Starting with Why in the Classroom

We just finished our teaching load for first year students.  These sessions are always hard for me.  Admittedly, I prefer teaching about information more broadly than highlighting library resources.  And as I finished my own sessions and watched other librarians, I think I figured out why.

My last post was about my favorite TED talks and I listed Simon Sinek's as one of them.  His argument that "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" has helped me reach a tipping point in my teaching.  In librarians' classrooms, we need to start with WHY.  Why are library resources worth the extra effort?  Because let's be honest, they are more, a lot more, effort.  If we want our students to use our resources, showing them all the features doesn't inspire them to use them.  And that is what Sinek is talking about: inspiration.

So why do we want students to use the library and what we have to offer, even if it's harder to use and even scary for them (and I think it is partly fear that keeps them with Google)?  I've heard some librarians talk about it in terms of quantity (we have so much stuff), or that their tuition affords them access to restricted content (it's expensive stuff).  Others talk about meeting their professor's expectations (it's scholarly stuff) or completing an assignment well (it's required stuff).  When I try those explanations on, they don't quite fit.  They aren't inspiring me so I doubt that they would inspire my students.  These are academic arguments.  In his "The Art of Teaching," Jay Parini talks about Robert Frost as a teacher who said that he hated "academic ways".  Frost says, "Think of what time we waste in trying to learn academically--and what talent we staunch with academic teaching."  

So if not these academic arguments, what then?  Why do I want students to learn to use the library?  For me, it's about adventure.  It's about challenge.  It's about growing and curiosity.  The library not only houses materials but it is a way of being, a way of thinking: it is about considering more than you know.  It is about getting your hands dirty in other people's minds, thoughts, and ideas.  How is that different than the Internet?  In some ways, it is very similar.  But, the internet is many many things.  The library is where you can explore without judgment, without someone interrupting, without any ulterior motives. 

Is this inspiring for students?  Maybe not.  But it is inspiring for me.  And that is a good place to start from.  If I know why I use the library, I can start there in the classroom.

Brain Candy: My Top Five TED Talks

Recently, I was speaking with my parents and said something about TED Talks.  You can imagine my surprise that they had never heard of TED.  Wow, I said, you guys are in for something very special.

TED Talks are like candy for my brain.  There are many evenings when friends will come over and we will kick back to watch each other's favorite TED Talks.  There are many lunch breaks when I will reboot by watching TED.  By far, TED has become arguably my most important resource for inspiration, creativity, and learning.

So, Mom and Dad, as an introduction to this incredible library and compendium of ideas and ways of thinking, here are my top five TED talks.

1.  Sir Ken Robinson's Do Schools Kill Creativity.  It's hard to pick which one of Sir Ken's talks to show.  I love his most recent TED talk and I love the visualization video that gives a history of current education paradigms and how they need to change.  This seems particularly apropos to a conversation my father and I had over dinner where my dad pointed out that one facet to America's problems is that our vision of the future is based on the past (don't you love solving the world's problems over dinner?)  This video demonstrates how true that is in education.

2.  Barry Schwartz's talk on the Paradox of Choice is certainly one of my favorites.  It is particularly important, in my view, to librarians' understanding of search habits and information overload.  This talk is funny while challenging what has become a fundamental principle of our culture.  Great stuff.

3.  Daniel Pink's talk on the Surprising Science of Motivation.  Again, I love how funny Pink is while challenging our traditional notions of motivation.  Especially as I think about the kind of leader and manager I want to be, this talk is on the top layer of my tool box.

4.  Simon Sinek's talk on How Great Leaders Inspire Action.  Again, perhaps because I am focusing on leadership but this talk is wonderful.   This is a talk that is vital to teachers.  For today's students, we must give them the WHY.  

5.  Benjamin Zander's talk on Music and Passion.  I know this will be my parents' favorite talk because of their deep love of classical music (which I share).  But I love this talk because it inspires me as a librarian, teacher, thinker, and parent.  I have used Zander's process of coming home as an instructional design model (very successfully) and I deeply appreciate his passion for teaching and connecting with us.  Marvelous.

Selecting my top five TEDs was actually quite difficult.  I have been watching this video by Michael Wesch a lot lately and I think this talk by Sheryl Sandberg is inspiriting, especially as a Smithie.

So, give it a go: what are your favorite TED talks?  Which ones would you share to someone just meeting TED for the first time?

Superstars

Blogging after a long hiatus feels kind of funny.  What have I been doing that has kept me away?

We've been busy at Champlain and last week, our hard work has recognized by our peers: Champlain was awarded ACRL's Excellence in Academic Libraries Award.

Needless to say, everyone at the Library was delighted.  Andy talks about the application process in his post and I couldn't agree more that the writing of that kind of award was enormously gratifying.  For me, hearing the Teaching Librarians talk about our information literacy program and our team-based design process as what they are most proud of made me so proud of the work we have done here.   Being part of such a collaborative, creative team that takes risks and faces challenges is pretty special and I value it deeply.

Champlain College Librarians and Staff....superstars.

Best Twitter Experience Ever

What did I do in my library life today?

I had the best Twitter experience EVER by trying to be a librarian to the White House Chat (#whchat) on the debt ceiling. There were a lot of rants and opinions slamming @whitehouse but there will also some genuine questions that I tried to answer. Some examples:

• What is the history of the debt ceiling?
• What is the difference between default and bankruptcy?
• What might (notice the word MIGHT) happen if we default?

I tried to answer a few questions and ended my tweets with "From a friendly #librarian".  

It was pretty awesome to get thank you's from other tweeters.  People I do not know and never will.  But maybe they will ask a librarian another question.  Just maybe.

Exercising the power in my fingers

The internet is Jim Gillian's religion.

pdf2011 on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Jim's story is powerful and profound. But even more powerful is the activism that he reminds us of. The creator and change agent in each of us as we blog, as we read, as we write emails. Seemingly mundane and trivial. But together, powerful.

Is that something we are reminding our students of? Is that something we are remembering ourselves? Information Literacy spends so much time talking about the evaluative. Are we thinking about the active, about the creative component? Are we thinking about how the information we find and ultimately put to use can impact the world?

This video reminds me of a bigger framework, a bigger picture in which to think about the work we do with students. But it also makes me remember the power that lives in my fingertips. Have I exercised it today? Have you?

Serious fun

The Teaching Librarians have been working on our lesson plans for the fall over the last week. One of our sessions is with our third year students.  I love working with third years.  Something seems to happen by the junior year where many, if not most, of our students really understand that you are a valuable resource.  They don't sleep through class.  They ask questions.  They ask for help.  Hallellujah!

We are 100% committed to active, inquiry-based learning and to having fun in the classroom.  As we thought about how to engage our students, we started talking about how third years seem ready to be serious.  We don't have to "trick" them into participating or learning anymore.  We can treat them like fellow researchers.  It's kind of exciting.

In this case, students are tackling their first literature reviews.  As we thought about what students need to do this assignment well, we found ourselves digging into some pretty advance research skills.  As we talked about the what and the how, the question arose: how do we make the session fun while also imparting the serious nature of the assignment and the task?  Can we be serious but also have fun?

We talked about a number of ways to engage our students.  We talked about metaphors.  We talked about using technology, music, Youtubes.  We talked about relating to things they care about.  We talked about the process, the outcomes.  And we came up with a lesson plan that is feeling pretty solid.  But still, the question haunts me.  Not because I think I know the answer but because I think it is revealing about our own attitudes towards what we offer and sometimes teach.

I think fear factors into it.  Fear of boring students and being boring, fear of messing up in front of them, fear of lacking authority, fear of not being invited back, fear of descending reference statistics, decreases in funding....AHHHH! (she runs and hides under her desk).

This fear is natural I think.  We've been told for decades and longer that we will soon be outdone by computers.  By golly, I watched Desk Set the other night and realized that we were already manifesting that fear in 1957!  But while this fear is natural, it is also exhausting.

A particular axiom comes to mind: Ensure your own good time.  What is it about databases that makes it fun for you?  For me, I love how it makes me think about a topic in a different light.  And that excites me.  When I have to show databases in class, that is what I share about it.  How this tool excites me and makes me feel like I am on an adventure.  Dorky?  Sure.  By god, I'm a librarian!  I am dorky!

Can we make serious research and serious teaching on research skills fun?  YES!  But it has to come from within.

So when it comes to the serious stuff, what is it that you (yes YOU) find fun about it?  How to share something fun is way easier than sharing something boring, right?

Do you have a story to share about something serious you made fun?  I'd love to hear it!  Share away!

Where are the librarians?!

I love reading about Wikipedia and love when I learn about new ways to use it. So, it was exciting to read this article from Inside Higher Ed about Wikipedia's efforts to expand and improve their reputation in higher ed. I wish I could have gone to their first conference on Wikipedia in Higher Ed!!

Wait a second...why didn't I?
And come to think of it, why didn't you?
Where are the librarians in all this?

Know anyone that went? Know anyone that blogged it? And if not, why?