1. Most peer-to-peer dynamics seemed healthy, productive and appropriate. One to keep an eye on is Derin and Grey. Are you aware of some of their history? If not, I can fill you in, but it’s complicated (this surfaced last trimester, so I should share with you).
2. Derin is loud. At one point he had a burst of laughter and you approached him and simply whispered his name, to which he acknowledged that he should tone it down. Two students in another group exchanged a smile, suggesting that they found Derin’s laughter somewhat inappropriate, and I imagine they appreciated your redirection.
3. I saw you engaging students in a casual but substantive way as the groups were working. Students acknowledge your authority but also seem comfortable enough to speak up, express their preferences
4. Part of the analysis of the several literary theories you discussed related to their Eurocentrism. That may be more about inclusive content than inclusive culture, but it was about inclusion. I also thought that the way students conducted themselves suggested they felt accepted and included. I’m thinking of Artie sitting on the table, the way students moved between groups without slowing down their contributions. Comportment was casual, but the ideas were serious.
5. I love that you set the groups up ahead of time, and I love that a few students groaned when you made them move. 😊 This suggests to me that you designed the exercise purposefully to maximize engagement and collaboration, in particular.

Although it’s a little off the main topic of class culture, I found your lesson very well-designed. You used time well, structured the various pieces in a way that they were distinct but appropriately connected, and guided students through the components with a personal way that made the highly structured experience feel natural. I actually had to redirect a lot of what I wanted to comment on toward culture. But that would suggest that instructional design does not impact culture, when perhaps nothing could have a bigger impact on culture than how you’re structuring the learning experience.

These are the observations I made during C period today. I didn’t rewrite much so the notes might be a little on the sketchy side; happy to sit down with you to talk through what I saw!

Thanks for opening up your classroom to me. 😊

Coaches and reinforces peer-to-peer dynamics that are appropriate and constructive	Drew clear boundaries for a couple of students (“No, you aren’t going in the other room together!”) while still having  fun with them and keeping the moment light
Communicates behavior expectations that are appropriate to class activities	Activities on the board; kids seemed to know what to do without having to be told specifics, so expectations must have been expressed in earlier classes   After introduction to the work, Keedy stated, “Work, write, talk with a partner.”   Subtle reminders about expectations: checking in with students who are off task, asking about their progress, setting goals for them for the “next time I check in with you”
Develops a mutually respectful relationship with each student, instilling confidence that the teacher is invested in their success	Keedy circulates, answering questions; sits down next to each kid, engages face-to-face with them, on their level; refers at least once to the notes projected on the board; refers back to the play to help settle the students into the moment and ground their ideas in the text   Stopped by each table group to check in, even if they weren’t asking for help
Demonstrates cultural competence by promoting inclusivity	Not observed during this class
Designs and facilitates a classroom culture that promotes student preparedness, engagement, self-advocacy, perseverance, and collaboration	Preparedness: Agenda for class (interview and sample monologues, work time, practice with a partner, revise and edit) on a single slide projected during work time; included on the slide were notes to help students structure their ideas (given circumstances, relationships, conflict, etc.) and time   “I should review the rubric” – 10th grader in the class   Engagement: Students free to work on what they need to work on; most seemed to be using their time well; ear buds for some; I heard and saw focused questions and interactions student-to-student and student-to-teacher, work time mostly used well   One group was being sidetracked by a single student; Keedy gave them time to settle but they never dove in; Keedy said, “let’s talk through this” from the beginning; “okay, that makes sense to me. I think I need to figure out …” replied the student; stopped by her table later to check on progress, specifically asking about the thing he suggested that she do, reminding her to “use this time now for planning”; “When I come back next time, you’ll have …” (perseverance, too)   Self-advocacy: Kids checking with Keedy informally, “Am I on the right track?” is the general sentiment; “this is where I am;” students sharing ideas readily, K asks questions to get them to think deeper, “Why would the character you picked do that?”   Collaboration: option to work with each other to practice the monologue, to talk out ideas with one another

general running commentary

Before class

• Nearly everyone is here 5-10 minutes early
• Casual chatting
  • Stephen participates here and there but neither dominates nor seems awkward
• One kid is sitting on the tables

Class starts

• SK “Thank you for one more hour”
• Who looked at new criticism?
  • About half…
  • Who did structural criticism?
  • Subjective?
  • Phenomenology?
• One kid whose screen I can see is playing chess
• Slide deck starts
  • Critical theory and Antigone
  • SK lays out plan for small group discussion
  • Gives students a few minutes to prep individually for discussion
    • My chess player is now prepping for discussion
  • Another minute to finish those thoughts
  • SK is at front of room, specifically mentioned that this isn’t a space/set-up that is conducive to him circling and seeing screens
• SK “Some times after a long day I feel like MOVING”
  • Amazing. This feels like it is somehow magically on cue per my observation
  • “If we don’t get into groups in 90 seconds its gonna be a problem”
    • He’s joking, but he did put a timer and it took less than a minute

Group discussions

• The one I can hear is immediately on point and super scholarly.
  • Charlotte Engrav is over here quoting the Iliad
    • now citing statistics on how consistent children’s political ideas correspond or don’t with their parents’ views
    • Now relating that to her own life and experience
    • Now relating that back to the play
      • SK’s been listening in, comments that it’s cool to relate such contemporary data to this text
  • Another student is casually and accurately throwing out the phrase ‘aesthetic distance’
  • I’m pretty blown away by the subtlety and depth of this discussion
  • Another group (all boys) are being more jokesters (loudly clapping for each other)
    • But in between the clapping the tone is similarly straight, scholarly
    • A guy I don’t know who seems kind of bro-y is commenting specifically on the representation of ‘love’ in the book– from close reading of capitalization to
  • One student is saying “I didn’t get far enough to

Debrief of group discussion

• Thoughts on New Criticism?
  • If you are a critic for a magazine, are you supposed to read in this way? What’s the application outside of school?
  • On subjective criticism — We all felt like we did it wrong, it’s very open-ended, is it right to bring this in?
    • SK “I don’t the direct answer to that”
      • In some ways, this theory allows anyone to make critiques
  • I read for what I get out of it, not for what the author wanted
  • Antigone was a tragedy and performed in font of an audience, meaning maybe subjective criticism is sort of how it was meant to be received…
    • SK – that’s a great point
  • Are we learning about these theories so we can analyze these texts? Or are we reading these texts so that we can learn how to apply these theories? Like what’s the focus of the class?
    • It’s notable how genuine these questions are (no one is being ironic or being critical to amuse their friends)
      • These questions could easily be interpreted as critical or even impudent but the tone is not that at all and neither is the response from SK–he answers them with zero defensiveness.
  • Western fiction – COWBOYS???? Let’s go the tape – EPS course catalogue it’s some Roman-looking painting

• STUDENTS: It’s the last period before break, can we watch a movie????
  • SK “You need to get your head right, get your head correct. I’m gonna lecture.”
  • Southern Gothic
    • There’s a slide deck but this is very conversational
    • Now google – ‘Why Southern Gothic Rules the World’
      • It’s interesting the idea that you can’t
      • What would be the Seattle equivalent of ‘Southern Gothic’
        • It’s in the music
      • Now we’re just sort of talking about Seattle culture
      • SK is getting a lot of laughs but is somehow not the center of attention
      • Ella bringing us back to the South
        • The reason we can’t quantify the culture up here as well because the south is defined by a shared past, it is really a thing
      • Are there black authors in the Southern Gothic tradition?
        • Zora Neal Hurston
  • Option of two Faulkner stories before you try to dive into ‘The Sound and the Fury’.
    • Brief description of each one:
      • Ten minutes to read and chat
• This was an excellent class period under any circumstances. Given that it was the last 70 minutes before break, it was Herculean.

Reflections/ PDP specific comments

…to come…