TESOL Observation Field Notes

Class Observation #_eng 107___

Teacher

__Sarah_Hynes___________

Date/Time_____3.23.16 _3004:00___

Class ____ENG107_______________
Location______Coor L1-34____________

Effective Principles of Observation:

Wipe away preconceived notions before starting your observations.

Collect observations under different circumstances and from varied perspectives.

Take thorough notes, including quotes and details about the setting and atmosphere, and collect
important class documents.

Engage in active listening using a detached observer approach.

Keep systematic track of observations that surprise you or contradict your prior beliefs.

Pre-Class Notes (e.g., what are the teachers goals for the lesson? what are the demographics [e.g., student population,
class size, proficiency level] of the class?)

Talking about WP3 assignment.( Writing project 3)

Description/Observation of the
class

Reflection on/Interpretation of the class

Talking about writing project 3

This time she requires student listened

How to describe/recognize the primary and

secondary research:

The news she pick the news interesting and related about the tasks
they are working on it. She didnt ask them to listen the whole news
just few parts, and ask HOW WHAT this kind of questions to training
students can better understand questions and answer the questions.
she find the news with pictures, make the news more vivid and help
students understand the news better

(i.e., what does it mean?)

(i.e., what is happening?)

Using technology ---Google find the

websites NPR website( www.npr.org) --find
the article: For adults
She requires student listens the article .
She ask How many heard the show hear
this kind of news before.
Ask students to find the secondary
resources. If student can find original
resources, no more than 3 people. Keep it
small and affectively.

She want to students groups work no more than three students. She
trying to keep the students group small to get better training

She use the really great example to explain to students what is

primarysecondary research

Before the discussion we listened another

news, this one has picture and make the
news more vivid.
She also explain the tasks (what is primary
research---EX: A classroom lecture primary
research)

Post-Class Notes (e.g., are there follow-up questions for the teacher? does anything need to be clarified?)
Class notes 3/23

In WP3, you will not be writing an essay. Instead, you will be composing a podcast.
Podcast (definition) an audio file (usually an mp3) that a listener can download on their phone/computer/music
player/etc. and listen to wherever
There are tons of different podcasts online (search popular podcasts to see some of them). Each podcast has its
own subject matter and style. Your podcast will be in the style of NPRs All Things Considered.
What makes these podcasts special?
Length?
Kind of research?
Purpose?
3

Thesis or no thesis?
Tone? Objective/subjective? Informational/analytical? Formal/informal?

a buzz
Like, why do it in a real space?

it's not playing as big of a role.

Gwenna Andrew? She knows those things.
And shes in luck

Lets start with

it was dirty, it was dangerous and you better dress right.
its like a gold star on a resume
so heres how the numbers look
some of the numbers are way down, too

think of them as brain trainers

Peter decided hed be better off with a regular tutor.
4

thats a lot more expensive than traditional tutoring

wp3 ASSIGNMENT SHEET REVISED :

The Challenges and Complexities of International Education

The 2013 Open Doors Report, an annual report commissioned by the U.S. Department of State and established
by the Institute of International Education (IIE), suggests that international education is booming in the United
States. In the academic year of 2012/13, the number of international students enrolled at institutions throughout the
U.S. was 819, 644. Arizona alone hosts 13,322 international students, and Arizona State University hosts 6,645.
Mere numbers alone, however, do not express the logistical and social challenges that such a crossing of
national and cultural boundaries likely involves. For example, international students sometimes struggle to
assimilate into classrooms with a different educational culture than those of their home-countries, while they are still
developing their English proficiency. Unlike U.S. resident-students, international freshman who struggle to get
adequate grades in their first semester may not be able to refocus in their second semester; instead, they may
experience Visa problems that keep them from re-entering the country. Some international students, faced by the
difficulties of being immersed in a foreign language and a foreign classroom culture, cling to subcommunities
comprised of others who share their own language and culture, and thus limit their social interaction with the host
culture.
On the other side of the international education equation are the challenges posed both to students reassimilating into their home-countries after studying abroad and to those countries themselves. For example,
companies in the home-country may have difficulties evaluating a student's international education and weighing
internationally and home-educated candidates. Students who've been taught the fundamentals of their discipline in
an American context may struggle to transfer their knowledge to a different context.
While the data compiled by organizations like the IIE is helpful for identifying large trends, it does not reveal the
complexities of international education. It does not suggest how individual people experience international
education or answer questions such as the following: How does the international education system work on the day5

to-day or individual basis? How are individual lives affected by the choices made on an institutional-level, i.e. by
colleges or countries? How could the system be changed to make the experience easier or better for individuals?
By choosing a small aspect of this large phenomena to explore, we will develop a richer, more complex, and more
human picture of the interactions between large institutions (e.g. countries, universities) and the individuals within
them.
For this project, you will produce a podcast in the style of NPR's All Things Considered. Your podcast will
combine news, analysis, commentary and interviews in order to explore a facet of international education that your
listeners may not have considered before, to reveal the complexity and texture of international education, and to
suggest its individual dimensions. An analytical/commentary newscast is different from a news segment. The
purpose of a news segment is to provide data and to summarize events, leaving the listener to determine the
significance of those events and that data. The purpose of your podcast is to problematize a phenomena,
contextualize it, and interpret it.
To get started with your podcast, you will need to narrow down the broad subject of international education into
a single, specific phenomena that you will explore. Then you will need to consider the following questions: What is
the scope of the phenomena? How long has this been happening for? How were things different in the past and
why have they changed to this present situation? Who is involved in it? Who is affected by it? How are they
affected? Who might be responsible for it? Who most benefits from it? Who most suffers from it? How do different
groups of people perceive this phenomena? What threatens or promises to change this phenomena? How would
changes to it affect those involved?
To answer these questions and create a podcast that is credible, textured and engaging for your listeners, you
will need to gather audio data from from various primary sources. Your main source of audio data will be interviews
you conduct. You can also examine relevant secondary sources that contain audio (websites with audio
components, video, newscasts, etc.).

Learning Objectives

In this project, you will learn to

generate your own questions in order to launch a focused investigation into a broad subject matter
compose a multimodal text
conduct primary and secondary research as a source of knowledge
understand how a large phenomena affects individuals
present a large phenomena to your listeners on an individual scale
contextualize your phenomena
problematize your phenomena so that your listeners feel a sense of urgency

Invention Strategies

Here are a few invention strategies that might help you develop a focus for your podcast:

A list of problems or challenges that you have experienced as an international student

A list of things you wish your teachers knew about international students
A timeline of significant events involved in studying abroad (for example, taking the TOEFL, applying to
schools, receiving notices of acceptances, applying for a visa, registering for classes, etc.). For each one of
these significant events, generate a list of potential complications or problems.
A search of the library databases to discover problems or complications of international studies that you may
not have known about before.
An annotated bibliography of the sources you consulted, especially noting any that have an audio component
A clustering of the people involved in the phenomena. You may not be able to represent all participants in
your podcast, so you should consider who has the most at stake in the phenomena.
A list of potential interviewees. For each interviewee, you should say how you think they'll add to your
knowledge about your phenomena.
7

An interview guide listing the main questions and possible follow-up questions you want to ask during the
interview.
Interview transcripts from audio interviews

Audience

The primary audience for this piece will be educators and administrators, both at ASU and in your home-country,
who have the goal of understanding students' needs and helping students be successful. The audience will also
include potential international students, who may want to understand the challenges they might face, current
international students, who may want solutions to the problems they face, and resident U.S. students, who may
benefit from a greater understanding of the challenges faced by their international peers.

Genre of All Things Considered

A typical All Things Considered segment is 3.5 to 4 minutes long although some segments may extend to 7-10
minutes long. Each segment contains several audio clips within an analytical framework provided by the segment's
narrator. The goal of each segment is to take a topic that listeners are superficially familiar with and zoom into it to
show how complex, significant, and textured it actually is.

The producer typically begins a segment by very briefly introducing her subject and contextualizing it. She then
problematizes the subject, sometimes even explicitly asking the questions she hopes to answer. She introduces
each source used, explaining why they are qualified to contribute their perspective. She explicitly ties together the
various aspects of the phenomena and her interviewees' various perspectives on it through her own interpretative
framing. She herself articulates the implications of the phenomena or provides a research source that suggests the
8

implications. She ends the segment by looking toward the future of the phenomena.

Genre Examples

Internet in America: An On Again, Off Again Relationship. All Tech Considered. NPR, 12 January 2014. Web. 12 January 2014.
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/12/261924972/internet-in-america-an-on-again-off-again-relationship>

Any podcast at http://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/

Group Work Option

This is a challenging project. To complete it successfully, you will not only need to combine all of the composition skills you've
been developing over the past year but also to master a new composing environment (i.e. an audio, instead of a written, environment).
For this reason, you have the option to work in a pair or a group of three people. If you take this option, you will receive an initial
group grade for each stage of the drafting process; each person in the group will receive the same grade. You are required to maintain
a log of the work that each group member does at each stage of the process, and after your final draft is submitted, I may modify
individual grades based on this work log. This option will be best for people who can communicate well with each other and have the
same level of composition skill and personal motivation.

Format Requirements
9

Your broadcast will be in a digital file in .mp3 format

It will be a minimum of five minutes long. It may not exceed 10 minutes.

If any of your interviewees respond to you in languages other than English, the broadcast must provide the English translation in the
genre-appropriate format.

You will also submit a transcript of your broadcast. This will be a written record of every spoken word and/or sound in your
broadcast.

Grading Rubric for the Writing Project

Topic Proposal

5%

Primary Research Plan

Primary Research

10%

10%

Annotated Bibliography 5%

Segment Mock-Up

10%

10

Revised Segment Mock-Up

10%

Peer Feedback

10%

Reflection Letter 10%

Final Draft

30%
____

Total

100%

11