This week’s assignment was to develop a brief demonstration on keyword generation. Again, I was struck with how difficult it is to prepare even these small pieces of an instruction session. I’m glad we are doing it in small chunks so we can focus on one thing at a time. Last week’s SCOUT presentation was underwhelming and unfocused – I definitely hope to have it refined tomorrow when I coteach with Karlie (and nervously take over the SCOUT portion). Getting feedback and seeing other intern’s demonstrations was helpful. I can definitely say that even though we should be prepared to complete a search on any topic, and that “failures” in the search are just as important as learning tools as successes, I will want to have a familiar path to follow when teaching for the first time. I’m not prepared to wing it yet. Preparing today’s demonstration took a long (long!) time; I tested MULTIPLE topics to use as an example in finding broader/narrower search terms. One thing I got hung up on, and still get caught on, is inserting related terms in to the process. I tend to be a purist – if I am looking for a narrower search term for “dog”, it rattles me to apply something like “leash”…that isn’t a narrower term for dog! So I spent some time trying to redefine what “narrower term” and “broader term” could mean. Especially in a way to convey to students that if a term may be relevant to their search they should grab it and use it…without worrying about where it falls in the hierarchy. Feedback helped to show that my approach is a little too rigid and that a need to find a way to satisfy my need to categorize while making students recognize the overall concept of alternate/narrower/broader terms.
Our reading this week has made me nostalgic for the great teachers I’ve had in the past. I love this quote: “When my teaching is authorized by the teacher within me, I need neither weapons nor armor to teach”. Perfect. You need subject familiarity, and a wide comfort zone, and acceptance of the possibility that you may fail, but it should never be seen as a battle or something to “win” when you are teaching. Something to keep in mind…