Fourth grader to his teacher, "You're fat and ugly."

Teacher, "That's it, you're out of here."

Fourth grader as he was walks past her, "Truth hurts, huh?"



That's life at our school.

Well, it's been a week since my last post. With the stuff I have going on, it seems I'm going to be lucky if I post more than once a week, so that will be a goal for now. If I manage several posts, it will be a bonus. Maybe not for you, but for me.

A potential opportunity has been tossed out to me. We recently upgraded our library automation software and my school library was one of the first schools in our district to get the software. The company, Companion, has contacted a colleague of mine about becoming a Certified Trainer of their software. They wanted to know of any other people who might be interested and she tossed out my name. A rep for the company called me on Friday and we talked a little about the proposal. Basically, we would be trained by Companion and then would travel around training librarians in other districts on their automation software, Alexandria. To me, this sounds like a neat opportunity. If the pay is good and it can fit into my schedule, I'm very interested. The only downside is the fact that much of this may occur during the summer when I'm on "Dad Duty," which may not please my other half.

Grad school. Uggh! Taking this online class is becoming quite an adventure and we really haven't gotten to any of the difficult projects yet. It's not that the work so far is hard, it's just time consuming. I'm checking the discussion boards daily and finding myself spending more time than I thought thinking about this class.

I woke up this morning and it was 2 degrees outside.

I love where I work, but some of the kids are starting to get to me. The blatant lack of respect and poor behavior by some is having a bigger impact on me than it used to. Am I going to leave? No.......not yet at least. I've read some articles about why teachers leave their school and professions (if I had all the links, I share them, but I dont'). One specific article caught me eye and really made me think - it dealt with working conditions. I was thinking about this as I was driving around town looking at various schools, not only where I teach, but where my kids go and where other kids attend school. I wish I would have had my camera. There is such a difference in not only facilities, but students, that it really makes a person think about their job. None of this is news to those of us who have been teaching a while, but sometimes it takes an article to bring ideas back to the forefront. Take a quick read at the article and tell me what you think. Do you agree?

Okay, I need to describe a situation that happened today and it completely through me. I had some upper elementary grade students stop in the library to ask if they could work on an assignment in the computer lab. I asked what the assignment was and they described a project where they had to choose a place they wanted to visit and then do a little research and then create a tri-fold brochure about it.

Great project to integrate technology with, right? Use MSWord, talk about formatting a document into 3 columns, the internet for maps, pictures, research, etc? WRONG!

The teacher handed out a sheet of paper, slightly larger than normal typing paper, and is having the kids create this by hand. They are actually writing the stuff right on the paper, finding pictures and maps online - then cutting them out and glueing or taping the pictures on. Now that's meeting 21st century skills, right?

I happen to run into the teacher shortly after this and since I was going to be seeing her class later for their weekly time with me, asked her if I should spend some time in the lab helping the kids out with this - perhaps finding maps, or whatever. She said NO, that's okay, they have to do this all on their own. WTF? Let's not help them out, increase their technology skills, or even suggest things to help their project? Let's not teach them? I was floored.

I did decide to help the kids who were in the lab a little and did talk to the class about it when I saw them, but I didn't take it too far. When the teacher picked her class up, I, very nicely, suggested this would have been a great project to do on the computers. She responded, oh yeah, I didn't really think about that.

She mentioned future projects that could involve technology integration, but I'm not sure how much I want to push the envelope. There are a few of reasons for this - the first is her lack of interest in using my expertise to help her students. I know it's part of my job, but she also needs to take a step forward. Another huge reason I'm probably not going to jump in head first is because I can't stand her class. There are so many rude, obnoxious, and disrespectful kids that I truly can't stand the hour each week I see them. Sure there are some good kids, but the bad definitely outnumber them. Lastly, as far as this teacher is concerned, I'm not a big fan.

What would you do?