University of

Office of the Dean

College of Arts and Humanities

Central
Floricla

November 2,2011
Re: Clayton Benjarnin Teaching Observation

Dear Clayton,
On November 2,2A71, I observed your teaching of your enc3241: writing for technical
professionals course. The class is scheduled to run from 10:30 to ll:20. I arrived approximately
five minutes early and sawthat you were playing a background video (documentary) about Ray
Kurzweil (you later noted its title: The Transcendent Man). This was a creative and interesting
way to set the tone for the day's lecture and I saw many of your students paying attention and
watching the video before class started.

The lecture on using MS-Word formatting and styles began promptly on time at tr0:30. Your
lecture style was a combination of guided tutorials demonstrated in the front of the class
interspersed with hands-on, applied exercises conducted at several points during the class. I
appreciated how you initially explained the background of the video and then used some humor
to kick the lecture offand explain the day's lesson and recap the semester's work so far. You
explained in advance the lessons and mentioned that all of &e materials and some exha futorials
were also available on Webcourses.

Your question about "why we use headings" helped connect the technical lesson to the rhetorical
importance of using fieadings, subheadings, and organized taxonomies- In geaeral, when you
posed questions, students answered quickly and seemed engaged and informed. Your delivery of
the content during the tutorial was professional and organized. You also did a nice job
enunciating and making eye contact with different students in the classroom" I leamed several
new things myself as a result of sitting in on your class, such as the appropriate way to autonumber multi-level lists or include cross-referenced figures in a document.

I like that you used a format in which you first demonstrated the concepts and then gave the
students an opportmity to work tlrough applied exercises. I glanced around the room and saw
that the students remained on task and worked on the exercise as instructed. As you circulated
around the room answering questions and checking on progrsss, I noticed that you answered
questions cleady and directly. When you didn't know the answer to a questio& you told the
student that you would get back to him or her later with the answer, which was an appropriate
way to handle &is. It seemed as though you allocated the appropriate amount of time for the
exercise before moving on.

P.O, Box 161990

o Orlando, Florida 32816-199A o $07) 823-2251r FAX (407) 823-5156

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Institution

$"niversity
-Centralo{

Office of the Dean

College of Arts and Humanities

Florida

As far as any suggestions for improvement, I would say that the balance between technical
tutorial and rhetorical strategy could possibly be improved. For example, although you briefly
pointed out the connection between styles and their importance of document design, the bulk of
your lesson was focused on the mechanics of the process in MS-Word. It would have been
interesting to hear more about the rhetorical implications of styles, or perhaps you could have
recounted some real world examples of situations in which styles have been important for
various rhetorical reasons within an organization. This being said, I recognize that I attended
only a single class mid-semester, so it's entirely possible that you have already covered this topic
in detail within another lesson plan.
Overall, I found your teaching to be very effective. I would suggest that you continue to develop
your personal style and do not be afraid to continue the creative elements of your teaching such
as the videos at the beginning of the class. I am copying this letter to Dr. Mu.phy as Chair of the
English Department and I am also asking Ron Padron to include a copy in your student file. If
you need any additional details or would like to speak in person about this observation, please let
me know.

Sincerely,

.,/

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Rudy McDaniel, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Digital Media
Interim Director, Texts and Technology Doctoral Program

P.O. Box 161990

r Orlando, Florida 32816-1990 o (407) 823-2251 o FAX $AT 823-5156

An Equal Opportuniry and Affirmative Actior Institution