Observation Report by Massimiliano Delfino, PhD (Italian and ICLS, Columbia University)
Course: HISPANIC CULTURES II (04/03/2017)
I had to observe Almudena’s class for a workshop offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning. I was very impressed by the way Almudena was able to change the hierarchical structure of our traditional classroom and make students be more active and responsible for the material covered. Her class focused on the Cuban revolution, and Almudena started by having students create a conceptual word map on the board by offering keywords related to this topic. The class thus started by already laying down the most important concepts needed in order to know and understand this even, while allowing students to remember and discuss the readings they had done for the day. Next, it was the turn of a student who was in charge of the topic of the day, which focused on the historical events of the Cuban revolution leading to the Bay of Pigs crisis of 1961. It was instructive to see how Almudena was able to support the student’s presentation and supplant the information offered without being invasive. The students’ presentation and Almudena’s comments offered a clear historical picture to the class. The last part of class focusing on film and the analysis of key scenes proved to be a wonderful way for students to understand how history is re-elaborated in cultural texts. By the end of class, I noticed how Almudena allowed students to speak 75% of the class time, while at the same time guiding them through the structure of the class and the activities, thus allowing them to focus and understand well the main concepts. Thanks to her work, by the end of class students did not only master history, but were also able to express their own critical judgment on artworks focusing on those specific events. It was thus a pleasure to see a different way of holding students responsible for their materials, and seeing a wide variety of pedagogical approaches achieve the fixed learning objectives.
A class of this course (Hispanic Cultures II) was observed and recorded. You can watch it here and read the lesson plan here.
Observation Report by FRANCISCO ROSALES VARO, SENIOR LECTURER & DIRECTOR OF THE ADVANCED LANGUAGE THROUGH CONTENT PROGRAM (LATIN AMERICAN AND IBERIAN CULTURES, Columbia University)
Course: UNDERGROUND IBERIA (03/05/2016)
Sin duda ha sido la sesión observada este semestre donde se aprecia más variedad de propuestas didácticas. Almudena Marín Cobos ha realizado un plan de clase minucioso, con objetivos múltiples muy elaborados que consigue llevar a cabo. Puedo constatar que tanto en el sílabo general, como en su filosofía de enseñanza y su trabajo en esta clase, Almudena cumple con excepcional calidad su tarea docente. Sorprende su seguridad y autoridad frente al grupo, sus capacidad de comunicación y, sobre todo, el excelente rigor con el que trata los temas académicos en un curso avanzado de lengua. Su participación y colaboración durante estos dos semestres en la formación y reuniones de coordinación ha sido ejemplar. Ha demostrado una gran inteligencia combinando la instrucción de contenidos académicos con la comunicación de clase. Sabe imprimir calidad a la instrucción incluso en situaciones de desventaja con grupos solo de cuatro personas, donde es más difícil crear dinámicas de interacción que no rocen la monotonía. Solo le aconsejaría no saturar de material la sesión de clase, pues el exceso de prácticas podría quizá causar cierto nivel de presión no aconsejable. El control del tiempo es un aspecto fundamental de la gestión del aula que habría que mejorar. Por lo demás, agradecerle todo su trabajo durante estos dos semestres. Nos debemos felicitar todos en nuestro departamento por la presencia de profesionales como Almudena. Quisiera insistir que este modelo es muy elogiable, ya que cuida y se preocupa con esmero por la integridad de su persona académica, en todas sus funciones.