Improv and authentic discussion in the library classroom

Thanks to The Innovative Library Classroom Conference organizers for the opportunity to present, and the attendees for attending my session. We applied improv techniques to the art and practice of leading meaningful classroom discussions. We talked about how to build trust with your audience (students); structure questions to encourage learning and reflection in students; follow up on initial responses to get students thinking more deeply; and deal with that awkward silence that sometimes happens -- taking into account that in library instruction we often have very little time to work with. Attendees were good sports, volunteering right off the bat to engage in improv activities, and sharing valuable insights throughout. For more on my session, see slides.

Game: Good Bad and Ugly

Ideas for what to do can come from articulating what not to do, from exploring the unacceptable or the edge of acceptable, or from exploring another point of view. This game of role playing frees participants to do just that, by acknowledging accepted practice or behavior and by turning it upside down and playing devil's advocate...or worse.

How to play:

• 3 players and a facilitator. The 3 players choose their roles, "good," "bad," and "ugly." They will be playing members of a panel of "experts." They can be seated or standing in front of the room. The facilitator asks the audience for a suggestion of a gathering, meeting, conference or forum of some sort. Or for a specific training or teaching situation, the facilitator provides the context.
• Facilitator can begin be asking the panel a question. First "good" will respond with a reasonable answer. "Bad" will follow, offering advice that is, well, not so good. And "Ugly" will follow with a response that is pretty awful advice.

Examples:

• For training purposes, the panel might be experts on customer service or dealing with difficult patrons. The panel might be library experts responding to questions in a faculty forum, student senate, library board, city forum, accreditation board, etc.
• Facilitator: Panelists, please tell me what you see as the cornerstone of good public service.
  Good: I believe that good customer service stems from respect...
  Bad: Really, you just want to get the customer in and out quickly with no embarrassing public displays...
  Ugly: People need to be loved, so hug everyone who enters, whether they want it or not... If they seem uncomfortable you just need to hug them longer...

Notes:

• Make sure you have established ground rules that make this a trusting and safe place, to explore the taboo and have fun.

Game: Keyword Taboo

Here's a little game to play with your students to get them thinking about alternative keywords.

How to play

• Librarian asks a student to share her research topic with the class. As the student describes it, the librarian writes on the board the key words that the student uses. Now the librarian asks the class to generate a list of words to use in researching this topic. But this time they cannot use any of the words written on the board.

• Example
  Student: I'm researching pay to play and college athletes.
  [Librarian writes pay-to-play college athletes on the board]
  Librarian: What words can we use to get at this topic without using the words on the board?
  Class: Sports athletics compensation higher education NCAA
• Variation
  Have students work in pairs or small groups, sharing topics, writing down "taboo" words, and listing alternative keywords.