Dhugal CO1

I observed my first class today at 11. It was a 2A reading class, normally taught by Marilyn, but as she was out the class was taught by Dr. Kennell. I entered the classroom a few minutes early and recognized a couple of faces, so this eased a bit of the anxiety. Dr. Kennell came in a few minutes late, and opened the class with an expression, "Everyone wants a piece of me". Of course the students weren't familiar with this expression, so he explained it. It seemed like a nice way to ease into the class. That being said, I am tempted to say Dr. Kennell directed the class in good part to me; he spoke to me directly in numerous asides, which I am grateful for, but seemed to take away from the students' time.
The class continued, and Dr. asked the students to take out the reading books they had selected from the CIES library. A couple of students had forgotten their books, and he verbally chastised them. He then asked the class about their books, "What are your books about?" Some students answered with just the title, and Dr. stressed the importance of the structure "It is about...", telling them it would appear many times in their college career (i.e. The chapter is about; the article is about). He was very adamant about the students responding in full sentences.
At one point Dr. Kennell gave a sort of pep talk, telling students what they must do to advance to the next reading group. He told them they must be active learners-as opposed to passive-and not be lazy in class. This means responding in full sentences, and reading with feeling (I've had this problem with my tutoring partner). He told them about committing vocab to memory, that it takes an active effort.
They did a brief reading exercise, in which they read a paragraph about echoes, followed by some comprehension questions. One girl seemed to be completely lost, and could not answer any questions. Dr. did pick on her, and as she struggled, other students would jump in. This didn't seem to me to be an effective way to get a struggler involved, but yet again Dr. is a doctor for a reason.