As part of the triad peer evaluation that Gregg Blanton, Brian Fuller and I had embarked upon this Fall 2000 semester, I visited Brian's Animation (EN 315) class on 9/28/00 at 2 p.m.

The day's agenda was clear from the very beginning of class.  The first thing I was struck by was the relaxed atmosphere in Brian's classroom.  Brian used humor to put students at ease, and elicited active class participation from students through frequent questions.  In what appeared to me to be a review of previous material, the students' responses indicated that they had retained a fair amount from past classes.

I was also impressed by the quick pace of this class.  Brian is very dynamic (or shall I say “animated”) in the classroom, and this clearly contributes to the high degree of student-teacher interaction that is very evident in his class.  The format of the “pop-quiz” that Brian sprung on the students was very interesting; he allowed students to furnish the “categories” from which he would ask them questions, and students assessed each other’s performance.  Having collected these quizzes, through which the class demonstrated a fairly good grasp of the subject, Brian was in a position to provide immediate feedback to the students. 

This being a class in “Animation”, it was not surprising that Brian employed visual aids in the form of video clips.  But to a judicious use of these clips (the material and length of each clip appeared to me to be appropriate), he added a very effective Power Point presentation.  The slides were clear and attractive, and communicated the highlights of the discussion with an enviable economy of effort and time.  I am now determined to employ Power Point presentations in my own lectures.

In his discussion of Disney’s “quest for realism,” Brian gave a very interesting account of Walt Disney’s rural background and its influence on his work.  In conveying this idea of the logical inter-temporal connectedness of events, Brian effectively addressed one of the educational objectives of our college.

In summary, this was a very instructive class for me to observe.  I found that Brian had a knack for eliciting student participation in a non-threatening manner.  Often, I found him reinforcing a student’s idea.  It was also evident that Brian was enthusiastic about his subject, knew it well, and could communicate it very effectively.  I could not spot any areas of weakness in his teaching style.  Finally, with his outstanding employment of video, Power Point, and the board, Brian has impressed upon me the significant purchase one can get from the use of visuals.  I propose to adopt quite a few of his strategies in my own classroom.