Teaching Observation

Class Title: English 4070: Advanced Workshop in Fiction

Instructor: Steve Gutierrez, Ph.D.

Place: CSU East Bay, Hayward

Date Observed: March 3, 2010

Size of Class: 17 students. Only 14 were present.

Make up of class: The students were upper division, all juniors and seniors. Two of the women, in fact, had mentioned they were going to graduate at the end of the quarter and they slapped high fives (once the class got underway, one of these women contributed often, the other did not open her mouth once, but she was on her computer a lot and during break confided to the other that she was playing a video game called “Scuzzle”. Ironically, she was sitting directly to Steve’s left). I counted 9 females and 5 males. They seemed to range in age from twenty to mid thirties, the 2 older ones being white males. Ethnicity often being a challenge, my guess is there were: 2 African American females, one appearing to be biracial (she clearly self-identified as black in the free write); all 5 men were white, one possibly Latino; I possible Latina and 5 white females, otherwise 6 white females. 2 women wore hoodies while in class and 4 of the women used laptops.

Physical arrangement of class: The classroom had a desk up front with a blackboard behind. Initially there were rows of chairs with desktops, typical classroom fare. As students came in they moved and rearranged chairs until they formed a rough circle by the time Steve came in at 6:30. He took a chair towards the back of the circle. Prior to his arrival I had spoken with several of the students and they assured me that the class would not go the full length. It was a 3-hour class that was supposed to end at 9:30pm. Steve had wrapped it up by 9:05pm. Personally, I feel that is a long time for anyone to have to be in class, at night, even with a break.

Social atmosphere of class: The students seemed very familiar and relaxed with one another. The atmosphere was upbeat, jovial and sometimes even jocular. They all appeared energetic and ready to roll.

Time class started: 6:35. Activities officially got underway, after the free write, around 6:55pm with the first workshopped piece.

Class Activities: After introducing me to the class and inviting me to actively participate, Steve started off with a free write. He had told me before in an email that he was not much on pedagogy, that he had changed his approach often over the years and had finally decided that it was just best to let them write. “I am a very casual instructor with not much to offer in the way of pedagogy (don't believe in it much, especially not in the workshop, which I've changed about so much over the years I don't know where I stand now. I think I've settled into a Let it happen philosophy. Those who are bound to become writers will, without [sic] this class or not…)”

It was sort of like saying the wheat would separate naturally from the chaff. The true writers would emerge, rise above, no matter what you did or didn’t do. That does sound like some sort of pedagogical philosophy to me. During class he turned to me and explained that the free write was the one exercise he truly believes in, that they generally had one at the beginning of the each class but that sometimes it was skipped, depending on circumstances. He tries to run a loose ship. He explained that he’d only been doing the free writes for about 7 years. He then gave them a prompt they didn’t like, he asked for suggestions, and it ended up being “cornbread”. The class really had a lot of fun with it. Next, they workshopped six submissions, copies of which each student had previously emailed to me at Steve’s request. Five were short stories and one a chapter from a novel by one of the women who is graduating, and varying in length from 7 to 19 pages. I enjoyed reading their work in advance. It certainly contributed to my ability to appreciate the quality of class participation. They were, in fact, awesome workshoppers. All but one offered critical commentary. Only after all critical comments were on the table was the author allowed to respond with anything s/he had to say. Sometimes Steve expressed himself first and other times he let the students take the lead. In other words, he could just as easily have been one of the students. However, there were times when he shared his expert insights by first summing up what he thought the genre was or if he felt that perhaps they were missing the point or drifting too far astray. He also changed his opinion once or twice, indicating to me that he was learning from them as well. There was a break of about 10 minutes around 8:00pm. A couple of students handed in responses to each student submission. The last segment of the workshop was a response read aloud by two students to one of the short stories the class was assigned to read for that week from “The Creepy Girl & Other Stories” by Janet Mitchell, the only required published text. Copies of the responses had been made to pass around the room, and discussion followed. The two critics for next week were announced.

I felt that often the students’ insights were brilliant, reflective of having carefully read their classmates’ submissions, and I was really impressed at how they were honest in their assessments of their colleagues work but also tactful at the same time. Here at Mills, certain of my fellow workshoppers seem always to want to rewrite the authors work without just trying to understand and appreciate where the author is coming from artistically. I felt Steve’s students handled this aspect of criticism with greater sensitivity. I’m not sure what to attribute this to.

There appeared to be a warm yet respectful rapport between the instructor and the students. Steve definitely exerted himself as the bandleader, but without signaling any superiority. The students were well behaved towards one another and towards him. Steve was soft-spoken but assertive, and patient. He did not call on anyone unless a hand was raised. One young woman hung around until after I was gone to follow him back to his office to speak with him. The two politely saw me back outside and on my way to my car. Yes, I think it was entirely legitimate, although whose mind wouldn’t go there, especially if you are a fiction writer. ;-)

I felt the students were always attentive, mindful and respectful of one another and of Steve. The atmosphere was one of integration, mutual acceptance, and integrity. For the most part, the students did not need to be pushed to be engaged, and Steve did not rush to fill silences, and no one seemed bothered by that. Oh, they also periodically practiced a “time out” where nothing was to be said for at least ten seconds. It was used as a form of transition and, probably, to see if everyone was still mentally ‘present’. Interesting, but generally someone violated the ten-second silence every time, and it showed that it was usually the person who was not paying attention. That individual was gently called out and without lingering further, the class moved forward.

I spoke with Steve both via email before and in person after the class. I felt he was very forthcoming and interested in contributing to the cause, i.e., furthering the mission of teaching creative writing. I got the impression that he has found his stride. By the time you are teaching an advanced workshop, you know that the students are there because they want to be. I believe that an introductory workshop represents a challenge that an advanced one does not. One major question to the student in an introductory workshop: why are you here? It was clear to me, as elementary as it might appear, that Steve’s students were there because each considered himself/herself a writer and had put something on the line to be there.