Comments on: Is ten minutes of teaching enough?

By: Ryan L. Sittler

Ryan L. Sittler — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:49:27 +0000

Excellent! Thanks!

By: rudibrarian

rudibrarian — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:40:49 +0000

Hey Ryan! Thanks for chiming in — and thanks for clearing up the 10 minutes issue.

I am really looking forward to the cookbook — I left Immersion last summer inspired and wanting more, and this sounds like a great tool for getting inspired.

My proposal will be in the mail

By: Ryan L. Sittler

Ryan L. Sittler — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:30:05 +0000

I tried this last night… not sure if the comment didn’t go through or if it needed to be approved!

But anyway, we certainly wouldn’t expect anyone to be “mum” during the session. We are just looking for activities that start with 10 minutes or less of “introduction.” I personally would like to see little or no use of librarianese (but that’s a personal preference… and part of why we have two editors. )

I invite everyone here to submit a proposal… no good idea will be turned away!
Thanks,
Ryan L. Sittler
Co-editor, The Library Instruction Cookbook

By: Ryan L. Sittler

Ryan L. Sittler — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:51:35 +0000

Hi folks.
I’m one of the editors of the book… just to clarify… we certainly aren’t expecting that you would ONLY speak for 10 minutes and then stay silent for the rest of the session.

Please submit a proposal… make us say no or yes. Do not assume you are discounted.

Ryan L. Sittler
Co-editor, The Library Instruction Cookbook

By: Alice

Alice — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:55:09 +0000

I have to take a closer look at that call but I was wondering if they mean more than 10 minutes at a time. I don’t see how you could talk for less than that amount of time if you add in discussion during and after activities.

I work at a community college and feel that I’m stuck in a rut as far as teaching goes although I incorporate active learning activities as much as I can. I’m excited to see what other people do for basic database orientation sessions.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:46:05 +0000

I am *so* glad I’m not the only one who thought that! It’s on my to-do list because I wanted to see if I could do it. It’s sort of a personal challenge to see if I can force myself into this whole ‘teach-by-not-teaching’ mode. But I spend a lot of time talking with (with, not ‘to’) the students about how to develop good keywords, run a good search, deal with results

We do have a sort of ‘intro to the library’ activity that fits the not-much-speaking rule. My usual instruction classes would in no way work for me to submit. Which is sad, because you should *see* the sort of participation we get when I bring up studies about the G-spot.

Also, I tend to talk *while* they’re hands-on in the database. I knwo other instructors who have kids search first and then circulate, but I always found it frustrating when teachers let me band around like an oaf when they could have been teaching me how to do it correctly. I’m admittedly biased by my own status as an eternal student. But we’re the experts and the teachers…what’s the use in our *not* talking? Having an instruction session where the librarian engages in dialogue with students is *useful* – corralling students in a lab, giving 10 minutes of instruction on complicated interfaces with options (like thesauri) they dont know how to use is just silly.

I actually blogged about this back in January here. I don’t know why librarians are so afraid of being actual teachers.

Ahem. I suppose this comment boils down to: no, 10 minutes is not enough. Unless it’s a class like our USTU101 library introduction, which isn’t actual instruction so much as it’s tricking them into having fun with an assignment that familiarizes them with the library, but isn’t at all related to research.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:30:59 +0000

I talk way more than 10 minutes during instruction. Like you, I ask a lot of questions, challenge a lot of the answers given, and provide context to students who think Google is the perfect research tool. Maybe I’m an outlier, but I normally talk less then 3 minutes at the start of instruction before I have them hands-on in the database. The majority of my talk time comes after they have been searching and evaluating for 20-25 minutes. I am circulating and redirect on the fly during those 20-25 minutes and most definitely talking to individuals and groups.

I would recommend submitting your proposal to the LI cookbook and also sharing it on here.