Julia Smith CO#1

     On January 17 I observed Olivia James' 2B Speaking class. The majority of the class time was spent in explaining a speaking project that the students had coming up. The teacher first explained the project and how each student would be introducing another classmate with a power point presentation. She then gave examples of questions to ask and put them into categories, and also asked the students in which category they thought each question should belong. James asked the students for additional questions that they could ask their partner, and to categorize these as well. James then showed two examples of past students' presentations to give ideas and inspiration. The class concluded with the students beginning to write their questions that they would be using in their presentations. The atmosphere of the classroom was very relaxed and friendly, and James created a lively environment with her tone of voice and movement in the classroom. James was aware of times when some students were talking with each other and not paying attention, and first asked if they had any questions to recapture their attention, and when the students continued to talk she asked them to pay attention and be quiet. Other languages were being spoken during the class, mostly when students did not know the meaning of a certain word and would discuss it or look it up. If a student said something that was not correct, grammatically or the pronunciation, James would simply repeat after the student in the correct form. Although I would have loved to have been in the classroom on the day that the students presented, it was interesting to see James' different resources used and her teaching dynamic.