Engaging Diverse Learners - by Mark Polger & Scott Sheidlower (Paperback)

About the Book

This book connects teaching practical strategies and ideas with educational theories to give you techniques to use in the classroom to capture students' attention and engage them with instruction.
Drawing on the literatures of adult education and of teaching skills, Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians presents a wide range of methods to improve how you teach. Coauthors Mark Aaron Polger and Scott Sheidlower argue that in order to grab-and hold onto--students' attention, instructors must get their interest right from the beginning. The techniques they suggest explain how to take into consideration the range of different learning styles students may have, how to accommodate students with different English language skills or abilities, and how to successfully work with individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds or from different technologically adapted generations. The sections for each group address the key questions of identification (who are they?); how members of that group tend to react to libraries, librarians, and education; and how educational theories of that time affected students' learning in that generation.

• Describes engagement techniques that work even for shy librarians or instructors who aren't naturally comfortable with performance aspects of teaching
• Covers working with adult learners at different age groups and students with different English language abilities, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, or with various levels of technological competence, not just the "traditional" undergraduate
• Presents methods to overcome and win over those learners who initially react with "Why do I need another library lesson?"

Book Synopsis

This book connects teaching practical strategies and ideas with educational theories to give you techniques to use in the classroom to capture students' attention and engage them with instruction.

Drawing on the literatures of adult education and of teaching skills, Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians presents a wide range of methods to improve how you teach. Coauthors Mark Aaron Polger and Scott Sheidlower argue that in order to grab-and hold onto--students' attention, instructors must get their interest right from the beginning. The techniques they suggest explain how to take into consideration the range of different learning styles students may have, how to accommodate students with different English language skills or abilities, and how to successfully work with individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds or from different technologically adapted generations. The sections for each group address the key questions of identification (who are they?); how members of that group tend to react to libraries, librarians, and education; and how educational theories of that time affected students' learning in that generation.

Review Quotes

About the Author

Mark Aaron Polger is assistant professor and First Year Experience librarian at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York.

Scott Sheidlower is associate professor and head of circulation, reserves, and archivist at York College, City University of New York.