GEN: teaching students, teaching teachers

[Alice Yucht <AliceInfo@AOL.COM>]

On Sat, 1 Nov 1997 MarjorieP@AOL.COM wrote:

> ... a fundamental issue in our information age.
> When do we teach students to evaluate --- tools?  resources?  information?

I'd add when/how do we teach TEACHERS to evaluate -- tools? resources?
information?  how to use a librarian?

I admit, I'm venting, but last week I had the uncomfortable experience of
trying
to explain to a teacher how and why a good librarian (and a clearly defined
information request/deadline) could save everyone a lot of unnecessary time
and effort and . . .  embarrassment.
The teacher asked for a list of novels about ancient Rome, China, Greece, and
Egypt,
suitable for 6th graders.  I gave her about 7 titles, but she wanted more --
one for
each student (!).  I suggested mythology, folklore, interesting nonfiction;
she said
if I "couldn't find novels, how about historical fiction?"  (uhhh...)
Three days later, when I hadn't produced a list for her (I was compiling all
the
suggestions gathered from my LM_NET request), she showed up with her "own"
list, gleaned from Econo-clad and Perma-bound catalog descriptions, and
wanted
me to find copies of these titles, so that she could evaluate them for use.

Among the "6th grade age-appropriate" titles she had listed: (comments mine)
Zorba the Greek  (major character is a prostitute)
The Alexandria Quartet  (considered an erotic classic)
I, Claudius (orgies, etc.)
and it went on from there.

After a heated discussion about what a "professional resource" really is, I
think I
finally got her to understand why she needed to trust my (and LM_NET's)
judgment
on what kinds of books will be useful for a project like this.
But my biggest concern is that she truly had NO IDEA how to use a librarian
effectively, and what kinds of resources WE have access to.

end of vent.

Alice H. Yucht
A middle school somewhere in NJ

AliceInfo@aol.com

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