Happy first day of March! I don't know about all of you, but February was very busy for me!
I had quite a few teaching requests and many of which were new types of classes that I had not taught to before. I was honored by all of the faculty members who invited me into their classes during the past few weeks. I met a lot of great people and learned a lot about the different types of learning that happens throughout campus. I met with two seminars full of students working on undergraduate research projects. I also met with a group of students who are finishing up their undergraduate work and preparing for doctoral studies. In addition, I worked with a fairly large group of students who are spending the semester learning about how to prepare for work and employment after college. The mixture of learning styles and types of library instruction needed for each group kept me on my toes throughout the month of February. I even learned a few new things, as I had reference questions that I had not dealt with before. The instructors all seemed very pleased with the classes and I was just as tickled pink to work with each of them and their groups of students. It was a really great month of collaboration!
In addition to the above, I also taught a number of Advanced Writing (ENG 201) classes. I teach these regularly throughout the year. The classes are full of freshman through senior level students, some with library experience, but many whom have never stepped foot in an academic library before. This semester though, teaching to these students has been different. Typically, you can hold the attention of some students, but you can't keep them all on track. (They tend to fall asleep, play with their smart phones, or check-in on Facebook.) However, every single class I taught this semester seemed to not only stay on track, but also grasped the concepts that I was teaching. I always start my classes off with a topic that I write on the board and then ask for the students to help me identify keywords and synonyms. This gets them off of the computer for a bit and into a conversation. The next thing I do, is move to our catalog and then teach one database before letting them go off to work on their own research topics. I was so excited as I walked around the room while they were doing their own research. I saw students writing lists of their keywords, using boolean operators (correctly!), and truncating! ALL. ON. THEIR. OWN. They were even moving into other databases besides Academic Search Complete (the one I demonstrate in class). I must have looked silly walking the room of each class with a huge grin on my face, but boy oh boy was it a good feeling! I can't tell you how many times I walked throughout the classroom this semester yelling "I see a lot of good search strategies being used!". There are too many to count! I can, however, tell you that the feeling I had at the end of each class was awesome.*
Overall, although February was a very busy and exhausting month, it was also really great and I wouldn't trade the experiences that I had for anything. Who doesn't like floating on "librarian cloud 9" for an entire month? :)
*Note: I really have no idea why my classes went so well this semester. I taught the same way I always do. I think sometimes you have really great classes and other times the not so great classes. I just happened to luck out with a lot of really attentive, hard-working students this semester. :)
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
In the Kitchen: Spaghetti Bread
A month or two ago, my love sent me an email with nothing but the subject heading "spaghetti bread" and a link. The link went to this recipe:
Rhodes' Braided Spaghetti Bread
I took this as a subtle hint that he wanted us to try this recipe soon.
So, this weekend we finally gave it a shot.
The verdict? A keeper!
The ingredients were readily available at the grocery store and although the process was a little time consuming, it wasn't too bad. Although, we prefer homemade sauce in our house, I cheated and used jar. (This is actually becoming a habit since we both work long days.)
The part that I found most difficult in the recipe, was when I had to
slice the dough and braid it. My slices were a bit too short and thin,
so I need to work on that for next time.
Otherwise, the recipe was pretty easy and we both enjoyed it very much. I
served it with a side of sauce and plan to add some ground beef or
sausage to it next time.
Overall, though, spaghetti bread was a winner on our dinner table and we'll probably be seeing it again in the future!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Vintage Valentines
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| Source: riptheskull on Flickr, CC BY-NO 2.0 |
One of my favorite things to do during the month of February is to read the history of St. Valentine's Day and browse the Web for vintage valentines. I just love the designs and sayings on the historic love notes. I wish they still made them as humorous and special as they were in the past.
Are you interested in browsing vintage valentine collections? Here are two of my favorite places to go:
WVU Libraries Vintage Valentines (Digital Collection):
Flickr Vintage Valentine Group:
Happy Valentine's Day, friends!
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