7 Teaching in the Classroom

Teaching Information Literacy

As you’ll soon be able to tell, there is a significant amount of classroom teaching that librarians at Seattle Central College engage in.  We hope that over the course of the year, our reference assistants will get in to the classroom with us, first as observers, then as assistants, and eventually as teachers.  In order to start this process, we ask that you begin with the Information Literacy Plan and the reading list (next).  While you are working your way through the list, begin taking a look at the reference desk calendars to see when there are class session that you can observe.  Over the course of the year, you can work with your mentor to determine your readiness to assist and teach in our classes.

This guidebook addresses different steps of the teaching process:

1. Read the current Information Literacy Plan. [coming soon!]
2. Pedagogical Preparation by way of reading up on experts. There is a reading list on the next page.
3. Observation! You are expected to observe at least 3 classes before moving forward.
4. Familiarize yourself with lesson planning in an effort to assist librarians with their instruction. Here’s a copy of the lesson plan template that many of us use to help us plan our class sessions Lesson_plan_New_Responsive.docx (requires SCC Library SharePoint access).
5. Aim for assisting in 2-5 classes, or until you feel comfortable. Try to work with different librarians, as you will find their teaching styles vary widely. It’s all about finding your voice as an instructor.
6. Once you feel confident that you can teach on your own, tell your mentor and ask to be assigned instruction.  Your mentor or the assigning librarian can give you a lesson plan template and will help you through the process of working with the instructor.
7. The first few times you teach, you will be observed by a librarian.
8. Some of this teaching and observing may have to happen outside of your scheduled hours, and that is at your discretion.

To summarize, the steps to teaching look like this:

• Observe 3 classes (try to finish in Fall or early Winter quarters)
• Assist in 2-5 classes (Winter quarter)
• Teach on your own but get observed for a few classes (early Spring quarter)
• Teach, teach, teach!