I conducted my observations at Serra Catholic High School.

My cooperating teacher
was Mr. R. He has taught at Serra Catholic for 38 years. His first period was a level five
(gifted) ninth grade Grammar Essay Essentials class, his second period was a level 3
(average) ninth grade Grammar Essay Essentials class, and his third period was a junior-
level Early British Literature class. These were the three classes I focused on (since those
were the classes I could observe during the time frame I could go), though I did take the
opportunity to observe an entire day of classes with Mr. R.
Grammar Essay Essentials is a class that combines grammar, speaking, reading,
writing, and research. It is a ninth grade class. Early British Literature is an eleventh grade
class that covers pieces such as The Canterbury Tales. This class combines speaking,
reading, writing, and research. All of the students at Serra Catholic have Chrome booksa
notebook-sized laptop.
I thoroughly enjoyed the classes I observed. Students came in, sat down, and opened
their books. First period and third period were excellent at staying on task. Second period
struggled to remain attentive. There were definitely varying levels of engagement from
actively taking notes to following along in the book to not paying attention at all.
In looking at these three classes I have realized several things about what a real
classroom is like. The first of these is that there will always be a few students who just will
not pay attention. This realization stems from watching a few students from each period
play snake for the duration of the class. A second realization is that, once you establish class
procedures, the class goes relatively smoothly. This observation stems from students
knowing which days are what (i.e. Day 2 is speech day, day 3 is outside reading, etc.). This
establishment of procedure is great because the students know what books to bring on
which days. A third realization is that grammar is still very important. I saw this show
when a student expressed she did not want to learn about grammar. Mr. R. made it
relatable by suggesting that she uses parts of speech every day. He suggested that she
surely uses verbs on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The student agreed and
admitted she did not think of that. This observation also pushed me to realize that making
the material relatable makes more students interested in it.
In regards to enjoying the classes I observed, the students in Early British Literature
were the class that caught my attention the most. They read a ballad called Get Up and Bar
the Door. It was written as a comedic piece and it definitely had the class laughing. The
students each read a quatrain aloud, then tried to translate it into modern English. It was a
difficult task for them, but each of them, with a little prompting from Mr. R., were able to
read and comprehend the ballad. It was a fun, interesting piece for them to read, it captured
their attention, and they were actively participating in the reading.
After asking Mr. R. about reading comprehension, he explained that most students
are tested early and get the help they need early. If they were not tested early, but rather,
they were tested later, the school will develop a plan for that student that may include
tutors. A lot of the students who are below reading level are paired with a tutor. Mr. R. said
that most of those students would be at or close to grade level reading by the end of the
year if they were with a tutor.
A few observations about the class struck me as odd or noteworthy. One of the
strangest things I noticed in this class is that Mr. R. remained at the front of the room for
the entirety of each class. There was no monitoring at all. However, if students were visibly
off task (i.e. no book out, head down, etc.), he would address them aloud. If the class were
loud or rowdy, Mr. R. would wait for the class to become silent before continuing. Another
observation that was noteworthy, was that, at the beginning of each class, Mr. R. would give
students an overview of that days class, then an overview of the week. He did this every
class, every day. My last observation to note was that everything is done via Google Docs,
email, and online class websites. It is very similar to the structure at Seton Hill University.
Though this classroom in not very conducive to walking around, I would try to
monitor the students better. Since they all have Chrome books, I would try to move away
from them at least once a week and I would also try to walk around, even just a little bit.
Some other things I would do differently include moving away from reading examples out
of the book, including more varied outside reading books, and getting students to
participate more voluntarily. A lot of class was spent reading examples from the book to
the students; while that does provide accommodation for auditory listeners, that was the
bulk of each class. Students visibly lost interest the more examples were read. Mr. R. has a
lot of good outside reading materials (Caged Bird, 1984, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings),
however, I feel that there are so many more readings that could be included that would
lend to cultural diversity and experience, such as The Glass Menagerie, Heart of Darkness,
Anthem, and The Great Gastby. A lot of participation in class is not voluntary (the teacher
calls on students whether they have their hands raised or not). Making the class
atmosphere more relaxed and open would help students volunteer more. Letting students
know that its okay to make mistakes would also get students to respond more willingly.
Again, these are some things I would do differently if that were my class.

CLOZE Done On Elements of Writing by James L. Kinneavy and John E. Warriner
I used the Flesch-Kincaid feature on Microsoft Office Word. I chose three passages
from a chapter we covered in the text. Using those, I typed them into Word, and called the
Flesch-Kincaid function (Tools, then Spelling and Grammar).

Passage 1: Reading Ease 74.9, Grade Level 5.6
Passage 2: Reading Ease 86.9, Grade Level 3.4
Passage 3: Reading Ease 75.7, Grade Level 5.8

I averaged these three scores to get a Reading Ease of 79.17 and a Grade Level of
4.93. Essentially these scores mean that this is a relatively basic, elementary text. It is at
almost a fifth grade reading level.
It is my personal opinion that, while this is a basic text, Mr. R.s class places an
emphasis on proper grammar. Revisiting the foundations of English and writing is
important since a lot of people have forgotten. (I asked a lot of people if they remembered
things like transitive and intransitive verbs. Most of them said no. Some said they
remembered the name, but not what they were.) The need for review of such basic
concepts stems from forgetting them. This review enables future English teachers to build
on the foundations more soundly; more students will be able to follow along and
understand instead of getting caught up on the basics.