On May 18, I was able observe Evangelitsa’s ESAL 0380/0480 Advanced Writing class. This class took place virtually and was brief with E completing some review from the previous class and outlining homework for this week before dismissing the students.
I had a chance to speak to E at the end of the class and discuss some wonderings I had during her explanation of the writing assignments. She began by explaining that she was not teaching the full two-hour class because it was taking place in the late afternoon; with classes only being able to be taught virtually, not all students are in the same time zone. A late synchronous class can be difficult for students who would normally be sleeping depending on the time zone they are in.
Something that stood out to me, and I was able to ask E about after the class, was E’s reminder of the students to use their own work. I had wondered if students learning English often use technology, like Google translate, to improve their writing and how to avoid this as a teacher. E answered after class that it is difficult to monitor the student’s writing process while they are not in a classroom, so she reminds them frequently of academic honesty and the importance of doing their own work. In a regular classroom where face to face learning can take place, E said that she would provide assignments that require the students to hand write and complete in class. Still, with the technology and access to other student’s work available, E also clarified that it is fairly easy to have an idea of what is the student’s own work and what is not.
E also helped to make it clear that when teaching writing, writing is a process and takes time. Virtually, break out rooms are able to be used for the students to share their writing, and in a classroom, the students are able to pair up to create sentences together and peer edit each other’s work.
I was a bit disappointed that I was not able to see the process of writing being taught by E during this lesson but was still able to see part of a lesson and had a conversation about the class afterward that provided me with a lot of insight.