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TEACHING�&�ARCHIVES

Creating a toolkit to

guide instruction

about and with archival materials

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Pennsylvania State University campuses are located on the original homelands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora), Lenape (Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe, Stockbridge-Munsee), Monongahela, Shawnee (Absentee, Eastern, and Oklahoma), Susquehannock, and Wahzhazhe (Osage) Nations.

As a land grant institution, we acknowledge and honor the traditional caretakers of these lands and strive to understand and model their responsible stewardship. We also acknowledge the longer history of these lands and our place in that history.

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AGENDA

Introduction
General workflows and resources
Teaching archives toolbox versus and teaching with archives

BREAK

IV. Activity

V. Questions & discussion

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MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Racine Amos

Special Collections Librarian for Instruction, Outreach and Engagement
2nd Career after 12 years in Student Affairs
Archives for five years

Mae Casey

Accessioning and Collections Management Archivist
Undergraduate work in secondary education
High school teacher in Arizona for thirteen years
Archival work for four years

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INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS

Professional will be able to (PWBAT)…

Differentiate between teaching archives v. teaching with archives
Create basic lesson plans for instructional sessions
Identify and use tools to support instructional activities
Evaluate and modify shared resources for their institutional needs

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ISN’T ARCHIVAL INSTRUCTION ALL THE SAME?

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GENERAL WORKFLOW

Assessment

Instructional session

Set-up

Tear down

Pre-instruction planning conversation

Direct instruction

Activity

Rights and responsibilities

Planning, pulling, and testing materials

Initial contact with instructor

Logistics verification

Formal scheduling

Clarifying questions

Instructor request

Add to tracker

Begin brainstorming

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STEP ONE:�INSTRUCTOR REQUEST

Ask instructors to complete a request form

Understanding the assignment

What does the instructor want students to learn?

What will you need to instruct students on?

What should students be able to do at the end of the session?

What materials could you use for this instruction session?

What activity supports independent student work?

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STEP TWO:�INITIAL CONTACT

Logistics verification

Formal scheduling

Clarifying questions

Is this request possible?

What does every requestor need to know ahead of time?

What is your initial, loose agenda?

What do you need more information on?

When and where can the instructor meet to formalize the plan?

Try to avoid using various places, build association and familiarity for students
Curators areas of strength. Teams areas of strength. Guest instructors

Is this request possible?

Consider availability of the room and materials.
Do you have the capacity to handle this request at the desired time?

What does every requestor need to know ahead of time?

Form email that confirms the specific time and date
What information does the instructor need to cover?

Video

What administrative tasks do students need to complete ahead of time?

What is your initial loose agenda?

What do you need more information on?

Based on that loose agenda, what questions do you have before you can proceed?

When and where can the instructor meet to formalize the plan?

Pre-instruction meetings set the stage for far more successful instruction sessions
Ideally in person, but Zoom can also work

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STEP THREE:�PLANNING & PULLING

Create a lesson plan

Create activities based on selected materials for the lesson

Pull potential materials

Do these materials support the activity?

Can the activity be modified to fit those materials?

Do different materials need to be pulled?

What might need to be communicated with the instructor?

No need to reinvent the wheel. The goal is to develop a “library”
Not all activities can work for all materials. All materials should inspire activity
Always an concern, how much is too much? take logistics and audience into consideration

MATERIALS ARE THE HEART OF ANY SUCCESSFUL SESSION.

They will make or break the requested activity.
Some things can’t be forced.

If they don’t fit the activity, then students cannot achieve the desired goals.

Communication with instructors is so important.

You may not have the materials they need to complete the activity.
Might require modification to the instruction request.

EXAMPLE

We had a request for a class to use primary source documents to learn about Atlantic piracy in the 17^th and 18^th centuries
We had no primary source materials related to pirates

Outside our collection development plan

We had to modify the plan to use rare books instead
Not ideal, but it was that or nothing and rare books are part of the Special Collections Library

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COMPONENTS & STRUCTURE �OF A LESSON PLAN

Goals

Topic including new vocabulary and concepts

Planned activities

Instructional materials

Introduction including goal sharing
Direct instruction
Guided practice
Independent practice
Closure

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ACTIVITY OPTIONS

Think-pair-share
Jigsaws
“Speed dating”
Graphic organizers
Exhibit card drafting
Quizzes, polls, surveys
Four corners

Content from this slide is taken in part from Robin M. Katz’s presentation What Teaching Librarians Need to Know about Primary Sources given on 2021 August 10.

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LESSON �PLAN

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STEP FOUR:�PRE-INSTRUCTION COMMUNICATION

Instructor rights

Lesson plan review

Materials approval

Instructor responsibilities

Does the instructor believe the lesson plan will achieve the instructional goals?

Are the materials appropriate to the request and the activity?

Does the instructor have any questions?

Does the instructor understand their role as a partner?

Does the instructor know what they need to do before the session?

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STEP FIVE:�INSTRUCTIONAL SESSION

Instruct

Lead the class

Read the room

How can you rely on your plan to guide you?

How can you lead when you’re nervous?

How do you model desired behavior in students?

What do you do if the plan isn’t working?

Set-up: Are there any special display needs? Is the material “stable” for use”?
In the confirmation there is a and intro video for the requestor to share with the students. New intro video and will revise additional information to encourage students to register as researchers prior to the session
Always have to remind about bags, liquids, hands, etc.
Remain vigilant! During independent practice, reminders about material handling based on observations

YOU ARE THE EXPERT EVEN IF YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.

It is up to you to the lead class
You should have the instructional support from the requesting instructor

It’s a partnership!

How can you rely on your plan to guide you?

Follow the plan you’ve set to structure class time and activities
Narrate what you’re doing to keep yourself on time and topic
Use a timer

How can you lead when you’re nervous?

Practice, practice, practice
Move around the instructional space
Expect to mess up
Know that it’s okay to not know everything
Narrate what you’re doing to help yourself stay grounded
Be sure to leave enough wait time

After asking a question, look at three separate points in the room while counting six Mississippis

Ask students for help, especially with tech

Read the Room

Look at students faces for reaction

If they seem bored or disengaged, it may be because they are already familiar with the material

Feel free to speed up

If students aren’t responsive during the guided practice, maybe do a second example to help them with mastery
Move around during the independent practice to offer individual support and keep students on task

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STEP SIX:�ASSESSMENT

How can you quickly and efficiently gather feedback from students?

How can you get maximum information from minimal questions?

What is the most effective method for instructor feedback?

How can you use this feedback to make meaningful improvements?

Student feedback

Instructor feedback

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TEACHING

CONCEPTS/VOCABULARY

Special collections libraries
Primary source materials
Primary and secondary sources
Provenance
Rare books
Finding aids
MARC/bibliographic record

POTENTIAL GOALS

Students will be able to identify basic parts or structure of a finding aid.
Students will describe the characteristics of archival objects.
Students will use sample archival objects to create inferences and draw conclusions.

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SPECIAL COLLECTIONS �INSTRUCTION OPTIONS

Primary source (archival) materials only
Rare books materials only
Combination of primary source and rare books materials

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ARCHIVAL

PARTS OF AN

ARCHIVAL ITEM

Content

Context

Structure

USING AN

ARCHIVAL ITEM

Gain information

Create inferences

Draw broad conclusions

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ARCHIVAL

Vocabulary Special collections libraries Primary source materials Provenance Finding aids	Instructional Goals Students will know the defining characteristics of special collections libraries; the components of a finding aid and how they relate to archival objects; the uses for primary source documents. Students will be able to review sample primary source documents and identify their parts; evaluate sample primary source documents to create inferences and conclusions.
Concepts Parts of an archival object Use of an archival object

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RARE BOOKS

Bibliographic record

Uniform title
Author
Language
Publication date
Basic physical description
Notables

Unique elements in books

Age
Signatures or annotations
Printing techniques
Previous owners
Number available
Errors
Special editions

Researchers use of rare books

Evolution of knowledge on a topic
Trends in society, history, or literature
Information about book owners
Influences of texts on the world

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RARE BOOK

Vocabulary Special collections libraries Rare books Provenance Catalog Bibliographic (MARC) record	Instructional Goals Students will know defining characteristics of special collections libraries; how the terms “rare” and “unique” are applied to books; what provenance is; and how to use bibliographic records. Students will be able to locate and use a bibliographic record to gather basic information; examine a book to determine how it might be considered “rare;” and theorize why a researcher might be interested in different texts.
Concepts Rarity and uniqueness in books Reading the “whole” book Understanding the bibliographic record

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ACTIVITY

Randomly placed in groups
Roles:

Requestor
Special Collections Instructor
Students

Tasks

Draft lesson plan
Select Materials from digital collection
Identify best activities

Assessment

Students provide feedback on developed plan and meeting objectives

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REFLECT & CLOSE

Do you have any lingering questions?
How do you plan to use this material?
What do you feel more confident about?
What are you still concerned about?