At the beginning of class, all the students were encouraged to come on the mic and just connect with one another. With everything being virtual right now, that little bit of human connection before class is something that I value, even if not everyone gets to participate, it’s nice to hear what students have been up to, how they’ve been since the last time they meet. 

She did revise her plan going into the class, which I thought was a bit strange. It was still interactive, but not in the same way as how it had been originally planned. I really liked her use of name cards and how it does make students need to pay attention and engage with the content of the course instead of just being signed in and no way to know if they are really there or not.  

The explanations that she gave her students were clear and concise, making sure that everyone understood. I could tell that they were because when I was in a breakout room with some of the students, listening to them discuss the work they were doing, they turned to the subject of writing, and how they had wished to have learned more about that in high school. She taught the class with lots of energy and enthusiasm which I think helped the students with the learning and I’m hoping that when I start my teaching, I can bring that much enthusiasm on a daily basis as I believe that it’s always important to make sure that the content you’re teaching is exciting and you’re excited to teach that.  

I liked how she also used the public chat the way you would a whiteboard in a real classroom to write down the points that she wants to make sure the students get. I did observe this class for the full two hours that it was