Peer Review of Teaching: Ayah Wakkad

December 14, 2015

I had the opportunity to visit Ayah Wakkads English 101 class on

November 23, 2015. From the 50 minutes that I observed Ayah, it became
clear to me that she is a thoughtful, encouraging and deliberate teacher who
cares very much about each student and his or her writing.As the students
trickled in and took their seats around the circle of chairs in the classroom,
Ayah discussed the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with students. She
started the class by giving some brief announcements and asked students to
write, What does revision mean? If you were given more time to revisit your
Unit III assignment, what would you revise? Why? Without hesitation, all of
the students got out their journals and started scribbling their responses.
From the way the students responded to the journal entry, it was
immediately evidentthat Ayahs expectations for her students have been
straightforward and consistent throughout the course. There was no doubt
among the students as to what they were being asked to do, and Ayah
managed the following class discussion with grace and purpose, even though
it was evident from her students behavior that it was the last class period
before break.
Ayah consistently connected the in-class activityin this case a
discussion about each students revision strategies and what is important to
consider when one thinks about revisionto not only the larger aims of the

class period itself and the course as a whole, but also to the process of
writing more generally. She let the students know that revision is something
she does and something that will help them in the future as well.
Ultimately, Ayahs students were comfortable talking about their
writing and writing processes with both her and the class as a whole. I am
certain that such a level of comfort was achieved because of Ayahs ability to
listen to each students opinion and her openness toward each students
ideas. She truly created a safe space for students to share both their writing
triumphs and failures, which if you ask me, is one of the best qualities one
can hope for in an instructor of composition.
Megan Jones