OK, I'm still stumped by the community resource thing. Next year, assuming that I: a) still have a job, and b) depending on what I am teaching (hoping for something else!) I am going to contact the history dept. at WKU. I am hesitant though. At the risk of sounding snobby, I have not been impressed with some of the products they have produced. If I do have them in my room, I am going to make double sure we are all on the same sheet of music as to what the goals of their talk will be, etc. Nothing worse, in my mind, than to invite someone into your room, and have their talk either undo/undermine all that you have been teaching, or to have it go way over or under the level of your students. I remember doing a program for some elementary kids with a great friend of mine at the living history museum where we used to work. The kids asked him what the difference between an ox(steer) and a bull was. He proceeded to tell these 7-8 year olds, in graphic detail, just what the difference was and the process. You could visibly see the wave of shock and dismay go through the teachers. When it was over I took him aside and we had a talk about "age-appropriate" terms and subjects. ;)

As an aside to community resources, I think it is appropriate for teachers to seek out their own, even if it is only reading, and I don't mean juried educational journals. I think further study in ones subject matter makes the teacher a valuable resource. I know this all sounds so obvious, but I find so many teachers who seem to have stopped studying their chosen subject when they got their bachelor's degree in (whatever).