We have the same situation in our Museum classroom.  The most disruptive 
are the teachers who chat.  We have no clue to the reasons behind this 
behavior other than lack of manners.
Beverlye

Lynne wrote:

>   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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