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Sender: American Memory Fellows <AMFELLOWS@RS8.LOC.GOV>
Poster: Joyce Valenza <jvalenza@MCIUNIX.MCIU.K12.PA.US>
Subject: Re: Best practices
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Appropriate use? I thought I knew what that meant, but the term keeps
getting fuzzier. Perhaps I have been fortunate. The "no brainer"
stuff--the porn, for instance--my kids don't bother with at school. It's
the other stuff and the priority setting that keeps clouding my mind.
In the old days, it would never occur to me to peek over someone's
shoulder while they were reading to see if they were reading appropriate
material. Any book, any magazine (Rolling Stone, SI, Mademoiselle) have
always been fair game. But now I am not sure anymore. I find myself
tempted (honestly, I often do) ask kids to move on from ESPN, Celebrity
Death Match, South Park, when I have classes in and even when I don't.
In my other school I set a policy of academic use only, but I found that
a bit intrusive. How do we reconcile freedom to pursue personal
interests without allowing our libraries to turn into cybercafes
attracting huge lunch and study hall crowds?
We have plenty of workstations and so its not an issue of priorities in
most cases. I am troubled by this philosophically. Do we loosen up? Do
we keep looking over their shoulders? How have you handled the fuzzy stuff?
Joyce Kasman Valenza, Librarian Springfield Township High School
jvalenza@mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us joyce.valenza@phillynews.com
American Memory Fellow: Milken National Educator 97/98
Phone: (215) 233-6058 Fax: (215) 836-5237
Philadelphia Inquirer tech.k12 crossings.phillynews.com/archive.htm
http://gopher.mciu.k12.pa.us/~jvweb
http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb
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