Practicum Log #23: Direct Instruction Presentation

My supervisor, Emily Thorpe, had to take a sick day today, and the staff was in a meeting with the new director for a couple of hours. I worked on a direct instruction presentation to go with the primary source video I created.

Thursday, July 11, 2024 from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Today, Emily texted me to let me know that she would be out sick, and when I arrived for my shift, most of the library staff members were in a staff meeting with the new director who started work on July 8th. While they were in a meeting, I spent time working on a direct instruction presentation that the research and instruction librarians could use for teaching how to use primary and secondary sources. I used the same template design as the primary source video I made, and I added links from Southwestern’s own distinctive collection to show examples. I also developed a short research scenario where students would analyze a speech available in the online distinctive collections (primary source) and a secondary source from a website. The student would analyze each source, saying why one is a primary source and why one is a secondary source. Then, they would answer questions about the sources and spend time doing some research analysis. I made presenter notes for each slide.

After the staff meeting, Megan came to find me, and she got my help in moving more of the physical collections boxes into the main reading room! Some of the pallets were in order, and so they were easy to re-shelve, and other pallets were wonky or out of order, and so we had to make sure we analyzed the boxes well. The rest of my shift was a lot of driving book carts, loading Hollinger boxes, unloading Hollinger boxes, and repeating that process. I spent time getting to know Mary and Christina (two library assistants in Distinctive Collections) as well as Megan, the head of the Distinctive Collections department.

Full Schedule: l will be working 10:00-2:00 from May 28th to June 7th, M-F online. (The campus is undergoing some construction and all of the librarians are working from home.)

Then, from June 10 - July 19th, I will be working 1:00-5:00 on campus at Southwestern University. I will more than likely finish by July 12th, but I'm adding a week for wiggle room. This should lead to 128 hours.