I have had the experience where students have been kept back in their
classroom to finish work. The teacher seemed to think that library time
wasn't really necessary and if the child wished to do other things that
was okay. I finally went to the principal and asked what my role was: a
babysitter or a teacher? If it was just to be a babysitter then I
wouldn't spend the time preparing lessons, but just let the students
come in to the library for free reading and borrowing. If I was
considered a teacher, I wanted the respect from both students and
teachers that I thought was afforded a teacher.
In another school I had several disruptive students in a library class.
One was diagnosed as having ADHD. I tried all sorts of different
strategies with him, but he was determined not to work for me. The
principal told me it was all my fault and that I should use more of my
parenting skills! Anyway, after putting up with this for almost half a
year, I finally gave up. I just sat at my desk and let the kids yell
across the room to each other. They tried and tried to get me to get
angry with them, but I stayed calm (while shaking in my boots)until the
bell went. One girl sat right in front of me and tried to provoke me.
I sent a sealed note to the principal asking him to come to the library.
The above mentioned girl refused to leave the library because she wanted
to find out what I was going to say. Finally the principal arrived and
the girl left. He listened to me and decided that the best thing was to
remove the disruptive students from the library. They would stay behind
with him. He said he would let them know that library lessons were a
privilege and not a right. I felt like telling me they was neither, but
a requirement, but I held my tongue. The kids got what they wanted.
They didn't have to come to the library anymore and work with Mrs HARD
WITCH. (my last name is Hartwich) Although I did not like the
principal's action, it did make my library lessons much nicer. We were
able to read books, play games and do other interesting things without
the disruptive students.
Thankfully, the above situations were not the norm and my time as an
elementary school librarian was very rewarding. For almost 5 years I
was a mobile librarian for 7 schools. I drove a little van to small
rural schools (1-3 teacher schools) so the students could borrow books
and have library lessons. It was so nice to have the children run out to
greet me when I arrived!
Dona J. Hartwich
Senior Librarian
Horsham College
Horsham, Victoria, Australia
http://web.horsham-college.vic.edu.au/
mrsh@dodo.com.au
To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new
friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one.
- Anonymous, Chinese saying
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Rebecca Reitz
Sent: Saturday, 2 October 2004 9:50 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: ELEM: teacher punishes by witholding library visit!?!
Dear friends,
I just wanted to share a strange experience I had at school this week.
Has
this ever happened in your library?
A new (very new!) 2nd grade teacher was finishing her class's first
library
visit of the year.
That period, we had a very successful treasure hunt. I made different
color
shelf markers with construction paper - with library sections written
on them
(purple is non-fiction, blue is fairy tales, pink is picture books,
yellow is
fiction). Kids in pairs traveled through the library with these shelf
markers, re-learning where everything is located. They found a picture
book, used the
shelf marker to hold their place, and brought it back to me to show me
what
they found. Very active, enthusiatic bunch. Loud, jumping up and down --
happy
to learn.
Then they browsed for awhile and lined up to check out their books.
Excited,
yes. Noisy, of course. I reminded the children to use their quiet
library
voices and that would lower the level of noise for a while.
Then... "BE QUIET!" the new teacher yelled. "You're embarrassing me!"
When that didn't work, she told them, "Okay, you are NOT coming back to
the
library next time!"
What? I wondered. What kind of nutty punishment is that? She is not
feeling
in control and is lashing out with ineffectual remedies.
I plan to speak with her quietly on Monday and see if we can work this
out.
The children have library only every other week, so if they miss next
time -
that's a month! I would like to help her be able to gracefully retract
her
threat. Maybe I can suggest visiting the classroom and talking with the
kids
about library behavior (they really weren't that bad).
Thanks for letting me vent.
REBECCA REITZ
Librarian
PS 87
160 West 78th Street
New York, NY 10024
212-280-6204
Rebreitz@aol.com
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