Observation report-1

1. 2. each ad was saying (the message) and which ad would or wouldn’t work in their native
country. The discussion that followed was interesting to watch because most students
agreed on which ads would work in their own countries, but there were some dissenters. I
thought the activity presented the text that the students had been reading in a different
way that engaged different senses in an authentic way. The students were able to make
connections between culture and advertising by connecting what they had read in their
textbooks to the actual advertisements. The last activity the class did that day was related
to academic dishonesty at the university. Since the students had been talking about their
own cultures related to advertising, the discussion progressed quite easily into talking
about what is acceptable or unacceptable in their cultures as far as academic dishonesty.
The students were presented with a “quiz” with various scenarios of cheating and
plagiarism. They were asked to read each scenario and talk about whether it is acceptable
or unacceptable in their own culture and whether they think it is acceptable or
unacceptable in American academic culture. They were also asked to state consequences
if they thought something was unacceptable. After discussing in their groups (the same
four groups as the homework game) the whole class went through the answers according
to what is acceptable in American academic culture. I thought this was a good way to
present the university’s policies on academic dishonesty because it engaged students in a
way that they could relate to (their own cultural policies). The activity also seemed to
reinforce the idea that each student’s culture is valued in the class, which seemed like an
important idea to foster at the beginning of the semester. Overall, the class seemed
student-centered and the teacher acted mainly as a facilitator of discussion among the
students. The students had a lot of time to express themselves verbally and in writing.
The teacher employed a variety of techniques when calling on students for answers in
class ranging from calling on individuals by name to calling on small groups as a whole
to asking the whole class in general. With all these methods, the students seemed engaged
in the activities and materials, and it felt like the class flowed well. There weren’t many
“awkward” silences or uncomfortable moments. The class activities varied from
individual work to small group work to whole class work. I think having a variety of
activities allowed a majority of students to participate at a level they feel comfortable.
The small group activities also seemed to act to facilitate building relationships among
students within the class. The class was at the beginning of the semester, so I think it was
beneficial to foster those relationships early to build rapport and cohesion among the
students in preparation for the rest of the semester.