As it's nearing the end of the term and I'll be attending the HASTAC Pre-conference Workshop called Alt-Ac: Alternative Academic Careers Workshop in just around an hour (which I'll blog about next week), tonight's post is taken from a draft of a chapter that I'm writing for my Information Literacy course this semester. For the class, we had to observe 20 hours of instruction and then teach two information literacy-related courses (all of which I did at the UM Library), and then write a chapter about it. The chapter will part of a book that includes chapters from each student and will be published as an e-book and then also printed by the Espresso Book Machine. So, with no further ado, here's a portion of my chapter...
What
you learned that other people should know about to improve their own
practice
Instruction
at the library is something many librarians can do by choice. It’s a
requirement for some positions, and is expected that should assistance
be needed to instruct or float (walking around to help students stay on
track during the session), librarians will step up. There are library
resources for instructors including teaching outlines, informal mentors,
and research-based practice on which to draw. However as a beginning
instructor teaching topics on which I needed fluency, I needed to do a
significant amount of work on my own. This pre-work came to be what
made me comfortable teaching, and it has played an important role in my
teaching effectiveness. So, to all instructors just starting out (or
those who want to revisit their practice), I present to you my lessons
learned and recommendations for diving into information literacy-based
instruction as an information literate instructor.
1)
Observe sessions
I had the chance to
observe many types of workshops with different instructors (and one at
another local university) and was able to glean an incredible amount
from actively observing. I learned about keeping energy up (especially
if you’re teaching undergraduates at 8:30 in the morning), being
prepared for the topic, and different strategies such as walking around
the room while talking. Observation time can give you the chance to
sort out your teaching style and think about what you like and didn’t
care during different types of workshops.
Take
the time to sit in on a variety of instructional sessions and don’t be
afraid to step out of the box to observe workshops that are in a
different field or even location (such as a public library or other
university, if you’re an academic librarian). Ask colleagues in your
workplace if you can watch their sessions, or even float if you feel
comfortable. Sit in on technology workshops, citation workshops,
database workshops, and other types of sessions that can give you a
varied view of instruction. While you may be teaching workshops on how
to format citations, the instructor for that database class might have a
teaching style that is more “you.” By observing different instructors
in different settings with different topics, you’ll gain a more rounded
view of what instruction means for students and for you as an
instructor.
2)
Consider your audience
Instructing
undergraduates, PhDs, faculty and staff within a few weeks of one
another really caused me to think about the audience of the workshop
while I was preparing to teach and actually instructing. Teaching
different types of groups requires thinking about the prior knowledge of
the participant (while admitting it’s impossible to actually know
this - especially when teaching a one-shot workshop), the basic skills
they may or may not have, and why they are attending the session. More
specifically, undergraduates may or may not have visited the library
before, and one can cautiously assume they are familiar with computers
in terms of web browsing, but they quite possibly are only at the
database workshop because it’s required for their class. On the
contrary, participants who attend the computer basics workshop are
presumably there because they feel they are lacking computer skills and
really want to absorb the workshop materials.
3)
Conduct background information on previously taught sessions
Most
of the sessions I taught had been taught before by many different
people. I was provided with teaching outlines, but this only gave me
part of the story. It was incredibly useful to talk to instructors
who’d taught the session before to find out what works well and what
doesn’t work so well (for example, some databases might not handle
simultaneous use as well as others - and that’s helpful to know!), and
how participants might react to the material. In a database workshop I
co-taught, by talking with my co-instructor prior, I knew that one part
of the workshop might take longer than predicted, so we needed to keep
an eye on the time. Again, this was useful knowledge to have before
getting in front of the class.
Reaching
out to other instructors to prep and debrief workshops is an effective
way to network with colleagues and improve your instruction. Looking
back up to lesson learned #1, see if you can observe a workshop you’ll
teach in the future and then chat with them afterwards to talk through
some of the parts that were great or a bit confusing. Most colleagues
should be open to this discussion.
4)
Practice, and then practice again (by self and with others)
This
might feel like an obvious step to take, but I’ve observed instructors
who were clearly not as prepared as they could have been (and I’ve been
there too!) - one of the steps for moving through the session was out of
place, their designated search didn’t bring up the right results, or
they left out a major part of the workshop.
Prior
to teaching, I set aside time at least one week in advance to talk with
colleagues and then actually sit down to practice working through the
material. I follow all of the prescribed steps for the workshop (“now
we’re going to go to the library homepage, and in the main search bar
type ‘Children and Media.’ This will bring up a page that...) and talk
myself through what I’m going to say. When time allows or I’m feeling
particularly uncomfortable about a topic, I will practice in front of
other colleagues or classmates to get feedback. By practicing , and
practicing, and practicing, I’ve learned that being prepared is huge in
feeling effective and comfortable in front of a classroom. I’ve also
learned that you can’t predict everything that will happen, but that by
being prepared for what you can
control, the moments that you can’t are much easier to handle.
5)
Co-teach
Not everyone might agree that co-teaching is
effective or even something they want to do, but if you can find a
colleague with whom you work well, having a co-instructor can be very
useful to learning instructional skills and teaching styles. I found a
co-instructor who’s teaching style and prep style both compliment and
supplement mine. It’s been a great experience to work with someone who
has his own teaching identity but who is willing to talk through
instructional strategies and sessions (part of the practice part in #4!)
and who is there for support during the workshop and after to provide
feedback (see #7). Co-teaching can be a great way to start getting your
feet wet in the vast instructional waters.
6)
Teach!
Dive in and do it! Until you start teaching,
you can’t possibly start to reflect and improve on what you can do
better. When I started teaching, I did not have a teaching style and
was merely trying to get through the material. By working with a
co-instructor, having my mentor observe my sessions, reviewing the
workshop evaluations from participants, and reflecting alone I was able
to get critical feedback that has improved my teaching. I found that
the more I taught, the more comfortable I got with different audiences
(making quips about dissertation writing with PhDs, telling
undergraduates that this tool will really save them time - because who
wants to spend more time on citations then you have to) and the more
comfortable I got in general. And the only want to do this was to start
teaching - ready or not!
7)
Reflect and debrief
This may be
the most important step, not necessarily to start
instructing, but definitely for becoming a more effective instructor.
Having a co-teach or observer at some of your first sessions (and even
as you progress) can make all the difference in being a great
instructor. At the beginning of my teaching, I stayed behind the podium
and, as mentioned earlier, just tried to get through the material.
After receiving feedback, I started walking around the room, pointing
more to the screen and became more interactive in my teaching style. I
also worked through some of the examples in the workshop that simply
didn’t work as well as I wanted. Additionally, reflection has helped me
consider what I need to do more of in terms of preparation -- more
practice, more background information, whether I want a co-instructor or
not. These are valuable lessons on which to build for each and every
instructional session I teach. Don’t be afraid to do this outside work -
take this time in your office to write notes, or wait til you get home
and can sit and think for a few minutes outside of the setting. It will
be critical to improving your teaching to debrief each session, even if
it’s only for a few minutes. Think about what went well, what didn’t
go so well, and what you can improve on next time. A couple of bullet
points can put things into perspective. And if a session had a lot of
issues, think about how you can prevent them if possible, and more
forward to making the next workshop that much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment