Naming Names

I woke up feeling a tad guilty about yesterday's post. Specifically, the part about my job. Like most people, my first reaction to change is to resist it. Like many teachers, I can grow weary of the latest transformations and standardizations in our field. All this testing makes all of us a little testy.

But I would be lying if I said that nothing good has come from these changes. Asking me to be thoughtful about what I do before I even do it--and expecting it to fit into a grander scheme--is hardly an outrageous request. And, to be honest, these added expectations have led me to be a better planner at school.

I've always enjoyed finding the "hook" in something. I like the challenge of creating a sturdy, compelling framework on which to hang my teachings. And, without the added layers that have been placed upon me at work this year, it's possible I never would have found a compelling framework on which to hang the dreaded task of creating citations.

There are certain, unavoidable lessons that teachers must teach. For a school librarian, nothing is more dreaded than teaching students how to create accurate, MLA-style citations for their research papers.

Want to watch all the air leave a room? Mention citations. Want to see how quickly glaze can move from one end of an eyeball to another? Talk about MLA style. Want to perpetuate every rotten "Marian the Librarian" stereotype that has ever been uttered about those of us in the school library? Ask me to teach citations.

On Friday, my friend Shelly, who is teaching the Literature of the Holocaust class at East, asked if I would work with her students next week so that they'd know how to correctly cite their sources. In the past--before all this reform came a'knocking at my professional door--a little part of me would die when teaching citations. It was one of those dreaded lessons that made me hate me.

Now, though, because the expectation is that my lessons will tie into their lives, and that my intent and connections are clear, I find myself looking at even the most dreaded of lessons differently.

And so, tomorrow, when I meet with the Holocaust class, for the first time ever, I will be excited to teach students about creating citations. For the first time since I've been a school librarian, I've got a hook for this one.

See, creating MLA-style citations is more than a mind-numbing requirement of research. It's actually (here's the hook) the important work of naming names.

What did Hitler do to convince so many people that it was okay to kill so many of their neighbors? He took away their names and tattooed them with numbers instead.

Closer to home, just south of the Lincoln Regional Center, tucked away between a grove of trees, stands an odd, sad little cemetery. There, not so long ago, they buried Regional Center patients, marking their graves not with names but with numbers.

Sure, a hobbled works-cited page isn't as devastating as numbering people, but it's just possible that caring about our sources and crediting them with accuracy is one way to name names.

And that is important work, indeed.