Thank you for doing your part to fulfill this part of our contractual duties! For your reference, here is a short checklist of your duties as an observer:

1. You are required to observe ONE class session from any ONE of your observee’s listed 3- or 4- credit classes.
2. Check the number of observees you have been assigned. (Please note that you can be assigned up to a maximum of 3 observees in a semester.)
3. Check their listed class schedules and confirm that there aren’t any conflicts with your teaching schedule. If there are conflicts, email FYW@qc.cuny.edu.
4. Email your observees to introduce yourself, inform them of your availability, and request a possible date for the class visit which must occur by April 5th, 2024. (It is very possible that your observees may have never met you and may be interested in learning more about you as an English scholar or colleague, so it is a wonderful practice to introduce yourself in ways that build rapport and foster such conversations.) Contact Jamie in the English Department Office (Jamie.arizmendy@qc.cuny.edu) if you do not know your observees’ email addresses. Plese note that you are welcome to copy FYW@qc.cuny.edu on this initial email.
5. IF any of your observees do not respond with a week of your initial email, confirm with Jamie that you have the correct email address, and then email your observee again making sure to copy FYW@qc.cuny.edu. Doing so will cue the Directors of FYW to follow up with your observee.
6. After the class visit, arrange a post-observation meeting (which should occur no later than one week after the class visit). Either you or your observee may request to have a representative of the department at the meeting. Just contact fyw@qc.cuny.edu to arrange it.
7. Send observation reports to your observees with your signature before the scheduled post-observation meeting.
8. Briefly record in the observation report what you discussed with your observee in the post-observation meeting.
9. Name the observation report [ObserveeLastName].FA23.docx/pdf. For example, your observation report for Jane Doe would be named Doe.FA23.docx (if a Word document) OR Doe.FA23.pdf (if a PDF document). 
10. Submit the observation report with both your signature and your observee’s to qcenglishobservations@gmail.com no later than one week after the class visit (and no later than April 19th, 2024).

Every semester, we hear from part-time faculty who are deeply grateful for the mentoring and faculty development they receive during their observations. Here are some reminders that we’ve culled from those heartening discussions:

• As a short-term mentor and a guest, an observer may want to gather some context about the class before you visit. Ask for a syllabus and any handouts that might be helpful.
• Invite your observee to tell you about the goals of this class session as well as its place in the larger trajectory of the course. A brief outline or lesson plan for the observed class should be requested. 
• If it is appropriate, you might also ask your observee if s/he has any concerns about the class or if there are any specific aspects they would like feedback on, and make yourself available as a source of helpful support and insight. 
• When you visit, take notes to record what happens in the class so that you can document the class factually in your report, where you will also make the binary assessment—satisfactory or unsatisfactory—that the union requires. The observation report also asks whether you would recommend your observee to teach the same class again. Please review the document Guidelines for Recommending Observees on the observations website before making the recommendation. Your honest and thoughtful assessments help us identify exceptional instructors, support part-time faculty via targeted faculty development and mentorship, and ensure that our student charges are being most effectively educated.
• Your observations are scheduled without respect to your area of expertise, because the job of an observer isn’t to say how you would teach the class in question. Rather it is to document what happens in the class you visit; note how the instructor works toward the stated learning goals; and have a meaningful and collegial conversation about teaching.

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