Mistakes

    Last night, I was at work.  About 1/2 hour before closing, in comes this young adult.  She is a student teacher and needed some help finding books for come classes she is teaching.  I asked if she was on pinterest and she told me she was.  If I had been more aware (and less cocky perhaps), I would have picked up on her attitude.  As I was looking for books on her topics, I asked if she had looked at the teacher textbooks and curricula.  Simply because there is a wealth of information in those things and you don't have to reinvent the wheel - which I didn't know when I was student teaching. 
    Again, I was not paying attention to her cues. 
    And the she gave me the 3rd topic - Substance Abuse for 3rd graders. 
    I looked at her with wide eyes.  And then started looking for books. 
    I asked her if she had asked her co-op how to handle parents who had issue with this. 
    And that was my mistake. 
    I should have just looked for the books and handed her list but there were 2 things going through my head.  1.  I have a 2nd grader and am a parent.  2.  I was a teacher and woefully unprepared to handle parents AND teaching things that I personally had problems teaching at certain age groups. 
    She looked at me and told me that was the curriculum and parents would just have to deal with it. 
    Mistake # 2.  I told her that you can't tell parents that.  To which she replied to just give her the list because I was not being helpful. 
    5 minutes later, she left without any books.  She will never come to the library again.  And I will never be able to apologize. 
    I was wrong.  I should have just looked for the books.  I was not professional and I took it personally. So this is my apology to that student teacher.  I am sorry that I made you feel worse about something you already felt conflicted about.  I am sorry I was conceited.  I am sorry I was not helpful and I am sorry that I turned you off to a great resource.