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.

In searching for articles about approaches to asynchronous on-line instruction, I discovered many of the articles and the research in the field focus on discussion boards and methods for student-interaction. It seems to me that such communication methods would offer little value to an online version of the one (or two) shot library instruction classes. In those classes, building rapport with the instructor and engaging the students are the challenge. I wonder if it would be helpful for the librarian to have a brief video introducing him/herself to go along with any asynchronous teaching tools that are created. This video could focus on the librarian’s background and research interests but also include some humor and personal information. This would make the librarian a real person and may make students more inclined to pay attention to the instructional information.

And the last in the series, title still taken from King Henry V’s speech from the third act of his self-titled play by Will-i-am Shakspeare.

And on Thursday of last week, the 19th of February to be exact, I solo taught my last two sessions of the semester. Can you hear the hallelujah chorus in the background? I sure could.

The first  class was a little rough. I got through everything and, I think, achieved everything I needed to–reaching half the class and making sure they understood. While there were a couple of people who really got into what we were doing, there were pockets of people who just weren’t paying attention. There were people who, after doing an active learning activity, wouldn’t stop talking while I was talking. I also caught two guys sleeping (or very near sleeping). While I could understand their sleepiness, because I was also tired myself at the end of the day, it was a little disheartening. Then again, I reasoned with myself that it wasn’t me–it was typical freshman behavior. When their teacher isn’t teaching, it’s like they are back in high school with a substitute instead of a guest lecturer/teacher/instructor. They’ll learn, hopefully, in time to be more respectful when it comes to being physically present and mentally engaged in classes.

The second class went much smoother, thanks in part to the professor of the EN102 section telling them to be engaged and respectful before I began. I felt as if the entire class got something out of it this time, even though one of the groups was really struggling to delve deeper into the activities. They’re good at getting the surface information but failed to look any deeper than what they “had to.” I squashed most of that thinking by going around and checking in on what they were doing if they were “finished” and prompting them to look other places. I also got better at giving them resources according to slack-off level, which I didn’t do in the first class. I made the mistake of giving a pocket of people who weren’t paying attention an easily researched article and they got done too quickly. I re-evaluated that for the second class and they were, mostly, fully engaged with the material.

All in all, I think I did well. James did tell me that I may want to reconsider giving so much positive feedback. I didn’t want to tell them they were wrong, because I hadn’t found the right phrasing to tell them so without crushing what they’ve said completely. Practice, at least in that aspect, may help. I’ve gotten a taste of teaching, and I enjoy it for the most part. I only have to practice more to get the nerves out as well as try and hone in on my rhetorical/pedagogical skills to try and further the student’s engagement/knowledge once the class is over.

Teaching is an entirely new experience for me. Yes, I’ve done the occasional presentation, but public speaking has never been something I am comfortable with. However, this is quickly changing, with each time that I teach or co-teach I am becoming more confident with my abilities to lead an instruction session. I feel that I learn something each time I teach. As my confidence has grown I am able to look at the wider picture and really focus on the material in an in-depth manner. However, there are still doubts that pop up. Am I covering the material appropriately? Do the students have a clear understanding of the material? Are they focused and paying attention? Am I fulfilling the expectations of the professor? Is the information I am conveying helpful? So with every step forward I have taken as an instructor, I feel that I have many more to go.

In a land called Gorgas, there was an intern. Her name was Paige and it was her first week of instruction. She observed the other instructors and saw that they had many gifts, but one gift in particular caught her attention more than the rest. Behind all the glimmer of the instruction sessions was the raw talent of connecting students with the information the instructors were trying to teach them. While they all had different ways to impart the material, they were one in the belief that making connections with the students was important.

Nervous, she began co-teaching with Kayla. She knew she would be anxious but ultimately she was concerned that her jittering nerves would interfere with her teaching abilities. She worked for two hours trying to perfect her little demonstrations of Scout and Opposing viewpoints, making sure all of the information she was trying to get across was present.

The teacher of the session, when she arrived, decided that one of the things she was going to show the students cut in to the research time he wanted his students to have at the end of class! He also had an assignment he wanted the students to work on, which involved Paige pointing out different parts of Scout that she had not planned on using.

Quickly, she wrote an outline and her script was gone. The class was over before she had a chance to breathe, but her first co-teaching session was over and she had done well despite her nerves. She stuttered, stumbled, and “umm… let’s see” ‘d her way through, but her learning objectives were achieved.

Her second co-teaching session with Kayla went much smoother. She worked with her script as she had planned, but she had not planned for the number of students suddenly increasing after a half hour into the session. Her nerves quadrupled in size; despite her shaking hands, she made it through hardly looking at the outline and script she had prepared.

Instruction sessions were looking up for Paige. The more she taught the more she saw herself as a teacher. The criticism and encouragement she received in the aftermath of her co-teaching sessions helped her adjust and begin delving deeper into what could make her a better teacher.

Kayla and I are teaching 2 EN101 classes this Friday, together but unsupervised by those in the know. Creating a lesson plan can be challenging – creating a lesson plan WITH someone can bring out some of my worst control-freak tendencies. I’m working on it (and a shoutout to Kayla for being the perfect partner – laid back in all of the ways I am not). I am excited to get started and to be responsible for something more than a small blob of the greater scheme. 101 is very different from 102 and, in my opinion, more easily lends itself to fun lesson plans. I’m looking forward to seeing how we are received.

The biggest stand out moment from this week was in the 102 class I observed yesterday. Sara probably mentioned the same thing (watching tutorials before the next session) 6 times in rapid succession, and even made it clear that it was important by saying students should make a note of it, but her voice fell on some deaf ears. I overheard the guy behind me asking his classmate what she had said as he packed up to leave. I watched another guy checking his phone every minute or so (literally every minute or so, I timed him for a while), despite that portion of the class being interactive. I think student (in)attention just really needs to be taken in stride. Many students were actively participating and seemed to be enjoying the discussion, and I think Sara’s plan of attack in pulling students in to the discussion was spot-on, but there were some who refused to participate. No worries – you have to force some level of participation but you don’t have to focus on those who refuse to involve themselves.

As for other revelations this week – my demonstration of narrowing a topic was miserable. The feedback I got was identical to the feedback I have received and given to myself my entire life – proceed with more confidence, commit more fully, and don’t appear disinterested in what I am doing. I’ve been thinking about influential it is for an instructor to appear ambivalent, how that not only establishes classroom tone but in large part determines how important students think the information is. The last impression I’d like to leave students with is that of the library as unimportant. I think my biggest challenge will be in conveying my enthusiasm for library science and the pleasure of a search well done.

Last week marked my first foray into information literacy instruction. I took over the Scout portion of one of the EN102 classes. Not so bad, but I was again amazed at how much information Karlie can pack in there and how seamlessly she moves from one subject to another. I am thankful we are preparing one topic at a time, but am wondering how all of it will be melded together for an entire class. I enjoyed the experience, though, ESPECIALLY after the lecture was finished and we got to talk one-on-one with students. There are some impressive kids out there…you know, with like, deep thoughts and stuff. It’s odd to say, but one of the things I will need to get past as I’m instructing is feeling like I am “one of them”. I still feel like I belong in the same age group with all of these students who are, quite literally, less than half my age. It changes the dynamic when I pull myself out of that mindset and force myself to recognize adulthood.
This week’s assignment: narrowing a research topic. This presentation has been hard for me to pull apart from one centered on narrowing search terms (after a topic is chosen). There is so much overlap when researching, and again it’s hard to place the process into a stepwise format. Something to start thinking about: a logical progression of instruction that both shows how circular research can be and also gives students a chance to wrap their minds around each aspect.

For week three, I co-taught for the first time. I was pretty nervous, though not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. The night before, I observed Karlie teaching a different section, and we met afterwards to discuss our lesson plan. We decided that I would start by explaining Boolean operators and then do a Scout tutorial using the section theme. I tend to get extremely nervous the first time I do something, but it went much better than I anticipated. The things I’ll fix for next time are pretty minor overall. I want to make sure I don’t talk too quickly or slowly. When explaining Scout, I’d like to explain things in a slightly different order next time, one that I feel makes more sense. I think that the biggest achievement of this week was diving into teaching, and gaining confidence. Flashing back to week one, Sara’s advice to focus on the concept (searching/narrowing) rather than the tool (Scout) was spot-on. I really feel that using that approach is what eliminated a lot of nerves.

For week two, I had the opportunity to observe three different instructors as they taught EN102/103 session ones. Immediately, I made the decision that I would attend each and every session I could, even as I get well into co-teaching and solo teaching myself. I expected that I would be more nervous, seeing what I would soon be facing myself, but I actually felt much better after each session I observed. Two major things stood out to me. Firstly, I was impressed with how much innovation and individuality can be added into each session. Each of the three instructors had very different approaches, exercises and style, but the students all came out of the sessions understanding the same concepts. Secondly, it was a major relief to see that the anxieties of the instructor weren’t noticeable to me, much less to the EN102/103 students. When they would say to me afterwards “I didn’t love this part”, “I would switch it to this thing”, etc., I was surprised, because the class had been seamless from my perspective.

For our first meeting, we each had to prepare a 5 minute demo on how to search Scout. Predictably, being the first week, things did not go nearly as smoothly as I would have preferred. However, it ended up being extremely educational because I learned a lot of important tips that will serve me as an instructional librarian. First of all, my biggest problem was that I had prepared an exact search pattern. When the results didn’t pull up exactly how I anticipated, I panicked. As Sara pointed out to me though, it was a very important lesson in making sure that I understand the concepts and am flexible instead of sticking so closely to a particular plan. Plans often fall apart, especially plans depending on an ever-changing resource like Scout. The other lesson I learned was a bit more abstract. I had been so focused on demoing a tutorial for Scout that I kept my vision narrow. In reality, I should have had the focus be on searching as a concept with Scout as the tool.