It's week four of the semester already! Amazing. I think because we only have each class once per week the semesters go by even faster than they would otherwise. Anyway.
So yesterday in class we talked about some really interesting topics! Probably the most enlightening was Kristin's clarification of the term "transliteracy," which we all (or at least I did) basically took to mean that people need to be literate in a variety of mediums, i.e; able to use a computer, smartphone, print material, etc. to be functional in today's society, which many of us felt something along the lines of "Well, obviously. Thanks for putting a fancy name on a skill that doesn't need a fancy name." But Kristin explained transliteracy as more along the lines of how reading practice and comprehension change across the mediums. Is reading a scholarly article in a print journal the same or different across the spectrum? Is the brain working in a different way when we have online articles filled with links to other sites instead of static pages? How does comprehension change when we go down the rabbit hole of hyperlinks? When framed in this light, transliteracy seems like a more distinct and interesting concept than just "Yeah, I know how to use a smartphone. I'm transliterate." Which, coincidentally, Kristin says she hates the term transliteracy, and never uses it when she is speaking about the concept because it's trite and confusing.
As a result of the enlightening of the term above, as well as hearing many practicing librarians express surprise that young people/students mostly prefer print books to e-books, I have started to think that it would be beneficial for someone to do a study (maybe studies have been done on this) on how students a. prefer to learn (print vs. electronic) and b. how well they learn in either format. Do they prefer print books to e-books simply because they are familiar with the physical object? Or do they actually learn more and understand better when they use print materials? And if that is true, why is that the case? The electronic material is exactly the same as the print material. What about their electronic study habits is different from their physical learning? I know that personally, since so much of the reading done at SI is done electronically, I don't have as good of attention when I read electronically. I often will flip back and forth from my reading to check my email, check Facebook, check whatever. I almost cannot read a whole article in its entirety without getting distracted, whereas I know that when I read a chapter from a physical book, I put the computer away until I finish the chapter. Thus, I read more, I am able to focus better on what is in front of me, and take away more from the physical book, even if I had read the same thing online. I think, too, there is something about the tactile functionality of reading a physical book that kind of embeds the information in our (my?) brain a little better. It's definitely the reason I don't take notes using a computer; I don't get the same kind of tactile retention by typing as I do when I physically write out my notes. It will be interesting to see if this kind of mentality changes as more and more students use computers in place of handwriting as they come up through the school system.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Class reflection: Week 3
So since I am late doing this ("late" by my own standards, I usually like to do this reflection immediately after class so I am sure I remember what I need to talk about), I would like to preface this by saying that the things I have learned and discussed both in other classes and private conversations may leak into this post. My apologies, I'll try not to go too far into professional dreamland. The good news is that by waiting a few days, I realize how MUCH I learn every day in my program! And that feels good.
In class on Thursday we did a few surprising things. The first was that Kristin gave us 45 minutes to find a way to visually (and digitally) express our "biggest questions" about the readings that we did for class. Each of us was allowed to choose our own readings, so I can see that this was a way for the class to quickly and effectively share with each other what our readings were about and the questions we had. She gave us a variety of options to choose from, from making a meme, to an infographic, to a comic strip, to whatever we wanted to do. During the exercise, I confirmed my suspicions that I am, in fact, a curmudgeon who does not like experimenting with new technology (shocking, I know). So I stuck with the meme route, since that's what I have experience with. I made a meme, which I liked, but memes only take 30 seconds to make, which meant that I had 44.5 minutes left in which I should be doing something. I actually ended up using the rest of my time investigating the infographics sites she had suggested, http://visual.ly/ and http://www.easel.ly/. I have always found infographics to be interesting, and I guess I always assumed that people who knew their way around Adobe CSS made them, not your average bears on the internet via an easy drag-and-drop system. I didn't end up making anything for class, but I think it is interesting to know that these sites exist and maybe I can play with them in the future. A thought on 45 minutes of play time in grad school: this was a very unusual concept, and many of us were uncomfortable with the idea. "What should I do? Where do I go? What kind of work is she expecting?" It turned out fine, but it was a little unsettling at first. And as a final thought on Kristin's teaching style (and the best practices in teaching these days. I know enough about teaching theory that having students teach each other and setting students to tasks in class instead of just the teacher talking at them is much more effective than traditional methods), I made a meme:
In class on Thursday we did a few surprising things. The first was that Kristin gave us 45 minutes to find a way to visually (and digitally) express our "biggest questions" about the readings that we did for class. Each of us was allowed to choose our own readings, so I can see that this was a way for the class to quickly and effectively share with each other what our readings were about and the questions we had. She gave us a variety of options to choose from, from making a meme, to an infographic, to a comic strip, to whatever we wanted to do. During the exercise, I confirmed my suspicions that I am, in fact, a curmudgeon who does not like experimenting with new technology (shocking, I know). So I stuck with the meme route, since that's what I have experience with. I made a meme, which I liked, but memes only take 30 seconds to make, which meant that I had 44.5 minutes left in which I should be doing something. I actually ended up using the rest of my time investigating the infographics sites she had suggested, http://visual.ly/ and http://www.easel.ly/. I have always found infographics to be interesting, and I guess I always assumed that people who knew their way around Adobe CSS made them, not your average bears on the internet via an easy drag-and-drop system. I didn't end up making anything for class, but I think it is interesting to know that these sites exist and maybe I can play with them in the future. A thought on 45 minutes of play time in grad school: this was a very unusual concept, and many of us were uncomfortable with the idea. "What should I do? Where do I go? What kind of work is she expecting?" It turned out fine, but it was a little unsettling at first. And as a final thought on Kristin's teaching style (and the best practices in teaching these days. I know enough about teaching theory that having students teach each other and setting students to tasks in class instead of just the teacher talking at them is much more effective than traditional methods), I made a meme:
(Just being silly, please don't take offense!)
Additionally, Kristin set us up with an information literacy task (that's library-talk for "can you identify what is true and false in information?") that tricked us all for a little bit. She brought up a news story about the man who got harassed by Homeland Security for wearing his Google Glass into a movie theater. Mari immediately verified the story, saying she saw a report from the AP about it. I had seen something on Reddit about it as well, and didn't really question the validity of the article just because of all this. It took us a while to eventually realize, "Where is this story coming from?" The article she had brought up was pretty suspicious, and if someone had posted that on my Facebook feed I would have definitely investigated it a little more. It didn't have an author, the person wasn't named, it was from some random website. These are all marks of an unreliable source, and in our program, I am sure that we all know that. But it really took us a long time to realize that, simply because we had been "primed" to believe it. We did some more digging, found that the links on the dubious website went to some tech journal writer who reported that "a man emailed him" this story, first person. Still unnamed, the tech writer didn't verify with the movie theater or anything. By now we were ready to call it fake. Pretty unbelievable in my opinion, because I had seen it on Reddit, which is pretty good at calling out fake news, and Mari said she saw it in the AP. But we continued to dig more, and actually were able to find a news source from the local paper there that confirmed the story with the theaters and local authorities. So it was true, after all. But it was just so crazy that because we had been primed to believe it, none of us really questioned the reliability of the information, and that is basically supposed to be our number one goal as librarians. Ack! It was an example of how difficult it is to teach good information literacy.
The top disclaimer was unnecessary, after all.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Readings, Week 3
"Transliteracy: Crossing Divides" by Sue Thomas, Chris Joseph, Jess Laccetti, Bruce Mason, Simon Mills, Simon Perril, & Kate Pullinger. First Monday. 12, 12. Dec. 3, 2007. http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2060/1908
This article seems to be the "genesis" of the Transliteracy movement. The main point of the article is that both print, digital, and all other modes of communication should not be seen as in competition with one another but as complementary to one another and simply different means to the same end. I found this article to be a bit too high-flung for my personal tastes--they've developed a team devoted to studying this concept over years, and the article is quite long (they even reference Socrates). I found myself rolling my eyes a bit as I read it, since after the first few paragraphs it seems like academia run haywire. But anyway, I like to connect this reading with the very popular, very divisive current debate over "print vs. e-book." There are some people who staunchly oppose e-readers, claiming that they will never use an e-reader, or read e-books, and that they love the smell of the paper and the feel of a book in hand. I get that, that's cool. I like print books, too. I grew up with them, they look good on my shelf, I get to use fun bookmarks, and that crinkle noise of a page turning is irreplaceable. And then you have other people who exclusively read e-books, claiming the convenience factor, and that the book is "dead" (much like libraries, right?). E-books are cheaper, you can carry a million books with you anywhere you go. That's great, too. When I'm reading A Song of Ice and Fire books, I don't really like carrying them with me on the bus. Or when I go on vacation, and I know I'll finish my one book on the trip there, so I need to pack an extra one, or two even, for the duration of my stay. That gets heavy, it takes up space in my bag, I could lose or damage them. So I dig e-readers, too. I think many people, myself among them, have discovered a healthy balance between the two forms. It's just two sides of the same coin. The print book isn't going away. The robots aren't taking over (yet). I think that's what these authors are trying to say in their article; that in the "modern age" we all need to become literate across a wide spectrum of media.
"Not Just Literate, but Transliterate: Encouraging Transliteracy Adoption in Library Services." Trimm, Nancy. Colorado Libraries. 36, 1. 2011. 1-3. (Sorry, no link. MLibraries doesn't want other people to see this.)
I found this article much easier to swallow. Anyway, here is a quote I liked about what it means to be transliterate in a library setting: "We help our users access and move between and across various media whether it is an encyclopedia, a research database, or a blog. As a result of the wide variety of our users' information needs and the wide variety of avenues by which those needs can be fulfilled, the information professional must be able to achieve competence in any number of social and technological communication platforms." Somewhat tellingly, I have a note next to this in my PDF file that says "Ugh, I guess I need to be more proactive about learning new technologies," and I think that sums up my position. I'm a lazy technology learner. I still don't have a Twitter account. This is my first attempt at a blog. I just got a smartphone less than a year ago, and I am not ashamed to admit that I don't know what the heck I am doing with it. In fact, I kind of hate it. In my past three months at UMSI I have learned more about current technology than I have in my life, probably (see the Alt+Tab trick on Windows. Wow.). So I guess that is what I am doing here at SI. This article points out technology as a natural extension of library services, which I think makes sense in terms of literacy skill.
"Transliteracy--New Library; What it Means for Instruction." Jaeger, Paige. Library Media Connection. Oct. 2011. 44-47.
This article was more focused on school library media than what I was expecting, apparently, which is not necessarily my focus area but I have thoughts on it, anyway. This article points to the Common Core Standards as a means to foster more transliterate instruction in schools. However, I felt that the actual message of the article missed the mark. I agree with the idea that librarians should be teaching students to evaluate the information they find online, but I really felt like this article was still struggling with the way things used to be done and simply trying to apply the same model to a new technique. The author says that the students of the "millennial" generation don't take the time to read for understanding, or that they speed over articles briefly before clicking onto a new page. This may come as shocking, but I am not a middle schooler. However, I am still young enough to be basically the "first generation" to be raised with the internet, and I firmly disagreed with the author. I think (sorry, I don't have research here to back me up) that students who were raised with these kinds of technology simply access and process information differently than those who weren't. Of course students will need to be taught what is credible on the internet and what is not. Of course when they are doing class projects they should be reading to understand the information. But I felt like this author really discounted the instructional power of multi-media tools which can enhance learning. It's simply the reality of the world we live in now.
Edit: I got to make a meme in class! :D
This article seems to be the "genesis" of the Transliteracy movement. The main point of the article is that both print, digital, and all other modes of communication should not be seen as in competition with one another but as complementary to one another and simply different means to the same end. I found this article to be a bit too high-flung for my personal tastes--they've developed a team devoted to studying this concept over years, and the article is quite long (they even reference Socrates). I found myself rolling my eyes a bit as I read it, since after the first few paragraphs it seems like academia run haywire. But anyway, I like to connect this reading with the very popular, very divisive current debate over "print vs. e-book." There are some people who staunchly oppose e-readers, claiming that they will never use an e-reader, or read e-books, and that they love the smell of the paper and the feel of a book in hand. I get that, that's cool. I like print books, too. I grew up with them, they look good on my shelf, I get to use fun bookmarks, and that crinkle noise of a page turning is irreplaceable. And then you have other people who exclusively read e-books, claiming the convenience factor, and that the book is "dead" (much like libraries, right?). E-books are cheaper, you can carry a million books with you anywhere you go. That's great, too. When I'm reading A Song of Ice and Fire books, I don't really like carrying them with me on the bus. Or when I go on vacation, and I know I'll finish my one book on the trip there, so I need to pack an extra one, or two even, for the duration of my stay. That gets heavy, it takes up space in my bag, I could lose or damage them. So I dig e-readers, too. I think many people, myself among them, have discovered a healthy balance between the two forms. It's just two sides of the same coin. The print book isn't going away. The robots aren't taking over (yet). I think that's what these authors are trying to say in their article; that in the "modern age" we all need to become literate across a wide spectrum of media.
"Not Just Literate, but Transliterate: Encouraging Transliteracy Adoption in Library Services." Trimm, Nancy. Colorado Libraries. 36, 1. 2011. 1-3. (Sorry, no link. MLibraries doesn't want other people to see this.)
I found this article much easier to swallow. Anyway, here is a quote I liked about what it means to be transliterate in a library setting: "We help our users access and move between and across various media whether it is an encyclopedia, a research database, or a blog. As a result of the wide variety of our users' information needs and the wide variety of avenues by which those needs can be fulfilled, the information professional must be able to achieve competence in any number of social and technological communication platforms." Somewhat tellingly, I have a note next to this in my PDF file that says "Ugh, I guess I need to be more proactive about learning new technologies," and I think that sums up my position. I'm a lazy technology learner. I still don't have a Twitter account. This is my first attempt at a blog. I just got a smartphone less than a year ago, and I am not ashamed to admit that I don't know what the heck I am doing with it. In fact, I kind of hate it. In my past three months at UMSI I have learned more about current technology than I have in my life, probably (see the Alt+Tab trick on Windows. Wow.). So I guess that is what I am doing here at SI. This article points out technology as a natural extension of library services, which I think makes sense in terms of literacy skill.
"Transliteracy--New Library; What it Means for Instruction." Jaeger, Paige. Library Media Connection. Oct. 2011. 44-47.
This article was more focused on school library media than what I was expecting, apparently, which is not necessarily my focus area but I have thoughts on it, anyway. This article points to the Common Core Standards as a means to foster more transliterate instruction in schools. However, I felt that the actual message of the article missed the mark. I agree with the idea that librarians should be teaching students to evaluate the information they find online, but I really felt like this article was still struggling with the way things used to be done and simply trying to apply the same model to a new technique. The author says that the students of the "millennial" generation don't take the time to read for understanding, or that they speed over articles briefly before clicking onto a new page. This may come as shocking, but I am not a middle schooler. However, I am still young enough to be basically the "first generation" to be raised with the internet, and I firmly disagreed with the author. I think (sorry, I don't have research here to back me up) that students who were raised with these kinds of technology simply access and process information differently than those who weren't. Of course students will need to be taught what is credible on the internet and what is not. Of course when they are doing class projects they should be reading to understand the information. But I felt like this author really discounted the instructional power of multi-media tools which can enhance learning. It's simply the reality of the world we live in now.
Edit: I got to make a meme in class! :D
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Those poor librarians
This page is on the front page of Reddit for me right now under the title: TIL That when you call the number 1(334)844-4244, it calls Auburn University, and they will try to answer every single question you could ever ask. I feel pretty badly for those poor librarians at Auburn University right about now.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Class Reflection: Week 2
Today in class Kristin introduced a concept which I really liked.She only spoke briefly on it but it struck me as something I hadn't realized before, and a possible reason why I chose this field. It was the idea of librarians as "formative instructors," I believe, meaning that librarians get the luxury of being teachers without having to play the authoritarian role. Librarians get to teach skills and knowledge in a collaborative effort. We get to play on the same team. This is something that I really enjoyed thinking about. One of the things I love best about my current job in an academic library is when people come up to the desk and say something like, "This might be kind of stupid, but I don't know how to ______. Can you help me?" And for the record, their question is never stupid. Then I get to turn on the monitor that faces the person so they can see what I am doing on my screen, which usually elicits a "Wow, that's such a good idea!" (and I have to agree), and I get to walk them through the steps of whatever their question was. Sometimes it is something I know very well how to do and only takes a few moments for the person to understand, too, such as looking up a book in the catalog. But other times it's something a little trickier, and my first attempt isn't successful, so the person has to bear with me a while as I fumble around. However, I usually think of this as a good experience for the person who asked me the question, too, so that they can see the different paths that they might take. I try to make sure that I am explaining as I go along, and very often once I have found the answer the person will ask me to retrace my steps and show them again how to get there. I try really hard to make sure that I am very friendly and open, and I often joke with the person in front of me. We get to establish a brief rapport, and I often am touched when people tell me that I have helped them immensely, or that I had been so much more helpful than what they had expected. It gives me warm and fuzzy feelings inside. I had briefly considered becoming a teacher at one point in my life, but whenever I really thought about it I decided that I am not cut out to be a teacher. But I think that I still have good qualities of a teacher, and that is why I am successful at teaching in a one-on-one, collaborative manner.
Another thing we touched on in class today was professional development. Yikes, I know that going to conferences and presenting and all that is an important facet of growing as a professional in the field, but I really have no idea where to start. 1. The ALA annual conference is in Vegas this summer, and I don't have the funds or the time to go to Vegas between my internship and my wedding. 2. I know we are encouraged to present at conferences, but I have no idea what I could possibly present on. I'm not qualified to present to professionals! I would have liked to submit something to U of M's own little Quasi-Con, but I don't even feel like I have something my own classmates would find useful. Am I behind? Should I have something amazing by this point? I'm a little nervous about all this.
Another thing we touched on in class today was professional development. Yikes, I know that going to conferences and presenting and all that is an important facet of growing as a professional in the field, but I really have no idea where to start. 1. The ALA annual conference is in Vegas this summer, and I don't have the funds or the time to go to Vegas between my internship and my wedding. 2. I know we are encouraged to present at conferences, but I have no idea what I could possibly present on. I'm not qualified to present to professionals! I would have liked to submit something to U of M's own little Quasi-Con, but I don't even feel like I have something my own classmates would find useful. Am I behind? Should I have something amazing by this point? I'm a little nervous about all this.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Instructing Users
Our readings for this week covered the basics of instruction. One reading was on creating a really useful, in-depth lesson plan which can be used by different library staff members teaching the same course so that all students come out with the same result and are given the same quality of teaching as everyone else. I really liked this idea of creating a thorough lesson plan, especially as a novice in library instruction. I have never taught a library class, or any class for that matter, and I think it would be incredibly difficult. I would end up doing one of two things: freaking out over how much I wanted to cover and how, and then probably skipping things I didn't know as well as others, or be overconfident and assume I knew what I wanted to talk about and just wing it. I'm actually really excited, I have signed up to co-lead a library instruction course with one of the librarians at MLibraries where I work, and it's a section that is just like the article suggested: multiple sessions taught by different staff. So the lesson plan is already established, I just have to look over the materials and become familiar with them before class, and it has been suggested that I sit in and observe a class beforehand, as well. I can imagine this format working really well for the academic library community, and I hope that it is pretty standard across the board as an instructional tool in academic libraries. I would find this model especially useful as a new professional once I graduate.
When I think about the kinds of library instruction I have received as a student, I find that I remember a somewhat wide variety. As a grade schooler, we went weekly to the library. I'm pretty sure we were taught once or twice how to use the school's card catalog, though I think even then they were in the process of changing to an OPAC. Mostly the trips to the library were to pick out books we would like. In middle school I recall going into a library computer lab and the librarians instructed us on how to use search engines and type in URLs into the browser. And in high school, the librarians taught us how to search better using Boolean operators (which we all promptly forgot, I'm sure), as well as I recall being taught then how to use the Reader's Guide to Periodicals. Finally, in college I had a few different courses take a little field trip to the library where the librarians guided us in the best ways to search databases, which databases you should use when, etc. It took several trips for me to absorb much of what they were telling us, and I think even now I would still benefit from such a course. I always found that I only retained a very small amount of what the librarians were trying to impact to me because it was not immediately relevant in most cases. The ones that I learned the most from were when we had a particular research assignment and we went to the library to learn the best way to start our research on that exact assignment.
The second thing I really liked from our readings was the idea of embedding short instructional videos at the point of need in the library website. I was really struck by something in one of the readings--a mention that some people may hesitate to ask for a librarian's help when they feel their question is "beneath" the librarian. I am on the social network Reddit, and I "subscribe" to the U of M subreddit, and something I think is a bit funny is that I will fairly frequently come across questions on the subreddit which have to do with library services. The original poster (OP) says they are too embarrassed by their simple question to bother the librarians with it. For example, I came across one recently asking what kinds of library services are available to alumni once they have left the university, and if there is a way they can pay to have more access. To me, a librarian-in-training, this question is far from embarrassing. It's a good question about library services! But if this person is embarrassed to ask a librarian that, imagine how many people are too embarrassed to ask for help on how to use the catalog to find a book. A short instructional video at the point of need would go a very long way.
When I think about the kinds of library instruction I have received as a student, I find that I remember a somewhat wide variety. As a grade schooler, we went weekly to the library. I'm pretty sure we were taught once or twice how to use the school's card catalog, though I think even then they were in the process of changing to an OPAC. Mostly the trips to the library were to pick out books we would like. In middle school I recall going into a library computer lab and the librarians instructed us on how to use search engines and type in URLs into the browser. And in high school, the librarians taught us how to search better using Boolean operators (which we all promptly forgot, I'm sure), as well as I recall being taught then how to use the Reader's Guide to Periodicals. Finally, in college I had a few different courses take a little field trip to the library where the librarians guided us in the best ways to search databases, which databases you should use when, etc. It took several trips for me to absorb much of what they were telling us, and I think even now I would still benefit from such a course. I always found that I only retained a very small amount of what the librarians were trying to impact to me because it was not immediately relevant in most cases. The ones that I learned the most from were when we had a particular research assignment and we went to the library to learn the best way to start our research on that exact assignment.
The second thing I really liked from our readings was the idea of embedding short instructional videos at the point of need in the library website. I was really struck by something in one of the readings--a mention that some people may hesitate to ask for a librarian's help when they feel their question is "beneath" the librarian. I am on the social network Reddit, and I "subscribe" to the U of M subreddit, and something I think is a bit funny is that I will fairly frequently come across questions on the subreddit which have to do with library services. The original poster (OP) says they are too embarrassed by their simple question to bother the librarians with it. For example, I came across one recently asking what kinds of library services are available to alumni once they have left the university, and if there is a way they can pay to have more access. To me, a librarian-in-training, this question is far from embarrassing. It's a good question about library services! But if this person is embarrassed to ask a librarian that, imagine how many people are too embarrassed to ask for help on how to use the catalog to find a book. A short instructional video at the point of need would go a very long way.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Class Reflection, Day 1
Well, today was the first day of SI 643. I think it will be a fun and interesting class, and I expect I'll do a lot of learning along the way.
At the very end of class we discussed the results of our little "Mindset quiz" that we took during the class break. Pretty predictably, I got a strong "growth" mindset. One of my classmates spoke up pretty quickly and said that she expected all of us to have the "growth" mindset, meaning that you believe that a person's intelligence/talent can grow and develop. And I thought that made sense, because I'm heavily "growth" oriented, and I do believe that librarians subscribe to the idea that people can grow and develop. Well, it ended up being a struggle over definitions (go figure, with a bunch of library students) and how you define "intelligence" or "talent" versus "knowledge" or "ability," which I get. Two thoughts on this area: The first was of my best childhood friend. We grew up together, we were neighbors, we went to school together, we took dance classes together. All through school, she was always talented and smart, and sometime in high school she took a real interest in contact juggling (that thing David Bowie does with the crystal ball in Labyrinth. See this clip). She spent weeks, months, even, with a tennis ball filled with sand and wrapped with duct tape and armed with online tutorials and simply the drive to "do that cool hand thingy." And guess what. She learned how to do it. In fact, by our senior year of high school, she won the city-wide talent show. She bought the clear acrylic balls, and started learning more and more complicated tricks, and by the time she went off to college, she was incredible. But she didn't stop there, no, that was just the beginning. She started going to the Renaissance Festival in her new city, and they had gypsy performers there, and she quickly started performing with their "tribe." Six months after she had left our hometown, she was spinning fire and bellydancing and still contact juggling, all while going to art school, too, so she was learning to make her own very intricate costumes, too. Now, she and her husband have their own fire-spinning act, Tricks of the Light, and they travel the midwest as a pair and she runs the business and makes the costumes and takes care of practical things like insurance. It's really been incredible to watch her journey from a shy bookworm to a bellydancing, fire-spinning performer. And so that's what I think of when I think of developing talents. I'm not sure that my friend has a specific "base level" of talent for contact juggling or fire-spinning, although she has always had better hand-eye coordination than me. I'm pretty sure that my friend's unusual success has been because of her dedication and perseverance and excitement in this specific area. So. Roundabout reasoning, but there you go.
The second, hopefully much briefer, reaction, was when our professor, Kristin, suggested that the people in our program who have the growth mindset tend to think along the lines of "I wonder what I will learn today!" instead of those of the fixed mindset, who believe that if they don't immediately get something (because we are all smarty-pants in our program), they think it's a dumb assignment or task, are happier in the program. And I'm not sure that I have the "I wonder what I will learn today!" outlook, but I find that while some of my cohort gripe about assignments, I just take them as they come, usually. I assume that there is a reason I am being assigned a task, and that the professor of this prestigious program knows better than I do about things I need to know for my future career.
Now for something entirely different:
We talked very briefly in class (as in, Kristin mentioned very briefly) about a university that is assigning freshman students each a "personal librarian," much in the same way that at some universities students are assigned an adviser. I had never considered such an idea, but man do I think that is cool! By being assigned a librarian, and maybe by having a couple of the gen. ed. courses require that students actually visit these librarians for at least one or two assignments, I think so many more students would be able to realize the value of their librarian! Once students develop relationships (hopefully positive...), they would be more likely to come back for assistance on further assignments as they progress through their college career. It would benefit the student in two ways that I can think of, first that students would be able to write better quality papers due to better sources/development of their ideas, and second that by continued interaction with the librarian, their own research skills would be vastly improved so that by the time they are seniors they can write really great papers! (I always thought that it was such a shame that I spent so much time learning to write a great paper in college, but it would not be a skill I would use once I graduated. Now I'm in grad school so it's useful after all! Hah)
I could probably continue talking on any number of subjects for days but no one wants that so I will stop here.
At the very end of class we discussed the results of our little "Mindset quiz" that we took during the class break. Pretty predictably, I got a strong "growth" mindset. One of my classmates spoke up pretty quickly and said that she expected all of us to have the "growth" mindset, meaning that you believe that a person's intelligence/talent can grow and develop. And I thought that made sense, because I'm heavily "growth" oriented, and I do believe that librarians subscribe to the idea that people can grow and develop. Well, it ended up being a struggle over definitions (go figure, with a bunch of library students) and how you define "intelligence" or "talent" versus "knowledge" or "ability," which I get. Two thoughts on this area: The first was of my best childhood friend. We grew up together, we were neighbors, we went to school together, we took dance classes together. All through school, she was always talented and smart, and sometime in high school she took a real interest in contact juggling (that thing David Bowie does with the crystal ball in Labyrinth. See this clip). She spent weeks, months, even, with a tennis ball filled with sand and wrapped with duct tape and armed with online tutorials and simply the drive to "do that cool hand thingy." And guess what. She learned how to do it. In fact, by our senior year of high school, she won the city-wide talent show. She bought the clear acrylic balls, and started learning more and more complicated tricks, and by the time she went off to college, she was incredible. But she didn't stop there, no, that was just the beginning. She started going to the Renaissance Festival in her new city, and they had gypsy performers there, and she quickly started performing with their "tribe." Six months after she had left our hometown, she was spinning fire and bellydancing and still contact juggling, all while going to art school, too, so she was learning to make her own very intricate costumes, too. Now, she and her husband have their own fire-spinning act, Tricks of the Light, and they travel the midwest as a pair and she runs the business and makes the costumes and takes care of practical things like insurance. It's really been incredible to watch her journey from a shy bookworm to a bellydancing, fire-spinning performer. And so that's what I think of when I think of developing talents. I'm not sure that my friend has a specific "base level" of talent for contact juggling or fire-spinning, although she has always had better hand-eye coordination than me. I'm pretty sure that my friend's unusual success has been because of her dedication and perseverance and excitement in this specific area. So. Roundabout reasoning, but there you go.
The second, hopefully much briefer, reaction, was when our professor, Kristin, suggested that the people in our program who have the growth mindset tend to think along the lines of "I wonder what I will learn today!" instead of those of the fixed mindset, who believe that if they don't immediately get something (because we are all smarty-pants in our program), they think it's a dumb assignment or task, are happier in the program. And I'm not sure that I have the "I wonder what I will learn today!" outlook, but I find that while some of my cohort gripe about assignments, I just take them as they come, usually. I assume that there is a reason I am being assigned a task, and that the professor of this prestigious program knows better than I do about things I need to know for my future career.
Now for something entirely different:
We talked very briefly in class (as in, Kristin mentioned very briefly) about a university that is assigning freshman students each a "personal librarian," much in the same way that at some universities students are assigned an adviser. I had never considered such an idea, but man do I think that is cool! By being assigned a librarian, and maybe by having a couple of the gen. ed. courses require that students actually visit these librarians for at least one or two assignments, I think so many more students would be able to realize the value of their librarian! Once students develop relationships (hopefully positive...), they would be more likely to come back for assistance on further assignments as they progress through their college career. It would benefit the student in two ways that I can think of, first that students would be able to write better quality papers due to better sources/development of their ideas, and second that by continued interaction with the librarian, their own research skills would be vastly improved so that by the time they are seniors they can write really great papers! (I always thought that it was such a shame that I spent so much time learning to write a great paper in college, but it would not be a skill I would use once I graduated. Now I'm in grad school so it's useful after all! Hah)
I could probably continue talking on any number of subjects for days but no one wants that so I will stop here.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
On Librarianism
Reactions to chapters 1 & 2 of the text How People Learn:
This book seems to be familiar territory to me, both in terms of study at UMSI and in terms of my own beliefs regarding pedagogy and the best possible teaching practices. It echos something which I strongly believe in, and have dreamt of creating my own school along these lines for some time. It states that new concepts are best learned in the context of pre-existing schemas--that knowledge is built on scaffolding, and it is imperative to make sure that the scaffolding properly supports the weight of the new knowledge. It lists a number of ways this should be achieved: first by understanding how students already understand concepts so that their understanding can be enhanced, and also by making connections to other areas where connections can be made.
The second point there is my biggest concern. I am forever and ever carrying on about how schools are teaching subjects all wrong. I am a humanities person. I have a bachelor's degree in English Literature. I have always excelled in reading, writing, and the social sciences. These are things I always enjoyed. But now, here I am, pursuing a master's of science. I like to joke, "Hah, me, a master's of science? Who would have ever seen that coming?" And really it's library science which I am studying, which isn't the same as, say, biology, in terms of science. But that title gets me thinking. I actually always did well in science in school. Well enough, anyway, and I didn't hate it. And although I am not at all mathematically (or logically, for that matter) inclined, I actually did well in my math classes in school because I knew that I was terrible at it and to keep from failing the course I would need to work extra hard at it. It's because I worked extra hard in my math classes that math was consistently my highest grade in high school. But immediately after the class was done, the information was gone. When I took the ACT before college, I had taken up through trigonometry in high school, and I swear that I had never in my life seen questions like the ones asked on that test.
What I am trying to say through my retelling of high school is that I had every aptitude necessary to pursue a career in the sciences. But the problem was that I could not make the connections between math and science, or any other subject. Math in particular is taught in this void. Here are some abstract concepts; Apply numbers and calculations; Find solution. As a young student, math had absolutely no relevance in my life, or anyone's life, for that matter. Science was only marginally better. There are some theories, and they apply to the world around you. Now you know! But the thing is, as I look around, as I study in a master's of science program, as I am surrounded by technological advances, as I am about to marry a man who is adapting to a prosthetic leg, I can see that science is all around me! Math is everywhere, and infinitely useful! Math and science are one in the same. Math belongs to science, and science belongs to people, and people belong to the world.
I envision a school where all the subjects are intertwined. Hands get dirty, students explore with guidance, and it is undoubtedly extremely difficult for the teachers. Most importantly, math isn't just math. Science isn't just science. English isn't just English. These things are all connected.
I'm getting a little out of hand. I'm supposed to be writing on my thoughts about chapters 1 & 2 of the text. But when I was reading, all I could think was that the text was describing how I feel learning should be. And then comes the problems. How do you measure deep understanding instead of factual knowledge? The government relies so heavily on standardized testing in the U.S. that it is actually impeding the learning happening in the classroom, even when I was a school child. And how can educators appeal to lawmakers to say that the current system is hurting students, and therefore the future economy? A challenge indeed. Different, more successful structures do exist in other countries, particularly Finland and other European countries, which could be used as models. Unfortunately, I have little faith that the American educational system can be fixed anytime soon, since other things take priority.
And what does any of this have to do with libraries at all, anyway? Well, I'm not really sure if I understand that just yet, myself. Librarians are educators, resources, and guides, the same as teachers but in a more open and unstructured way. We create paths and opportunities to knowledge, instead of dispensing it. People can use library resources to further any learning they wish.
Switching gears (almost) entirely, is my reaction to the Josh Hanagarne keynote Internet Librarian speech, which I thought was really very poignant and inspiring (Click to view). Particularly from his speech were some thoughts on homelessness and mental (or behavioral) illnesses, which in many cases go hand in hand, and in my experience are often found in libraries. When I worked for a public library, we were located around the corner from the homeless shelter. I would estimate that 85% of our patrons were homeless, and a great deal of them had some form of mental illness. And what I liked so much about his speech is that he kept asking patrons, "Why libraries? Why here?" And they kept responding that the library was the only place they could go and be dignified, just by stepping inside. They could be as invisible as they wanted, but they knew that if they ever needed a question answered, they would receive unqualified help.
We are not social workers. We are not police officers or first responders, but we are essential to our communities. We offer help in a way that patrons can help themselves. Knowledge is power, as they say."Power is power, Lord Baelish."
Josh Hanagarne made me cry more than I would care to admit in his speech, and inspired me both as a person and a professional. Libraries are important. Librarians offer compassion when needed, and withhold judgement. I haven't worked anywhere as large as the Salt Lake City Library, but I have seen some amazing things in my time, too. I have seen a blind woman teaching another blind woman to read braille at one of our tables. I have seen the same librarians, several times a day, tirelessly answer the phone and pronounce a word, over and over. It turns out we have a middle-aged man, probably with some kind of learning disability, who is teaching himself to read using only the King James Bible. I have seen a family of gingers, 5 children, all homeschooled, and they check out what seems like every book on every possible subject twice a week. And I have seen smelly men sleeping somewhere warm and safe, too.
Libraries are important. Libraries are relevant. Libraries matter.
This book seems to be familiar territory to me, both in terms of study at UMSI and in terms of my own beliefs regarding pedagogy and the best possible teaching practices. It echos something which I strongly believe in, and have dreamt of creating my own school along these lines for some time. It states that new concepts are best learned in the context of pre-existing schemas--that knowledge is built on scaffolding, and it is imperative to make sure that the scaffolding properly supports the weight of the new knowledge. It lists a number of ways this should be achieved: first by understanding how students already understand concepts so that their understanding can be enhanced, and also by making connections to other areas where connections can be made.
The second point there is my biggest concern. I am forever and ever carrying on about how schools are teaching subjects all wrong. I am a humanities person. I have a bachelor's degree in English Literature. I have always excelled in reading, writing, and the social sciences. These are things I always enjoyed. But now, here I am, pursuing a master's of science. I like to joke, "Hah, me, a master's of science? Who would have ever seen that coming?" And really it's library science which I am studying, which isn't the same as, say, biology, in terms of science. But that title gets me thinking. I actually always did well in science in school. Well enough, anyway, and I didn't hate it. And although I am not at all mathematically (or logically, for that matter) inclined, I actually did well in my math classes in school because I knew that I was terrible at it and to keep from failing the course I would need to work extra hard at it. It's because I worked extra hard in my math classes that math was consistently my highest grade in high school. But immediately after the class was done, the information was gone. When I took the ACT before college, I had taken up through trigonometry in high school, and I swear that I had never in my life seen questions like the ones asked on that test.
What I am trying to say through my retelling of high school is that I had every aptitude necessary to pursue a career in the sciences. But the problem was that I could not make the connections between math and science, or any other subject. Math in particular is taught in this void. Here are some abstract concepts; Apply numbers and calculations; Find solution. As a young student, math had absolutely no relevance in my life, or anyone's life, for that matter. Science was only marginally better. There are some theories, and they apply to the world around you. Now you know! But the thing is, as I look around, as I study in a master's of science program, as I am surrounded by technological advances, as I am about to marry a man who is adapting to a prosthetic leg, I can see that science is all around me! Math is everywhere, and infinitely useful! Math and science are one in the same. Math belongs to science, and science belongs to people, and people belong to the world.
I envision a school where all the subjects are intertwined. Hands get dirty, students explore with guidance, and it is undoubtedly extremely difficult for the teachers. Most importantly, math isn't just math. Science isn't just science. English isn't just English. These things are all connected.
I'm getting a little out of hand. I'm supposed to be writing on my thoughts about chapters 1 & 2 of the text. But when I was reading, all I could think was that the text was describing how I feel learning should be. And then comes the problems. How do you measure deep understanding instead of factual knowledge? The government relies so heavily on standardized testing in the U.S. that it is actually impeding the learning happening in the classroom, even when I was a school child. And how can educators appeal to lawmakers to say that the current system is hurting students, and therefore the future economy? A challenge indeed. Different, more successful structures do exist in other countries, particularly Finland and other European countries, which could be used as models. Unfortunately, I have little faith that the American educational system can be fixed anytime soon, since other things take priority.
And what does any of this have to do with libraries at all, anyway? Well, I'm not really sure if I understand that just yet, myself. Librarians are educators, resources, and guides, the same as teachers but in a more open and unstructured way. We create paths and opportunities to knowledge, instead of dispensing it. People can use library resources to further any learning they wish.
Switching gears (almost) entirely, is my reaction to the Josh Hanagarne keynote Internet Librarian speech, which I thought was really very poignant and inspiring (Click to view). Particularly from his speech were some thoughts on homelessness and mental (or behavioral) illnesses, which in many cases go hand in hand, and in my experience are often found in libraries. When I worked for a public library, we were located around the corner from the homeless shelter. I would estimate that 85% of our patrons were homeless, and a great deal of them had some form of mental illness. And what I liked so much about his speech is that he kept asking patrons, "Why libraries? Why here?" And they kept responding that the library was the only place they could go and be dignified, just by stepping inside. They could be as invisible as they wanted, but they knew that if they ever needed a question answered, they would receive unqualified help.
We are not social workers. We are not police officers or first responders, but we are essential to our communities. We offer help in a way that patrons can help themselves. Knowledge is power, as they say.
Josh Hanagarne made me cry more than I would care to admit in his speech, and inspired me both as a person and a professional. Libraries are important. Librarians offer compassion when needed, and withhold judgement. I haven't worked anywhere as large as the Salt Lake City Library, but I have seen some amazing things in my time, too. I have seen a blind woman teaching another blind woman to read braille at one of our tables. I have seen the same librarians, several times a day, tirelessly answer the phone and pronounce a word, over and over. It turns out we have a middle-aged man, probably with some kind of learning disability, who is teaching himself to read using only the King James Bible. I have seen a family of gingers, 5 children, all homeschooled, and they check out what seems like every book on every possible subject twice a week. And I have seen smelly men sleeping somewhere warm and safe, too.
Libraries are important. Libraries are relevant. Libraries matter.
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