3.31.2004
When Bad Things Happen to Good Aliens
Awhile ago (perhaps 2 months or so) we had a claymation class. The woman who taught the class brought an enormous variety of colored clay that the kids could use to create whatever their little creative minds could think of. Most of the kids got really into it. One girl, however, couldn't think of anything. So instead of creating things for her animation, she set out to make a clay version of a cartoon alien that i had created during a previous cartoon writing class. She painstakingly created the alien and it was identical to mine. Then she gave it to me. She had made it for me!!!! What a sweetheart! It was very sweet and I loved it. I loved it so much i kept it on permanent display on the top of my computer monitor.
This is where it all fell apart.
You see, I have a desk that is in the public area of the library. Nothing protects my desk from nosy patrons, destructive kids, or whatever else people can throw my way. During the day i'm usually up and down and around helping kids going back to my desk, getting up to find books, going back to desk, etc etc. Today I was helping a kid with his homework and as i get back to my desk i find a small three or four year old kid doing his own primitive version of alien autoposy on my desk stabbing my poor helpless clay alien repeatedly with a pencil. I run over and as soon as he spots me he runs away and sits on his mothers lap. What a little shit! Needless to say my alien was beyond recuscitation.
Awhile ago (perhaps 2 months or so) we had a claymation class. The woman who taught the class brought an enormous variety of colored clay that the kids could use to create whatever their little creative minds could think of. Most of the kids got really into it. One girl, however, couldn't think of anything. So instead of creating things for her animation, she set out to make a clay version of a cartoon alien that i had created during a previous cartoon writing class. She painstakingly created the alien and it was identical to mine. Then she gave it to me. She had made it for me!!!! What a sweetheart! It was very sweet and I loved it. I loved it so much i kept it on permanent display on the top of my computer monitor.
This is where it all fell apart.
You see, I have a desk that is in the public area of the library. Nothing protects my desk from nosy patrons, destructive kids, or whatever else people can throw my way. During the day i'm usually up and down and around helping kids going back to my desk, getting up to find books, going back to desk, etc etc. Today I was helping a kid with his homework and as i get back to my desk i find a small three or four year old kid doing his own primitive version of alien autoposy on my desk stabbing my poor helpless clay alien repeatedly with a pencil. I run over and as soon as he spots me he runs away and sits on his mothers lap. What a little shit! Needless to say my alien was beyond recuscitation.
3.29.2004
Schooled
I always enjoy helping with homework. Lots of times I have a handful of kids working on same or similar projects. Lately it's been Black History Month biographies (yes, in March), the solar system, poetry, summarizing current event newspaper articles, and country studies. Good ol librarian work. Yes indeedy I like it.
And then there are those kids who insist that they have to do a biography on Bow Wow or B2K or -honest to god- Lizzie McGuire (a cartoon). And it's really important that this student has lots and lots and lots of pictures. "Writing" is copying random information from the page and pasting it into Word. It's exhausting. Last week I got a little steamed when a kid chose to do a bio of a celebrity and not someone who deserves study. I turned into that bitchy judgmental librarian I hoped not to be by saying stuff like, "Research someone who actually made an impact on our world and a contribution to society!" I just got blank stares in return.
But the real glimpse into my students' education is when 12 year olds don't know the difference between city, county, state, and country. Kids think big cities like Dallas or LA are states. And don't even bother showing a map. It's not like we live in New Hampshire or Rhode Island. Our state is pretty darn noticeable. Last week, I had a girl totally perplexed as to why our city's name wasn't a choice in a pull down menu for email. I explained that it was asking for country. So she said the name of our city again and then our state. She asked two more times before finally getting to USA.
I always enjoy helping with homework. Lots of times I have a handful of kids working on same or similar projects. Lately it's been Black History Month biographies (yes, in March), the solar system, poetry, summarizing current event newspaper articles, and country studies. Good ol librarian work. Yes indeedy I like it.
And then there are those kids who insist that they have to do a biography on Bow Wow or B2K or -honest to god- Lizzie McGuire (a cartoon). And it's really important that this student has lots and lots and lots of pictures. "Writing" is copying random information from the page and pasting it into Word. It's exhausting. Last week I got a little steamed when a kid chose to do a bio of a celebrity and not someone who deserves study. I turned into that bitchy judgmental librarian I hoped not to be by saying stuff like, "Research someone who actually made an impact on our world and a contribution to society!" I just got blank stares in return.
But the real glimpse into my students' education is when 12 year olds don't know the difference between city, county, state, and country. Kids think big cities like Dallas or LA are states. And don't even bother showing a map. It's not like we live in New Hampshire or Rhode Island. Our state is pretty darn noticeable. Last week, I had a girl totally perplexed as to why our city's name wasn't a choice in a pull down menu for email. I explained that it was asking for country. So she said the name of our city again and then our state. She asked two more times before finally getting to USA.
