Co-teaching

Co-teaching was a great way to get more comfortable with library instruction before teaching on my own. For all of my co-teaching sessions, the instruction librarian gave me a section to teach. I was then able to teach nearly all of the Day 1 and Day 2 lessons in pieces before taking responsibility for the whole lesson on my own. By basing each section on the librarian’s lesson plan, I was able to approach the material in different ways. In more than one instance, this approach was not one I would have typically envisioned, so it opened my mind to new teaching methods. I believe co-teaching can also be a good experience for the students. Very few instructors will be able to relate to 100% of the students 100% of the time. Therefore, splitting up the session gives two different perspectives, approaches, and personalities and breaks up the lesson. Students will hopefully relate to one of the two voices in the room and potentially feel more comfortable seeking that instructor out for ongoing research assistance.


I actually had a student approach me at the Information Desk for help with her paper. She remembered me from one of the classes I co-taught and then asked me my opinion on a source she was thinking to use for her annotated bibliography!

General Thoughts on Instruction

This post is a general reflection on instruction. I’ll follow up with a post on each of the following: co-teaching, Day 1, and Day 2.
I came in to this assistantship not knowing what to expect. I come from a family of teachers and have led plenty of training sessions for youth and adults. I’ve also taught summer school sessions in a community center on journalism and art. Therefore, the basic principles of leading students through a curriculum is not foreign to me. However, the goals for research instruction can be overwhelming. I know how important research skills can be, and I have helped high-school students with research in the past and been shocked by their lack of ability to complete even simple tasks such as finding an image and copying and pasting it. Therefore, it’s hard not to feel pressure to catch these students up while not boring the others. Lucky for me, Gorgas’s reference librarians are all experienced instructors. Seeing them teach, gave me a framework for lessons plans and a confidence level with the material. Furthermore, the reality is, we only have the time to give the students the tools. It is then on them to seek out additional help and give themselves time to become better skilled researchers.

Session 1 Asynchronous Proposal

Using the Session 1 Lesson Plan, I plan to incorporate asynchronous teaching methods in to the lesson in order to create an independent online learning environment. I plan to begin the lesson with a recorded video introduction, introducing myself, my role within the library, and the availability of the research librarians. Next, the lesson will include a screen cast pointing out the pertinent aspects of the library website. The screencast will demonstrate: hours, interlibrary loan, Stanford Media Center, Library Software List, Print to Library Computers, and Ask-A-Librarian. The students will then be required to submit an Ask-A-Librarian question based upon their area of interest for their final paper. These questions will be answered by the instructor before the session 2 instruction. After this, there will be a video discussing the goals and objectives for the lesson. Moving on to the research process, the instructor will include a video describing their personal research process and discus places to do background research. Depending on what the instructor’s research process, a screen cast can be included within the video. Students will then be asked to submit an explanation of their own personal research process, to a class discussion board in text or in video form, to the viewed by their fellow classmates. This will be followed by a video PowerPoint explaining the broad vs. narrow process. Students will then be asked to practice this skill by completing the Step-By-Step Scout Guide on the EN102 libguide.  To complete the lesson students will be asked to take a final assessment to gage how much of the information was retained by the students. The information provided by students will be reviewed by the instructor to aid in planning for the session 2 lesson.

Readings on Instruction

I have thoroughly enjoyed the readings we have been assigned for the internship. Coming from a background in history and English I have little experience with teaching and its methods. Completing the readings made me really reflect on my experiences with teachers throughout my education. It made me question what methods of teaching they had employed and how I learned from them. I particularly enjoyed the first reading and studying what methods those instructors had employed. Looking at their innovative methods, I thought I wish they had been my instructors. Especially in the areas of math and science, areas I struggled in, going through school. The reading gave me greater insight into teaching as a process and the different methods that can be employed.