August 20, 2008
The Evolution of a Teacher
When I first started working at a reference desk my worst fear was that I might not be able to answer someone's question. I was worried I would come across as not knowing what I was doing or fumbling for information. I had this image that the people behind the desk should be the experts, that they should have everything at their finger tips and immediately be able to retrieve the perfect manageable set of citations which answered even the most difficult question. In short, it was all about me. I was on the hot seat and I was responsible for knowing it all.
As I evolved as a reference librarian I struggled to keep up this image by telling patrons they could alleviate all this messy process at the desk by giving me their email or phone number. That way they wouldn't have to waste time waiting for me to find what they needed (or watch me fumble if I had no idea what I was doing!)and I could contact them later with some suggestions. This was just a sneakier way of being all about me. They didn't have to know if it took me four hours or four minutes to find the information. I was off the hook and not "performing" in front of them.
These issues of performance also spill into classroom instruction. That's why librarians come up with canned searches, so they don't have to struggle in front of students and appear as if they don't know what they're doing if a search brings up inappropriate results. Parker Palmer writes about the fear in teaching this way:
After thirty years of teaching, my own fear remains close at hand. It is there when I enter a classroom and feel the undertow into which I have jumped. It is there when I ask a question - and my students keep a silence as stony as if I had asked them to betray their friends. It is there whenever it feels I have lost control: a mind-boggling question is asked, an irrational conflict emerges, or students get lost in my lecture because I myself am lost. When a class that has gone badly comes to an end, I am fearful long after it is over - fearful that I am not just a bad teacher but a bad person, so closely is my sense of self tied to the work I do. (1)
Some fear can be good, it means you care but too much fear is debilitating and does not lead to learning or critical thinking. Palmer goes on to say students would just as soon not engage in learning with a teacher. "Don't ask me how to think about this stuff - just give me the facts."(2) Often that's just what librarians do. We concentrate on feeding students too much information and don't allow them to think for themselves.
In her article "Finding Ourselves as Teachers", Susan Byrnes Whyte suggests librarians step back from feeding students just the facts but instead concentrate on making the students think for themselves by getting into the "whys" of research.(3)
* Why did that search fail?
* Why is this an inappropriate web site?
* Why do I need to be able to evaluate a resource, anyway?
Getting into the whys of research is a messier way of teaching and may not always work but it's more practical and more useful. Students won't remember a librarian's perfect search at 2:00 am the night before their paper is due but if they remember the process involved in getting to that perfect search they can apply that wherever they are and whenever they need it.
Notes
1. Palmer,Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1998. 36.
2. Ibid., 38.
3. Whyte,Susan Byrnes. "Finding Ourselves as Teachers." Information Literacy Instruction Handbook. Ed. Christopher Cox and Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay. Chicago : Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008. 55.
Posted by swortman at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2007
Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy
The Instruction Section and Arts Section of ACRL joined forces to present an interesting panel in Washington on visual literacy and how important this is for today's students, Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy.
The panel included three presenters,
Danuta Nitecki: Yale University Associate University Librarian
Cindy Cunningham, Corbis Inc., Director of Media Cataloging
Loanne Snavely, Penn State University, Head of Instructional Programs.
After a brief introduction the program started with a display of famous visual images which not only captured the audience's attention, but helped serve as examples of the topics being discussed. Each speaker brought a different background and expertise to the presentation which helped in providing a well rounded program.
Danuta Nitecki started out defining visual literacy and talking about different perspectives of visual literacy. She mentioned the article Visual Literacy in Higher Education, by Ron Bleed published in Educause.
Cindy Cunningham gave an engaging, hands-on presentation which demonstrated the difficulties involved in cataloging and tagging images. Audience members shouted out ideas for tagging images as she displayed them. She then gave us the actual terms that were used as descriptors. This let to an interesting discussion about descriptive vs. abstract tags.
(Image accessed from Flickr on June 29, 2007.
Attributed to LHOOD.)
This image could be tagged as "train station" or "travel" but it could also might be tagged as "alienation" or "fear."
You may have seen this presentation before but it always amazes me to watch it. For a good example of what can be done with images and where we may be heading in the future check on this example of PhotoSynth.
Danuta Nitecki talked about what the objectives should be for teaching visual literacy. She also discussed an article she wrote with William Rando, "A Library and Teaching Center Collaboration to Assess the Impact of using Digital Images on Teaching, Learning, and Library Support." Vine 34.3 (2004): 119-25. This article is available online for those affiliated with the University of Michigan.
Posted by swortman at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)
Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy
The Instruction Section and Arts Section of ACRL joined forces to present an interesting panel in Washington on visual literacy and how important this is for today's students, Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy.
The panel included three presenters,
Danuta Nitecki: Yale University Associate University Librarian
Cindy Cunningham, Corbis Inc., Director of Media Cataloging
Loanne Snavely, Penn State University, Head of Instructional Programs.
After a brief introduction the program started with a display of famous visual images which not only captured the audience's attention, but helped serve as examples of the topics being discussed. Each speaker brought a different background and expertise to the presentation which helped in providing a well rounded program.
Danuta Nitecki started out defining visual literacy and talking about different perspectives of visual literacy. She mentioned the article Visual Literacy in Higher Education, by Ron Bleed published in Educause.
Cindy Cunningham gave an engaging, hands-on presentation which demonstrated the difficulties involved in cataloging and tagging images. Audience members shouted out ideas for tagging images as she displayed them. She then gave us the actual terms that were used as descriptors. This let to an interesting discussion about descriptive vs. abstract tags.
(Image accessed from Flickr on June 29, 2007.
Attributed to LHOOD.)
This image could be tagged as "train station" or "travel" but it could also might be tagged as "alienation" or "fear."
You may have seen this presentation before but it always amazes me to watch it. For a good example of what can be done with images and where we may be heading in the future check on this example of PhotoSynth.
Danuta Nitecki talked about what the objectives should be for teaching visual literacy. She also discussed an article she wrote with William Rando, "A Library and Teaching Center Collaboration to Assess the Impact of using Digital Images on Teaching, Learning, and Library Support." Vine 34.3 (2004): 119-25. This article is available online for those affiliated with the University of Michigan.
Posted by swortman at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)