Upon the blue gold starred ball do I run and run while going around and around the ring, juggling, fearlessly keeping balance as the orchestra plays. Only, instead of physical objects, I feel as if I need to balance these ideas of different types of learners + different types of learning environments + the different types of assessment (formative and summative) + time + what my colleagues expect of me. Much like the crowd sits and whispers "How does she do it?!", I think "How will I do it?!"
I figure it is something that will come with years. The more experience I have teaching, along with the more years of actually being in a library setting working with patrons, the balancing act might not look so intimidating. Plus that will give me more years of learning from my co-workers. But I still wonder - How do people do it? How do you know what to pay attention to, when and what you can learn from it? I guess in a sense, How do you become an advanced learner?
For now - I feel a little shaky. I want to help people, and I want to be good at it.
I guess, I'll keep practicing my act.
 |
| Circus at Sarasota. Photographer: Nina Leen. 1949. LIFE Magazine. |
I also feel your apprehension (but excitement) for all these things we must juggle. I love your analogy and it works really well here. Thanks for that. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely good to step outside our comfort zones for a while. That's one way to know that we are learning something new! In teaching GIS applications to patrons, I have definitely tried to impart as much knowledge as I can in a short time with the hope that it sticks. Unfortunately, I have no good way to assess how effective my instruction was unless the patron comes back later! The readings deal with more structured learning environments, however, and I think that we are learning to "juggle" right now in iSchool as we are exposed to these ideas for the first time. I'm sure you'll do fine!
ReplyDeleteGreat metaphor! Great LIFE photo!
ReplyDelete