I mentioned in my previous blog that I "missed" the right technology room reserved for the class. When I was in the correct room, and had the PowerPoint downloaded, I wanted to start the lesson. However, to my surprise, I found only eleven students present at that time. I was not sure whether to begin or not. After all six students were not there. I quickly decided to start--I did not wish to waste the other students' time. Besides, I was going to upload the PowerPoint on Angel. Thus, the missing students would examine what they missed. During the next few minutes, some of the students came in. I do not like it when students are late. Especially if I saw them late a couple of times. I thought about talking to the regularly-late students. However, I was not sure whether I have the right to do so. They knew the rules, but I wanted them to avoid coming late as much as possible.
When it was time to teach, I was scarred. I feared that I would lose the attention of the students. I feared teaching them for the first time alone without my mentor to whom I may ask questions for clarifications. I also feared messing up or forgetting what the next slide had. Too many fears--
When I wanted to start the lesson, I had to get the students' attention. They were facing the computer screens in front of them. However, I was not sure how. I thought about being funny to break the ice by saying "yo yo yo." Nonetheless, I did not think that it was appropriate--it would be funny, but not appropriate =). Thus, what I did is that I started saying "Hi everyone...HI!... come on guys." Some students wanted to work on the computer--which is very tempting, so I don't blame them! But I was aware of my responsibilities. I did not like using "guys" with my students though. It's a term that I use sometimes, but I do not like it when I say it to them. I should try "ladies and gentlemen" next time! When one of the students told the other students to pay attention--they paid attention. I should thank that student!
In the first slide of my presentation, I had a "number one rule." The rule was to ask questions and give comments any time throughout the presentation. I knew that asking questions during a presentation was considered rude in some cultures. Thus, I wanted to clarify the "cultural rules" in this class--or for this session at least. I wanted the students who have such a cultural etiquette in their culture be comfortable throughout the session. Many of the students' remarks in the survey said that they wanted to improve their speaking and writing skills in this class. Although we are for sure addressing the latter issue, the former one get the second place. If they are using English to communicate with me, and I sometimes recast their sentence, then it should help their speaking skills even if it was insignificant.
Since some of the students were first semester students, I began the lesson by asking the students about an image (an image of the library). When students answered, I asked about its location and whether they have been there before. Some had, and some had not. Then I talked about the term "sources" and what constitute a source. My goal here was to show the students that a source can be something beyond a book or a website. Since one of the goals for the lesson is to produce as much interaction as possible, I embedded these discussion questions. Some students talked about newspapers, journals, articles, databases, and other sources. I also asked them about the electronic vs. hard-copy sources; the benefits and the consequences. I was happy to see the students participate. I do not like silent classrooms. And sometimes when its silent, the teacher would talk. And when she/he talks, the students may not talk. I think the term for that was the snowball affect L
In regard to hard-copy vs. electronic source discussion, I began by showing them the CAT and how to request an item from it. I had them look up items too. To my pleasure, some students requested some of the items that they researched. We then discussed EZborrow and other ways of requesting items. I was very happy to see the students engaging in the "lecture". I have lecture in quotation marks because I learned couple of things from the students themselves. For example, after discussing ProQuest and JSTOR - the two famous databases, along with Newsstand, some of the students shared other databases that they liked. Some of these databases, such as Nexis, I never heard of before. Then, the students started questioning the difference between ProQuest and JSTOR. When a student directed the question to me, I found myself unable to provide a comprehensive answer to why I favor one over the other. I liked JASTOR more. I said that the same article may exist in both databases. Also, I said that JSTOR has more articles in certain areas than ProQuest, and I demonstrated that by searching a topic in both databases. Then, I ended up saying that ProQuest has too many options that are not necessary. Although I showed them what I meant, I regretted saying that. Thus, in the next few minutes I started talking about personal preference and that they should try both and see what they are comfortable with. Also, they should consider that certain disciplines are associated with certain databases. Thus, one database may focus on electrical engineering, while the other focuses on higher education. I tried to make that clear by showing them a database for electrical engineering. Originally, I was going to use this example as a way of limiting sources to the field of their research. However, it seemed to be the best in-flight decision to be made at that time because I clarified the student's question, and taught them how to limit one's research indirectly.
Beside the activities that I had them do as I was showing them different sources, I ended the class by having the students do the following activity as way of assessing what they learned yesterday:
* In a group of 2-3, find two sources that are suitable for your selected topic or research question:
o The affect of technology on Education (Education)
o No Child Left Behind Act (law)
o The life of Samuel Johnson (Literature)
o The effects of dominate corporations on small stories (economy)
o Fair Trade coffee (Humanities)
o Supply Chain
o Other ideas?
The two sources had to be in different genres. Most of the students did very well. Some got lost, while the majority found reliable sources. Those who were lost, were lost because they did not know who Samuel Johnson was. And typing this name into any database would give more than 100,000 articles. They did not know the key words. And that is understandable because they are not English majors. I tried avoiding this by placing the discipline next to each topic. But, for that topic, "literature" was not enough. Next time I should use something more popular. I did not want to use Shakespeare because some students already know who he is. I wanted them to learn something new as they are applying the skills that they learned.
We talked about many different things in class. I also talked to them about Google Scholar, which is a helpful tool as well. We finished everything on time, and I was rather content to see that I did not finish early or went pass the time. It was a good experience even though fear played a role in it.
When it was time to teach, I was scarred. I feared that I would lose the attention of the students. I feared teaching them for the first time alone without my mentor to whom I may ask questions for clarifications. I also feared messing up or forgetting what the next slide had. Too many fears--
When I wanted to start the lesson, I had to get the students' attention. They were facing the computer screens in front of them. However, I was not sure how. I thought about being funny to break the ice by saying "yo yo yo." Nonetheless, I did not think that it was appropriate--it would be funny, but not appropriate =). Thus, what I did is that I started saying "Hi everyone...HI!... come on guys." Some students wanted to work on the computer--which is very tempting, so I don't blame them! But I was aware of my responsibilities. I did not like using "guys" with my students though. It's a term that I use sometimes, but I do not like it when I say it to them. I should try "ladies and gentlemen" next time! When one of the students told the other students to pay attention--they paid attention. I should thank that student!
In the first slide of my presentation, I had a "number one rule." The rule was to ask questions and give comments any time throughout the presentation. I knew that asking questions during a presentation was considered rude in some cultures. Thus, I wanted to clarify the "cultural rules" in this class--or for this session at least. I wanted the students who have such a cultural etiquette in their culture be comfortable throughout the session. Many of the students' remarks in the survey said that they wanted to improve their speaking and writing skills in this class. Although we are for sure addressing the latter issue, the former one get the second place. If they are using English to communicate with me, and I sometimes recast their sentence, then it should help their speaking skills even if it was insignificant.
Since some of the students were first semester students, I began the lesson by asking the students about an image (an image of the library). When students answered, I asked about its location and whether they have been there before. Some had, and some had not. Then I talked about the term "sources" and what constitute a source. My goal here was to show the students that a source can be something beyond a book or a website. Since one of the goals for the lesson is to produce as much interaction as possible, I embedded these discussion questions. Some students talked about newspapers, journals, articles, databases, and other sources. I also asked them about the electronic vs. hard-copy sources; the benefits and the consequences. I was happy to see the students participate. I do not like silent classrooms. And sometimes when its silent, the teacher would talk. And when she/he talks, the students may not talk. I think the term for that was the snowball affect L
In regard to hard-copy vs. electronic source discussion, I began by showing them the CAT and how to request an item from it. I had them look up items too. To my pleasure, some students requested some of the items that they researched. We then discussed EZborrow and other ways of requesting items. I was very happy to see the students engaging in the "lecture". I have lecture in quotation marks because I learned couple of things from the students themselves. For example, after discussing ProQuest and JSTOR - the two famous databases, along with Newsstand, some of the students shared other databases that they liked. Some of these databases, such as Nexis, I never heard of before. Then, the students started questioning the difference between ProQuest and JSTOR. When a student directed the question to me, I found myself unable to provide a comprehensive answer to why I favor one over the other. I liked JASTOR more. I said that the same article may exist in both databases. Also, I said that JSTOR has more articles in certain areas than ProQuest, and I demonstrated that by searching a topic in both databases. Then, I ended up saying that ProQuest has too many options that are not necessary. Although I showed them what I meant, I regretted saying that. Thus, in the next few minutes I started talking about personal preference and that they should try both and see what they are comfortable with. Also, they should consider that certain disciplines are associated with certain databases. Thus, one database may focus on electrical engineering, while the other focuses on higher education. I tried to make that clear by showing them a database for electrical engineering. Originally, I was going to use this example as a way of limiting sources to the field of their research. However, it seemed to be the best in-flight decision to be made at that time because I clarified the student's question, and taught them how to limit one's research indirectly.
Beside the activities that I had them do as I was showing them different sources, I ended the class by having the students do the following activity as way of assessing what they learned yesterday:
* In a group of 2-3, find two sources that are suitable for your selected topic or research question:
o The affect of technology on Education (Education)
o No Child Left Behind Act (law)
o The life of Samuel Johnson (Literature)
o The effects of dominate corporations on small stories (economy)
o Fair Trade coffee (Humanities)
o Supply Chain
o Other ideas?
The two sources had to be in different genres. Most of the students did very well. Some got lost, while the majority found reliable sources. Those who were lost, were lost because they did not know who Samuel Johnson was. And typing this name into any database would give more than 100,000 articles. They did not know the key words. And that is understandable because they are not English majors. I tried avoiding this by placing the discipline next to each topic. But, for that topic, "literature" was not enough. Next time I should use something more popular. I did not want to use Shakespeare because some students already know who he is. I wanted them to learn something new as they are applying the skills that they learned.
We talked about many different things in class. I also talked to them about Google Scholar, which is a helpful tool as well. We finished everything on time, and I was rather content to see that I did not finish early or went pass the time. It was a good experience even though fear played a role in it.