Best laid plans

As the saying goes the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. This is often true when it comes to dealing and working with kids!

I've brought in fifth graders three times over the past week or so to teach them how to use the online card catalog for the district library. I swear between kids being wacky and technology it is an adventure every single time. Today it was not enough computers. Then someone had unplugged a wall of computers without turning them off so one of those computers decided to have issues while another computer on another wall just didn't want to wake up (like me more school mornings).

Then there are those kids who either think they know it all or are just clueless enough so they just start clicking away! Yes following directions is a challenge for everyone!

Learning how to use the website is pretty easy. But knowing what things mean when you find a book is another challenge. Like the student who could not find a book he had looked up. Then I could not find the book either. Then I asked him if he had check to see if the book was already checked out....yep! It wasn't even here! I hate when that happens. Or the books that kids pull off the shelf, then they just put them in where ever they want if they decide they don't want the book...this makes for a frustrating search when trying to find a specific title. Kids are an interesting breed when given the right tools to go amuck with!

My main objective was to teach them how to look up books and be a bit more independent instead of coming in and asking me where the mystery books are....the library is NOT set up that way. If I had a dime for every time I've said that I'd be rich!

Regardless it is fun to see these kids go on a search for their books and how happy they are when they find the book they are looking for! That makes it all worthwhile-even if technology works against us!

And it is kind of like life, we are always on a quest and search for something. The search is some times easy and other times difficult but once we find what we are looking for, it makes it all worthwhile!

Positive thought of the day: As long as we are looking we are alive. It's when we stop looking that we should worry.