Another means might be to address the issue with teachers ahead of time, 
gently mentioning that you hope you won't be responsible for maintaining the 
order of their students since you'll be doing the presentation.  You might 
even note (equally gently, and with some humor!) that in the past you'd had 
some troubles because teachers were doing their own work while you were 
speaking.

It might then come across a bit more as a policy of courtesy if it came 
beforehand and less of a scolding after the fact.

--Eric

Eric D. M. Johnson
Proprietor
The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting
http://www.factsmith.com/
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lynne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 1:31 PM
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] 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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