HIT: teachers checking resources

[Jackie Church <WstWdMac@AOL.COM>]

Friends:
Here are the replies to my question about whether teachers check your
library's resources before assigning class projects. If you are frustrated by
this problem, be it known, you are not alone.  Not all classroom teachers are
guilty of this transgression -- but there's an exasperating handlful that
are.

################################
Here are the comments, including one from a classroom teacher:

Teachers usually do not check with me and it has always been frustrating!
I've worked in the local public library where we beg public school teachers
to call ahead with assignments so we know what's coming and so we can tell
them if there are enough materials.  They don't.  In the schools where I've
worked they dream up topics while in the classroom (it seems) and kids come
in for materials  - it's uncomfortable and embarrassing for both librarian
and teacher at that point and can certainly be avoided
++
Your point is one of my major issues that keeps my head beating the wall.
But, I still love my job, building, students and staff; even 7 years after my
2 year gig as a LMS grad student. Don't let your dreams die.
++
That's Standard Operating Procedure for many teachers. Your job is to  train
your teachers to check for the available resources before assigning
impossible projects. You'll find working with the students  much easier in
many cases. The public librarians have a phrase to  describe this type of
assignment: Assignments from Hell.
They usually take place at the very beginning of the school year,  around the
Winter Holidays and at the end of the year.
++
My comments are based more on my experience in an independent secondary
school - since moving to the elementary level that sort of "surprise"
assignment is  less frequent and the teachers are much more open to
suggestions and flexible in changing the expectations.
++
 that is the bane of my existance! Teachers do not even know what we have for
them in my library, let alone plan according to our resources! I ask them
over and over to stop by to check out what we add each year. I bribe with
food during their planning periods; I ask to discuss objectives at least one
day in advance. Futile. With so many great resources, I still get impossible
(and stupid) assignments.
++
If the teacher is well prepared and has his act together, yes, he will
consult with you prior to making an assignment.  Unfortunately, too many are
not well prepared, and don't bother to check. When this has happened to us,
we discuss with the teacher when he is with the class in the library and
suggest projects on which we have more materials, ask if this is to be one he
makes every year and offer to order some for next year.  This sometimes wins
someone over.
++
...no one ever tells public librarians what is happening in school
assignments, either.   They get the clue when Moms and Dads come in and clear
out everything on a given topic before school is out..
++
Some of the teachers are very good about working with me.  Even if we don't
truly collaborate, they ask for my input and are open to my  suggestions
about making changes to their assignments.  On the other side, though, are
those who know exactly what they want their students to do and  won't adapt
it no matter how impossible the task.  I even had one teacher tell her
students that they'll have to go to a "real library" since ours won't have
what they need.  More common, though, are those teachers who haven't checked
to find out if we have it and don't really care.  If the project fails they
seem to be OK with that and blame the library, librarian, or students, but
never the assignment.  Most teachers fall  somewhere in between these two
extremes, but are closer to the latter type than the former.
==
I have that problem all of the time. The teachers never check to see what
materials are available and I feel sorry for the kids because I am in an
urban area where there are not local libraries for the kids to walk to. They
have to get on the highspeed line to go to the county library. And we are
talking about a k-8 school.  I have tried all different ways to do this even
going to the teachers and gently suggesting that they modify or change their
assignments - doesn't work. I know that this it probably not true but I can't
help thinking that the teachers don't care what pain they cause the kids.
==
Check with the librarian? Check the resources? Heavens, no!!! I get weird
assignments from teachers all the time (6-8th grade). I'm  thinking -
WHAT????? Do they think we are a "research"  facility..........It's
extraordinarily frustrating. I try to buy  materials that support the
curriculum. But the teachers keep coming up with new assignments
==
 Unfortunately, teachers do frequently assign projects without checking to
see if resources are available.
  Several years ago, the Sophomore English instructor here assigned a paper
on Native American Mythology without checking to see if we had resources.
The kids really struggled with their papers, but having the Internet on one
computer in the school really did help.  Over the next summer, I ordered
several resources for the project, which hasn't been taught since!
==
Teachers do that all the time at my school.  Many of them have the perception
that anything can be found on the web in a matter of seconds. It's a problem.
==
Yes, yes, yes, yes they do.
  I had a 3rd grade teacher who assigned her gifted/talented students a
report on different types of worms...flat, horse hair, tape, etc... Never
mentioned the project to me.  She had these kids looking for information
about such odd, unusual types of worms that there was very little if any
information that was grade/age appropriate.
Well, my little school library just didn't have much of anything to help.
Anything that was age appropriate was
 Too general to answer the questions the teacher had developed for the
project.  I promised to look for books for the next year. I came up with not
much! Some of the parents who were helping their children by running them
into the public library were pretty stressed. Where do you find lots of
information about the Vinegar worm that can be read and understood by a third
grader?

The public library was pressed to come up with some of this stuff... but she
continued to use this project every year until she moved to Kindergarten.
Makes me bristle when I remember that project. I'm lucky no one has done
anything like that since!
==
Yes this is a problem. They try to be creative and not do the same old thing
and figure that the net is the answer to everything.  This is not true of all
teachers of course. Many will sign up and when I ask what they
are going to be researching seem to feel that I am being nosy. I try to
explain that I want to help and usually that works However at this point they
have the lesson firmly entrenched in their lesson plans and have
given me little or no time to see what is out there.  I'm trying very hard,
particularly with new teachers this year to ask for lead time and them show
them what I can do to make teaching and learning easier and more productive.
==
 I have worked in 4 schools over 24 years as a librarian and find that
teachers everywhere have some of the same characteristics.  Most teachers at
the secondary level use pretty good common sense when making
assignments.  They check ahead of time to make sure resources are available.
However, on every campus, large or small, there is one teacher (more on
really large campuses) who blithely assigns impossible
things for his/her students to research!  No matter how many times you go to
them and remind them that school libraries have finite resources, and that
your library cannot support research on  topics which are obscure or filled
with minutiae, they will invariably assign something impossible to everyone
of their 120 students! Even Internet resources have not solved this problem.
Some things simply cannot be found!

    The other part of that story is the teacher who approaches you with a
request for material on a certain topic.  You do an extensive search, but can
find nothing.  When the teacher comes back and you tell her
there is nothing available, she stands there and waits for you to go SHAZAM
and produce some materials out of thin air for her.  Believe me, it really
happens just that way.
    I'm sounding terribly cynical and I really am not at all.  It just is
human nature I guess for some people to be spontaneous, even in giving out
assignments!  It will happen to you, just smile, be calm, and hold firm!
==
What I am writing to you about relates to your question of staff and their
collaboration or noncollaboration with the LMS.  UNLESS your school principal
is absolutely determined, and that means evaluating the teachers
on their level of library use and collaboration, not much will happen.  It is
looked on as more work.  Flexible scheduling, which is an absolute must, is
looked upon as losing "free" time.  It all depends upon the
principal's principle.
==
Unfortunately , many teachers take the library for granted and don't check.
They haven't been taught about the need for joint planning.   This sometimes
can cause frustrations for all involved - especially the students.   I wish

I  had a solution to offer.

Both teachers and administrators need to be educated about libraries,
integration, cooperation and collaboration.
==
That's why I have teachers talk with me as they fill out the sign-up form to
bring a class to the library.  I can scout for information that might pave
the way for a class, or I can warn a teacher that the library can't provide
materials for the planned assignment.  I can plan my day much better when I
know in advance

who's coming.  I don't have a place where teachers can leave the form--they
need to hand it to me in person.  This replaced a system where teachers just
signed on a big calendar when they wanted to bring

a class.  Sometimes they'd all troop in and *then* the teacher would sign up,
and I had no idea what help they would need from me.

    Of course, some teachers send small *groups* without any advance warning.
 I try to tell them that they should warn me about any information needs in
advance, but not all listen.  And they've come up

with some really off-the-wall assignments, for which we had zero material.
Then, some teachers just imagine that any question they formulate can be
answered on the Internet, and never mind that not all their students have a
user's agreement on file.  Teachers who actually search for appropriate
resources or preview websites on their own before making an assignment are
scarce as hen's teeth.

==
And if you think this venting is one-sided:
As a teacher, I never plan any library/research/writing projects without
touching base with the librarian FIRST.  It didn't take my SLIS classes to
teach me this; some of us teachers have a lot of common sense.  Teachers are
not in the business of "causing pain" to their students.  Do the librarians
attend team and/or curriculum meetings to become aware of projects in the
planning stages?  Could a librarian have a policy in place that the teacher
and librarian meet briefly after a project to review its success ( under the
guise of the librarian inquiring about future purchases to aid in the
project's success)?  How about sending a survey to teachers asking what their
projects will be for the year (if they know) and responding with a list of
materials that ARE available?  Just some ideas.
#########################
Well, if I wasn't before, I'm convinced now of the need for an LMS to be
pro-active and do whatever it takes to try to train their staff of the
importance of checking on resources in the beginning stages of their project
planning. Forewarned is forearmed. Thanks again to you all.
Jackie
Jacqueline Church, LMS/MLS student
Southern Conn. State Univ.
(former elementary reading tutor)
wstwdmac@aol.com

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