They Like Me, They Really Like Me

Sorry, Sally, but I had to co-opt your statement because, well, they like me, they really like me…

At the end of each semester, I always wonder if I’ve made a difference.  Or, more specifically, if any of my students have learned anything in my class.  I mean beyond what was needed for them to pass the test.  And, ocassionally, I get the answer that I so desperately need.  I’m going to let you in on a little secret ~ even after all this time, I still question myself and need reassurance. 

This semester was “different.”  I taught without textbooks.  I’ve found that my students don’t read the assignments anyway, but they will participate when I use a combination of teaching methods.  I relied on powerpoints, lectures, discussion, music and videos to facilitate learning.  My students reacted so positively.  Well, at first, they were a bit apprehensive.  A lot apprehensive.  Ok, they were downright nervous.  But as we got into the semester and they got into the groove, everything started to fall into place.   

During the last night of classes a few of my students (I only had seven this semester), came up to me and told me that they really enjoyed my class.  Because it’s an evening course and most of my students are nurses, I know that history is not a priority for them so I try to make the class relevant.  I was told that I succeeded in keeping them awake, motivated and interested?  What more could an instructor ask for?  Well, I’ll tell you…

One of my adult students brought her son to class the entire seven week semester.  He’s in high school and he never talked during class but after class he would hang around while I was cleaning up and talk to me about whatever we had discussed that night and he’d share resources that he’d found from the previous week’s class ~ he really worked.  Anyway, today his mom told me that he wanted me to know that he enjoyed coming to my class and that he plans to attend Misericordia University when he graduates high school in three years.  He also said that he hopes that I’m still teaching history when he’s a freshmen.  You know what?  I hope I am too…

 

Back in the Class

Last Thursday was the first class of the second semester and, boy, was I a nervous wreck.  Seriously, I sat up all night refining my lesson plans and lecture notes…  I’m not sure why I’m so nervous before each class, especially since I’ve taught this same history course several times.  Maybe it’s because each section is different ~ the students, the discussions, the learning process, etc. 

The course is a seven week long evening class that meets once per week for four hours per session.  That may seem like a long time but it really goes by pretty quickly. I have seven students, most of whom are nursing students who are fulfilling a history requirement.  I began the class by introducing myself and giving the students a little bit of information about my classroom philosophy.  I don’t believe in dumping a bunch of useless facts into my students’ heads.  To me, that serves no purpose.  People already come to my class with an aversion to history so I try to make it interesting and relevant to their lives.  I provide the foundation for discussions by putting events within a historical context and then I ask them to talk about something that is happening in the world today that relates to the chapter we are studying.  I’ve found that by making the lessons relevant to the individual, they get more out of the class (sort of a “the personal is political” approach to history).  Furthermore, this method encourages my students to pay attention to current events (they have to watch the news or read a newspaper to participate in the discussions) and, hopefully, it makes them more aware of the world around them.

So, we’ll see in six weeks or so when the student evaluations are submitted whether my methods are helpful.  So far, I’ve received positive reviews from my students.  A few have come to me and told me that they enjoy the discussions and that they’ve become more confident in other classes during discussion because they feel like they have something to contribute…I really don’t think I could ask for more.

 

Guess Who’s Coming to Class?

I am!  Yup, I will be back in the classroom this Thursday!  I’ll be teaching American History to 1865.  I am so incredibly nervous but I’m also incredibly happy.  This will be a 7 week course that meets one night per week for four hours.  Right now I’m in the process of finalizing the syllabus ~ I know, I know…I’m kind of working on a tight schedule, especially since class starts in two days! 

This semester I’m doing things a little differently.  Usually, in this type of format I do a lot of lecturing with a heavy reliance on the textbook.  Generally, these are adult students who are coming to class after a long day at work and they’re exhausted.  So I’ve been putting more of the pressure on myself instead of them.  Funny how you re-evaluate things when you have nothing else to do.  Anyway,  I get tired of listening to myself talk, so I’ve decided to take an active learning approach and make the students do more of the work. 

Instead of focusing on my lectures and the text, I want the students to look at primary sources and evaluate them.  I’ll introduce the time period and the significant events but then I’ll have the students look at documents, pictures, maps, etc to see how they relate to the event.  I’ve set up discussion questions for each primary source and provided relevant links.  I’ve also set up basic discussion questions to offset the lectures and directed the students to do their own research outside the class so they can bring “something” to the table.  These are adults (as opposed to younger students who tend to not be quite as talkative – during class) so I’m expecting a lot from them.  As further incentive, I’ve noted that class participation is a must.

Finally, I’ve assigned a final project which will consist of a formal paper and an in class presentation.  The paper has to be 5 to 7 pages long, not including the works cited page.  They also have to use a minimum of 2 primary sources.  Then, for the grand finale, they have to do an in class presentation of 10 to 15 minutes.  Now to take some of the pressure off the students, their classmates have to not only pay attention but they have to ask them questions at the end of the presentation.  No, this is not some form of educational torture.  I just want to be sure my students are learning something.  Hopefully, this will be fun, interesting and educational.

We’ll see…

 

Pre-Library Instruction Nerves

My Library Instruction has been rescheduled for today at 3:30 PM and I am so incredibly nervous.  I think I’ve mentioned before that this is the first time that I am doing this.  Anyway, the professor is sitting in on the class and that has me nervous enough.  He is also the person I report to as an adjunct faculty member for the History Department.  This will also be the first time he gets to check out my teaching techniques.  Aaack!

My supervisor came into my office on Friday and informed me that she is going to try to sit in on the session too.  Gulp!  I am so not ready for the pressure.  Then I received an email from the Head of Reference Services saying that he will be sitting in on the session too.  Thud.

Ok, I know I teach classes four times a week so this shouldn’t be a big deal but this is like standing before my peers and being graded.  I know they’ll be mentally reviewing me to make sure I hit all the “hot spots.”  I feel like I am going before the academic equivalent of a firing squad.

I have an outline prepared to make sure I cover everything but I still want to….This is a family blog, so I won’t say but needless to say, I haven’t had much to eat today.

I’ve prepared a little packet of handouts to give to the students for them to refer to as I talk.  My packet includes:

• An information sheet about the Mary Kintz Bevevino Library
• A primer on the differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines
• A description of the Dewey Decimal System
• Library Instruction Assessment sheet for after the session
• Bookmarks, the library’s newsletter

Anyway, I think I’d better go take a moment…

 

Library Day in the Life 5: TGIF!

I survived another week...

It’s Friday and I have survived.  Imagine me doing the happy dance.  This has been a crazy week for me.  I went from feeling on top of my game to sinking to the floor in despair.  I’ve had a Library Instruction session scheduled on the fly and rescheduled due to inclement weather.  And I’ve prepared two tests and proctored one.

Today is going to be a fairly slow day for me.  I have class in a little over an hour.  It’ll be mostly lecture with a few questions tossed in here and there to make sure everyone is still awake.  But for the most part, it’ll be me talking.  I also plan to play a bit of “Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott Joplin.  I know “The Entertainer” is much more familiar but I kinda like Maple…

Sometimes I truly forget how young my class is (or how old I really am)…anyway, I talked to them about Scott Joplin and they looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.  So I played “Maple Leaf Rag” for them and no reaction but when I played “The Entertainer,” their eyes lit up with recognition.  They recognized it from cartoons!  So we talked about how music and other cultural movements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries have infiltrated popular culture.  I honestly felt like we had a productive class.  They even talked to me and asked and answered questions.  Yes!  I feel like I have been redeemed.

It’s 12:17 and I’m supposed to be on the Reference Desk, but there has been a bit of schedule shuffling so I may end up at the desk later this afternoon.  In the meantime, I’m going to spend some time putting some pictures up on flickr while I listen to DeBarge on Pandora.

So I sat the desk from about 1:30 til 3:00.  Most of the reference questions were about the printers “Why aren’t they working?”  “What does it mean when it says ‘hold for secure printing’?”  Um, I dunno.  They didn’t teach us this in library school.  I wish they had though since this seems to be 90% of my job.  I also answered questions about the snow as in “When is it going to stop?!”

At 3:15 I received a call from Mr. 13 begging me to bring him food before he left for his basketball game.  In the interest of self preservation (I do not want anyone from social services calling me because my son is rolling on the floor crying because he’s starving to death) I agree to bring food.

By 4:30 I am ready to end my day and put an end to this meme.  I’d like to think Bobbi and all the other librarians who have participated in Library Day in the Life.  This has been fun and I hope that you all have enjoyed spending the week with me…Now I’m signing off for the night to spend some time with my friends….my family….myself.

 

Library Day in the Life 4: Compressed Schedule

I woke up this morning at 5:45 to the sounds of kids stomping from their rooms to the bathroom…doors slamming, mumbled protests over who has first dibs on the shower.  I roll over and burrow under my blankets…

Fifteen minutes later, I’m up, showered and partially dressed–I have received a text that school has been canceled for the kids.  Why?  What kind of kids are we raising?  I used to play on metal monkey bars mounted in cement…My mother’s arm was the only seatbelt we used in the car…Why can’t I have today off too?

I receive another text saying that the University is on compressed schedule and won’t open until 10.  Yippee…I’m up now.  It’s not like I can go back to bed or anything.

I putz around the house for about half an hour and change my clothes 3 times because, well, that’s what I do when I have extra time.  I finally settle on khakis, a raspberry colored turtleneck and snow killing shoes.  An hour later and I am still not happy with my final decision.

I arrive at work at 9:58 AM to find that every single parking space is taken.  Gah!  Now I have to park in the far lot and walk, praying that the ice has melted.  Ok, major props to facilities because they not only scraped the walk ways but they salted too.  I get in the building around 10:10, I’m supposed to be at the Reference Desk.  I apologize for being late and am told to come back at 11:30 because it’s relatively quiet for now.

Well, it’s 11:30 so I’m off to the Ref Desk for some fun…

I had one reference question and it was about the differences between the various biblical commentaries.  I always feel guilty when I can’t answer those questions off the top of my head because both my parents are preachers and I feel like I should just know.  But it turns out the professor wasn’t certain about the answer either so I don’t feel all that bad.

From 1:15 to 2:15 I have lunch.  Yes, today I actually went and had something to eat.  Mostly because I had to park in the far lot and I was seriously hoping that someone would leave and I could swipe their space.  No such luck and, as karma would have it, I had to park in the way back of the far lot just for thinking about stealing someone else’s spot.  Lesson learned:  Do not covet another person’s parking space.

Lunch is over so I’ll spend the next ten or fifteen minutes checking my email and replying to whatever needs a response and deleting what doesn’t.  I also feel the need to check on my Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed pals.  I ❤ some of those folks and don’t know how I’d make it through the day without them.

I talked to my director about my rescheduled LI as well as the courses that I am teaching tonight and tomorrow and how the weather has affected my schedule.  It sorta destroyed my schedule for tomorrow but the one for tonight works basically the same because it wasn’t cancelled.

By now it’s almost 3 o’clock and I haven’t made any real headway on cleaning off my desk but I have prepared some handouts for my LI.  I’ve also helped to figure out decorations for Library Week; we’re going with a travel theme.

It’s 4 PM and I am closing up shop.  I’m not really leaving the campus though, just closing the door so I can work on material for tonight’s class.  My class starts at 5:4o and ends at 9:40.  Tonight we’re covering the Articles of Confederation, the formation of the Constitution and the presidency of Thomas Jefferson.  The students will also being having a test on Walt Whitman’s Memoranda During the War. 

I’m now at home and working on material for tomorrow’s class.  I thought I’d at least have a new episode of ER to watch while I work, instead I’m watching re-runs of George Lopez.  At least his show is funny.  So, I’m gonna sign off for tonight.  Good night, yall.

 

Library Day in the Life 3: Closed…

…Due to inclement weather. 

So I plan to spend the day in my jammies, tossing back mug after mug of steaming hot coffee while I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair for my history class.  Yes, I’ve read it before but I like to have everything fresh in my head during class discussions.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay Warm and Be Safe!

 

 

Library Day in the Life of a Librarian/Archivist/History Instructor/Mom/Wife/Exhausted Woman

Me at the beginning of a very busy day...

Today begins the second round of “A Day in the Life of a Librarian” as proposed by Bobbi Newman.  If you’d like to check out the lives of other librarians and see how they make it through their day, here’s a list of participants.

I gave my post that incredibly long title because those are all the titles that make up the fabulousness that is me.  🙂  Seriously, I am many things to many people at Misericordia University – sometimes I’m a librarian helping students with research questions (or, more often, fixing paper jams in the printer) or I’m a history instructor trying to make a mandatory history class interesting for students who really don’t understand why they have to take the class if their major is Occupational Therapy or I’m the University Archivist who spends hours uploading pictures from our archives onto Flickr because I like the idea of combining old things with new technologies and offering greater access to some really beautiful pictures.  But the role I’ve been playing the longest is that of mother and wife.  And those are the jobs that I begin and end my day with and so I begin…

5:45 AM – My alarm goes off…I lie there debating whether I want to get up and exercise or try to catch another 10 or 15 minutes of sleep.  I turn on the tv (while still debating) and catch the tale end of a news story on CNN (gotta love waking up to Don Lemon).

Still deciding on that exercise thing…

6:00 AM – Miss 13 knocks on my door and says “Mommy, time to wake up.”  I mumble something along the lines of “Yeah, thanks.”  There is a method to my madness.  They kept oversleeping, so I told them if they want me to drive them to the bus in 7 degree weather they needed to make sure I am up in time.  Now I know for sure they are up — standing in the freezing cold makes you wise up.

6:30 AM – I am sitting at the bus stop listening to Miss 15, Miss 13 and Mr. 13 talk about how cold it is outside.  How do they know? They are sitting all warm and toasty in my car.  Oh, they’re looking at the other kids standing outside shivering.

6:50 AM – The bus arrives and I head back home.  Miss 12 has informed me that I have to drive her to school because she has band practice and hates getting off and on the bus with her bells on her back.  In my day…

7:00 AM – What am I pondering?  Oh yeah.  To exercise or not to exercise?  Who am I kidding?

7:30 AM – Showered, dressed and made up…I’m ready for something to eat, so I throw some instant Cream of Wheat into the microwave.

7:40 AM – Miss 12 says it’s time to go.  Um, not before I eat.  She stands there staring at me until I give up and just start shoveling the food into my mouth…She walks away, grabs my keys and starts the car.  Really?  Is she going to leave without me? I give up on the eating thing.  Moms don’t need to eat we can live off the demands of our husbands and the exasperated sighs of our children.

7:50 AM – I drop Miss 12 off at school and head to work.

8:05 AM – I arrive at work and begin the paid portion of my day…

8:10 AM – Check mail box…Hmmm, Choice Card selections from the History Department.  This is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with these so I’m going to have find out what I need to do with them.

8:15 AM – Check work email and reply to everyone who needs an answer.  Most of the questions are from students who missed class wanting to know what they missed.  I guess they missed the portion of my introduction that said “If you miss class do not contact me and ask if you missed something important.  Assume that you did and contact one of your classmates to get the notes.”

8:30 AM – Check personal email…laugh at a few jokes and delete spam.

8:35 AM – Print out lecture notes for my 10 AM history class…In reality, my day should have started last night because I worked on these notes all night last night and didn’t finish tweaking until about 12:30 this morning.

9:00 AM – Go in search of my first cup of coffee…

9:43 AM – Heading across to Mercy Hall to teach my class.  I have to go up to the fourth floor.  This makes up for me not exercising this morning.  I hope the equipment works today.

10 to 10:50 AM – Ok.  I had fully planned to cheat on the whole steps thing.  Joke’s on me ’cause when I arrived at Mercy Hall the elevator was packed so I had to walk up the stairs.

I arrive at class and do my usual “housekeeping”:  pass around the attendance sheet (last semester there were attendance issues), let them know the plan for today’s class and set up the powerpoint.

I begin with the discussion questions from today’s reading.  These are usually 5 to 8 questions that come from the book with a few follow up questions just to make sure the material is being read.  As usual, only four people are participating.  Four out of thirty-one.  This has been a growing source of frustration for me.  Part of their grade comes from participation and it’s not as if the questions are a surprise; they come directly from the book.  I remind them that participation is necessary for their grades.  I threaten to call on people by name.  Then I become one of those teachers I hated when I was in school.  I have them clear off their desks and I write three questions on the board and give them 15 minutes to answer.

I really never wanted to be that teacher…But I also want them to know that it is important to do the work.  History isn’t an event in the distant past, it’s something that happens around us all the time and I want them to know this…*grrrr*

Hopping down off my soapbox

11:00 AM – I need coffee

11:30 to 1:30 PM – Reference Desk duty.  Or what I affectionately call “Hey, these stupid printers suck!  Can you fix them” hour (or, in this case, hours).  I don’t know what it is with printers and libraries but I have yet to go into a library where the printers work well all the time.  And when they do work well, the librarian is usually thankful because she or he is  spending time unjamming papers from the hole punch.  This happens when students put 60 pages into the hole punch even though I repeatedly tell them no more than 10 sheets at a time.  If you have to jam it into the hole punch you have too many pages.

I am really not bitter.  Ok.  Yes I am .  But I try to keep it under control.  I think my class just sent me into a tizzy…

Serenity now.

2:47 PM – Have finished looking up the Choice Card selections for the History Department and they meet my approval.  *wink*  So now I’ll take the cards down to purchasing.  This reminds me that I still need to pick out memorial books for my father.  I still haven’t been able to deal with his death.  I don’t want to deal with his death.

3:00 PM – Ran over to Mercy Hall to sign a teaching contract.  After talking over the events of this morning, I wonder if I’m being too hard on my class?  Are freshmen just shy in the classroom?  I thought I had made my class a non-threatening environment maybe it’s not as non-threatening as I thought.  Ugh, I really hate second guessing myself.

After signing the contract and discussing my class, I schedule a Library Instruction session for Wednesday at 3.  I am so incredibly nervous.  The instructor is going to be in the class as well as a one of the student workers from the library.  *sigh*

4:00 PM – I’m eating dinner on the run tonight.  Mr. 13 has a basketball game and he’s starting.  Yippee…  Note to self, Chinese is not a good eat-in-the-car meal.  Yes, I knew it before I did it but still…

5:00 PM – Mr 13’s basketball game is starting now and Tony and I haven’t made it to the school yet.  Who knew Hanover has two different high schools?  Oy!  Boy is calling and texting frantically.  He is supposed to be starting tonight.  As much as I love that my son wants us at the game, I really wish he was focusing on the game. 

5:45 PM – We missed Mr. 13 starting.   But his coach put him in for the last few minutes of the game so that we can see him.  Go boy!  It’s all I can do to keep from running out on the court and hugging him.  Yes, I know.  But he’s my son and I am incredibly proud of him for sticking with this through the season. 

7:15 PM – I’m going to work out and make up for this morning.  Yeah, right.  I really need my nails done. 

7:53 PM – Manicure is done.  I cannot procrastinate any longer, I really need to work out.  This weekend I ate 3 pieces of lemon meringue pie and a bag of Pepperidge Farm Chesapeake Cookies.   Honestly, these cookies are so good you’ll slap your momma!  I have often said I’d wreck a car for these cookies.  To put your minds at ease, I now take the cookies out of the grocery bag and throw them in the front seat so I can gnosh to my heart’s content.

8:00 PM – I am really going to work out.  Now.

Me at the end of a very busy and trying day.

9:25 PM – There is nothing worse than realizing you have to eat crow.  Or, at the very least, admit that you’ve made a mistake.  So I’m going through my notes for class on Wednesday and I realize that the lecture that I gave today was actually meant for mid February.  This is what happens when I work late at night on multiple projects.  So now I have to go to class on Wednesday and say “Scrap everything!  I messed up.”  Oy!  This is so not what I needed right now.  I need that Easy Button.  Now!