Ashley CO #1

 June 23rd

9:00-9:50am 

Professor Olivia James

Group 4 Advanced - Composition

The topic discussed in Ms. James class today was how to write good emails. It was specifically geared towards writing emails to professors as a student. 

Some students learned about writing emails last week with Dr. Kennel, so at the beginning of class Ms. James instructed the students who learned from him to try to explain to their classmates what they had learned. 

The rest of the class time was spent on writing a succinct but informative subject line. Ms. James showed a PowerPoint with simple rules to follow while also providing a handout to her student to use and take home. However, majority of her teaching included asking questions to the students and getting them to respond and engage with the material. She provided very detailed explanations to her student's questions, and we even got into a discussion about Americans overuse of explanation marks in emails. She provided time for students to discuss their thoughts and confusion by allowing them to compare what they were learning to their own culture. 

Almost every student talked today during class, they were all providing answers to Ms. James questions. Even if they weren't sure about their answer, they were very eager to try.

One thing that I learned today is that it is important to allow students enough time to formulate an answer. Even if you can tell what they are trying to say, let them try to put it into words before offering help. If you keep finishing their sentence they won't learn.


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