe floated from group to group and spent some time at the front of the room. Her students worked well in their groups and asked Simone questions when necessary. This assignment took the wholeclass period with just enough time to ask questions at the end. I really enjoyed watching thisassignment, especially the different lengths of time. I think the varied time periods kept her studentson task and forced them to utilize every minute.

 As I mentioned earlier, Simone has a great classroom presence. While her students worked on theirpeer review worksheets in groups of three, Simone answered questions as needed, but really kept herpresence light. She kept moving around the room, which could have been distracting, but becausethe room was so large, moving kept the students more focused on their work and less focused on where Simone could have been stationary. In other words, Simone decentered her authority by shifty physical location instead of concentrating her authority in a single location. Additionally, Simone hasa terrific ability to convey the knowledge her students needed at each step of the peer review processthrough humor and in a calm, patient manner.

I truly enjoyed observing Simone’s class. Indeed, her classroom activity worked so well that I wantto use it in my own classroom.