In "former lives" I was both a high school teacher and a national education
consultant, so I have a fair amount of knowledge in this area. 

When you schedule these school visits, make sure you talk to the teacher(s)
involved and explain that you will only come if the teacher remains in the
classroom AND involved. You can point out that she is the pro in the
classroom, and you are bringing your own historical expertise - you'll need
to work together to create a quality lesson.

The other thing I'd do is create some "pre-work" to send to the school so
that the teacher is involved, the kids have some basic knowledge of your
topic, and are prepared for your visit. 

Since you mention that you're from a small historical society, I'm guessing
that you're visiting grades 3 or 4, the grades when local history is usually
taught. If this is the case, you may want to consider creating some hands on
activities for the kids. 

One example that has worked well:

Send photos of several children's tombstones in a local cemetery with death
dates close together. Ask the teacher to lead a brainstorming session on
what might have happened to cause several children to die in a short amount
of time. The teacher may record the ideas on a flip chart so that you can
use it during your visit.

On the day of your visit you can lead the children through narrowing their
ideas, and then show primary documents that support the cause. In the
example, the cause of death was influenza, and further examination of the
cemetery showed a significant number of adult deaths during the same month. 

This exercise allowed the presenter to lead the students to an understanding
of primary documents, artifacts, evidence, etc. and how historians piece
together history. 

If your presentation is geared more toward local historical figures, send a
list to the teacher ahead of time, and ask that the children research them.
Then, during your visit, you can ask them to tell YOU about these figures,
and then you can add your two cents worth to their knowledge. That way, the
kids already have some ownership of the information, and it becomes more of
a collaboration than a lecture. If you do have to lecture, make sure it's
more of a story. Actually tacking on "Once upon a time" to the beginning of
your story will give the kids the clue they need that you're telling them a
story.

Although, ideally the teachers should be actively listening to your
presentation, the reality is that teachers, particularly elementary school
teachers, have an enormous workload, and often multi-task when they can get
away with it. Don't take it as an insult, it's not meant that way. The other
thing is that teachers tend to overestimate the classroom management skills
of non-teachers. They just assume that because you're a "big person", you
know how to get 30 eight year olds to sit down and act interested! 

Good luck!

Becky Fitzgerald
Susquehanna Museum
Havre de Grace, MD

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Lynne
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 1:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Tough audience

   If I had not had this happen twice before I would have ignored it but I 
am a little concerned about what seems to be a rather usual occurence during

our tiny historical society's outreach programs and I would like to ask for 
suggestions ... including "ignore it" if that is deemed to be the better 
solution.
   I have been repeatedly asked to talk to elementary school students in our

communty and I bring artifacts and overhead transparencies to the classroom 
for a ca. 45 min. presentation to one or more classes in a single classroom.

This morning I had two back-to-back presentations and I was a little 
dismayed to find that the two teachers in the second session sat in the back

of the room and one worked on her laptop while the other apparently 
corrected papers as I talked. Two years ago two teachers in another school 
sat and whispered to each other in the back of the room the entire time I 
talked.
    This does not happen when the students and teachers visit our tiny 
museum, but I am now expecting it every time I go to a school. My concern is

that it is a bit disruptive and it means that keeping everyone quiet often 
requires my intervention, rather than the teacher's intervention, because he

or she is not paying attention. I am loathe to send a reminder of good 
manners for *teachers* though, so I would appreciate thoughts on what I 
might do about this, if anything.
 Lynne 

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