Previous: Teaching Responsibilities
To be an effective teacher I believe you need to prioritize the student experience. For me, showing them that I identify with their experience and interest in bettering themselves through the pursuit of higher education is the foremost thing in my mind when entering a classroom setting.
Second, but in no way less important than putting students first, is approaching any teaching opportunity as prepared as possible while expecting the unexpected. I like to have a rough outline of what I intend to discuss with pockets of time to allow for specific student questions that arise on the fly. This has been effective when instructing students in tasks connected with information literacy as it intersects with the use of library materials and gathering reliable sources.
In the wake of being offered other teaching opportunities, my classroom philosophy has stretched and shifted to include concerns more in line with teaching a credit bearing course- consideration for general education outcomes, assignment design, ease of navigation in Blackboard and more direct, one-on-one communication with students over a greater period of time than my more typical library instruction and interactions allow for.
Once I have assessed and prepared for whatever type of teaching responsibility I have scheduled, I feel at ease and confident in my ability to lead, capable of providing the information and skills needed to get through a particular assignment, workshop, or to deliver a guest lecture or semester long course.
Next: Description of Teaching Methodologies
