09.29.06
Posted in School at 3:48 pm by rioghail
It’s that time of year again when half the people on the road are students making the trek back to school. Even though I’m in a distance program I still get the opportunity for a road trip to school three times a year. Highlights from this trip include:
French toast with strawberries and real maple syrup served hot in Marjorie’s mom’s kitchen. mmm mmmm good!
Did you know that rest stops in Washington have wi-fi? They do and it works. Yes we had to stop, pull out our laptops and try it just to see. Are MLIS students geeks or what?
Households full of children are insane and are a great place to people watch. Children seem to multiply in places like this. It starts out with one or two and before the day is over there are enough that they can’t bounce on a trampoline without bouncing on each other. Which, by the way, appears to be fun until someone gets squished. Children do interesting things. They crash into tables and chairs, fall up and down steps, can be bleeding and never slow down. Yet they need a Band-Aid for an owie that you can’t even see. and later that Band-Aid that was absolutely necessary gets eaten. eeeewwwww! Then just as quickly as they all appeared they disappear and the world gets eerily quiet.
Homemade lasagna shared among friends and family.
Swimming in hotel pool and eating new and different ethnic foods.
Oh yeah. And learning new things in class.
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08.22.06
Posted in School at 11:23 pm by rioghail
Well it’s the day after my class session and everyone survived! The students seemed to learn something and I didn’t explode in little bits all over the front of the room. In fact I even relaxed enough that by the time the second class session came around I was actually having fun. It’s har to imagine… Me having fun speaking in front of a group. I was there and I hardly believe it.
The section I taught was the library research component of a larger class designed for first year students. They have a week long class before the regular semester starts where they attend lectures on note taking, writing skills, doing research in the library, study habits and other general information that it useful in the transition to university life. At the end of the class, assuming they competed all the assignments they earn one credit and get a jump start on their first semester at school.
The whole opportunity became available because of a faculty position vacancy at our library where I work. Because of staffing issues myself and two other graduate students were aksed if we would like to participate in the program and teach the library component of a week long summer class at the U. We were given notes from the program last year and then set free to design our own lectures, handout and assignment sheet using the previous examples as a template. We worked together with the staff and facutly at the writing center and the department of contuinuing education to make sure we covered all the appropriate topics are were not doing something that might conflict with their lesson plans.  We will also be involved with grading the student’s portfolios at the of the week and with collecting and evaluating the assessment/feedback forms that our library uses on a regular basis for all classes taught by the library faculty.
The kids really seem interested in the program and the feedback gathered has been good. I wish I had had something like this when I was a new student. This whole experience has been awsome and I am really thankful that my library gave us the opportunity to assist with this program. Not only will it look good on my resume; but it has shown me that I am more than capable of teaching and that I can actually enjoy the experience at the same time. And all of this from a gal who avoided public speaking classes at all cost her entire life.
Who’d of thunk it…
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08.21.06
Posted in School at 1:57 am by rioghail
Wow I can hardly believe that the summer is almost over. Tomorrow I will actually teach my first ever class session at the university. I am quite nervous but everyone says it will fine. I will post more tomorow and let you all know how it went. Right now I think I’ll go and review my notes one more time!
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