Right click or Left click?

About a year ago I became a district trainer on the "Teaching With Primary Sources" course. Its really a great class wherein we teach how to utilize the Library of Congress website, find useful primary sources, and then apply them in the classroom.

Its also a headache to teach.

As a general rule, teachers make the worst students. I don't have the sociology or psychology background necessary to explain this, but experience has taught me its true. Teachers do not listen. Teachers talk while the presenter is talking. And teachers definitely do not follow directions. But all of that doesn't bother me because when I'm in the "student" seat I act pretty much the same way. No, what bothers me is teachers who walk into this class without the smallest understanding of how to use a computer.

"What?! Our teachers can't use all this technology our tax dollars keep putting into the classroom?!" Shocking, I know, but in some cases it appears to be true. Not every teacher--in fact, not many teachers. But in every class I've facilitated there are one or two teachers who spend the majority of the two-day course asking asinine questions.

For example:
"I keep doing what you showed me to do and its not working."
"Did you go to 'View Source'?"
"No."

"How do I cut and paste?"

"Do I right click or left click?"
(This particular teacher asked this particular question Every Single Time he had to cut & paste. And we spend a lot of time cutting and pasting.)

"Where is Word?"
(The answer to that one was, "You're already in it.")

I'd like to take this opportunity, therefore, to make an official suggestion to our lovely government. Before creating one more hoop for new teachers to jump through, perhaps you should go back to the "old school" peeps and make sure they know how to do the basics. Because at this point, I have no doubt its our students leaving these teachers behind.