A soft, but audible “hum” of student voices can be heard the moment you walk into the colorful, well-stocked library — and no shushing. Monache High School (CA) Media Center/Librarian Melissa Giannetto likes it that way.
“Today’s kids are used to iPods, cell phones and all kinds of electronic devices, most are not used to absolute quiet,” Giannetto said. “I don’t think that’s necessary as long as they are working together. And you can see that they are.”
Giannatto has been the librarian for three years, after spending 12 years in high school classrooms teaching English.
She is in her element in the library. “This is my dream job and I didn’t know it growing up,” she said, flashing her easy smile. “I love what I do.”
What she does is more than what she says may be the down side of her job, if there is a down side. The misconception that librarians sit at their computers all day doing research is one of those myths that needs to be dispelled, she said.
Included in her duties, and those of Porterville CA and Granite Hills high school librarians Lori Lienau and Catherine Mays, respectively, are managing the library/media center computer lab, helping teachers with their class schedules as they pertain to visiting her academic domain, teaching classes and scheduling college recruitment presentations, to name just a few things. Recorder Online.
Is quiet necessary?
Sure the kids may be used to noise, but I wonder sometimes with my own kids even though they might be used to the noise does that really mean they wouldn’t study better without it? They don’t think so, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Kids can multitask
These comments about quiet are like the bogus comments about kids ability to mulitask.
Little Johnny can watch TV, play a game on his Nintendo DS, and do his homework all at one time because his brain is wired for this new reality.
Problem is when Little Johnny is studied under scientific conditions it is found that multitasking people do crappy across the board.
For many projects having a quiet work environment is going to be a plus and not a negative. When the kids of this generation are older I think they will really appreciate quiet because they were denied it during their childhood. Clearly childhood needs to have noise and playful activity but people, including children, need quiet time for deep thinking and contemplation.