YA helping Aged People

The March/April 2012 issue of Technology Review includes an article, Too Young to Fail, with a photo of Laura Deming who enrolled at MIT at age 14, to start her own business. Too Young to Fail describes Laura as a teen who won a $100,000 award to explore the "science of extending human life span, an idea she hopes to turn into business."

We see more teenagers getting involved in big ideas. Another example has been FaceBook's CEO Mark Zuckerman who eyes new talented teen programmers. The same goes on in other Silicon Valley startups where high risk is encouraged and highly awarded.

So this post is not about low achievers or even average high school students, it is about teens prodigies who are smart, curious, willing to take high risk, and sometimes fail.

Here's the piece on Killing creativity: Why kids draw pictures of monsters and adults don't. It is all about imagination and kids' attitude to explore, to fail without being punished, to experiment, and imagine. Powerful qualities of good artists.

El Sistema "transforms" kids from poverty to high achievers

On Friday's NewsHour (February 24, 2012), education correspondent John Merrow reported on how an adaptation of a music program from Venezuela is playing out in the United States. Venezuela's national youth music program "El Sistema" has produced professional musicians, such as Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The American version of El Sistema is Harmony Program. Its director Anne Fitzgibbon discusses the "transformative power of music" which transforms KIDS from poor neighborhoods and homelessness into high achieving orchestra players.

This is what they learn in this learning, welcoming, and supporting environment.

They learn:

to listen to one another

to share in a collaborative manner

to collaborate with many diverse players, instruments

to follow directions from music teachers and conductors

to read music scores

to learn about music pieces, composers, instruments

to be disciplined and practice daily for several hours

to be creative young musicians

to be dependable, reliable, and rely on others

to love what they do

to perform on stages at worldwide music halls

I could do forever and make 100 bullets but the point is clear. By the way, the kids are given free music instruments, scores, and other materials necessary to play in the youth orchestra. Isn't this similar to what we are trying to do in school libraries?

It is all about the kids and music making !

Great stories.

ADOLESCENCE: SOME DIFFICULT ISSUES

Besides the literary genres on just about any topic of importance to teens, some stand out and should be an important part of reader's advisory programs. You may start off with a general portal, Children Now.

Drugs, alcohol, substance abuse

toxicology and overdose

tobacco use

Health and mental health

mood and anxiety disorders

attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder

nutrition and eating disorders

allergies and asthma

adolescent pregnancy and parenting

Poverty

Sexual behavior and abuse

contraception

sexually transmitted infections

sexual assault

pregnant teens

Cyberbullying

Violence and gangs

accidents (49%)

homicide (15%)

CDC Control and Prevention: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance--US

National Vital Statistics--US

GENRES in Young Adult (YA) Works

There are many classifications and definitions of YA literature.

Literary Genres K-12 developed by the California Department of Education lists and defines each genre.

Also see award winning books.

There are stories about:

Adventures

Animal characters

Bullying, teasing, ignoring

Fairy Tales see discussion below

Folklore, mythology (electronic folklore and mythology e-texts)

Family relationships, Romantic relationships

Famous people, little people

Foreign Cultures

Moral issues

Old times and various places

Professions, hobbies (sports, arts, science, knitting)

Portraits of American Women Writers compiles a unique gallery of American Women Writers that appeared in print before 1861, by the Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by B. Franklin in 1731.

African American women writers

American Women Writers as well as Society for the Study of AWW

Fairy Tales, according to Propp (1970), are built on the following sequence of functions:

Preparation -- the hero violates the rule

Complications -- the hero is approached with a request

Transference -- the hero leaves home; is tested or attacked

Struggle -- the hero and the villain join in direct combat

Return -- the hero returns

Recognition -- the true hero is recognized

Take any well known story (e.g., Anne of Green Gables, Charlotte's web, Peter Rabbit, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Three Little Pigs, The Frog Prince, and on and on) and run the Propp's sequence.

It doesn't have to be a fairy tale !

An example: The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

Preparation: the hero is Jerry Renault

Complication: Jerry is approached by the Vigils (Archie Costello, Leon)

Transference: Jerry is harassed, bullied, locker vandalized

Struggle: A boxing match between Jerry and Emile (Jerry is badly beaten)

etc.

Some well represented names include:

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

Willa Cather (1876-1947)

Kate Chopin (1851-1904)

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Edna Ferber (1885-1968)
M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992)

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865)

Nadine Gordimer (1923

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929

Marianne Moore (1887-1972)

Zora Neale Hurston (1901-1960)

Anais Nin (1903-1977)

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
Jean Rhys (1894-1979)

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)

Kathryn Stockett

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Eudora Welty (1909

Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

Explore Feminism in literature, Chicana feminism, and antiwar protest.

Visit Book Awards including the Michael Printz Awards, sponsored by Booklist as well as the 2012 Fabulous Films for Young Adults

Young Adults: A DEFINITION

There are many definitions of Young Adults (YA). The one often used defines adolescents or young adults as follows:

"Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to early adulthood, entered at approximately 11-13 year of age and ending at 18-21 year of age -- the exact time, period, however, depending on such diverse factors as the surrounding culture and biological development."

J.W. Santrock. (1981). Adolescence: An introduction.

YA is inherently stressful for numerous internal and external reasons. Many of these were studied and reported in the early adolescent literature.

Especially stressful relationship is the one that exists between parents and their teens.

Internally, they are changing biologically, socially, emotionally, behaviorally; teens search an identity and voice, independence, care about appearance and sexuality issues.

Externally, teens are affected by family (and transformation of family patterns), peer pressure, school culture of bullying and teasing (if you have not read The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, you must).

Additionally, teens are also affected by mass media, popular culture, and Internet.

The 2012 QuickPicks for reluctant young readers suggest books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read. The 2012 list features 117 titles.

WHAT are the (YA) READERS LIKE?

-- from an early version of "Letting students use Web 2.0 tools to hook one another on reading." Knowledge Quest, 40(3):36-39, Jan/Feb 2012.

What are the readers like in terms of

§ Comfort zone for mobile technologies

§ Preferences for literary genres

§ Reasons for reading

Eighty-four seventh graders, enrolled in the Digital Media Literacy (DML) class during 2009, provided the initial participants pool. We made sure that participation was entirely voluntary and that grades would not depend in any way on their participation in the Program. No identifiers were used to associate students’ responses with their names. Students who expressed interest to participate were asked to complete a one-page questionnaire on their use of mobile devices (e.g., cell phones, smartphones, iPods), and Social Networking Services (e.g., blogs, Instant Messaging, FaceBook, Twitter). Upon reviewing students’ responses, a blog was created and posted throughout the School. From their early comments, the students were excited that they would be reading what they wanted and leading the Project themselves.

These data were triangulated with observations of students’ reading patterns in their library, and what transpired during focus group discussions among students, teachers, librarians and administrators. One of the questions in the group discussion was to elicit students’ answers to an open-ended question, “I read because…”. Students encouraged library staff to expand “reading for pleasure” collections into different genres, expressions, and media. For example, some of the students who were accomplished musicians wanted more CDs and DVDs. Since the conversations were kept informal and were not linked to required readings, students felt welcomed to discuss and share their insights. They also felt important to be heard about their reading preference.

Students’ responses from focus group discussions revealed that students read a lot and especially when reading was voluntary, when they were in charge, when they could read when they wanted to, and under minimal guidance. As predicted, among the most widely given purposes for reading among middle school students was reading for assigned projects, finding factual information, and for glancing over current events. For most of these readings, students are required to include specific types of sources (e.g., encyclopedia(s), books, journal articles, visuals, primary sources, RSS news feeds). Finding information on fashion, popular culture, places, and consumer goods was the predominant category of students’ self-motivated reading (e.g., Google, FaceBook, YouTube). Several students made connections between reading and writing, and wanting to have different expressions based on the same work. Finding the voice that students could identify with was the most often given as a response to “I read because…”. Students seek similarities with their own issues (perceptions others have formed about them, about bullying, fitting in, and teasing), family conditions, sexual orientation, self-esteem, health specific problems, racial, language or cultural characteristics. One student was determined to become a famous scientist; she read everything on Marie Curie (Nobel Prize in 1911). Others were seeking information about famous people and celebrities they aspire to become. Some students wanted to read about “little people that you never ever get to meet or see.” Students wanted to read more about living in multi-racial, unconventional or dysfunctional families, and about coping with various chronic diseases and pressures. Several students connected reading with writing because they wanted “to improve,” communicate better, and express thoughts more clearly. Reading was mentioned to experience something that “is very different from my family;” to develop a relationship (e.g., friendship), a particular mood (e.g., forgiveness). One student said that reading helped “to get an idea, insight and to be a part of something that wouldn’t be possible without reading experience.” The purpose of reading, for a few students, was to help organize thoughts and to put in order certain events.

DIGITAL IMAGE TAGGING (SLW Jan 2012)

Digital image tagging: A case study with seventh grade students

School Libraries Worldwide, 18(1):97-110 (Jan 2012).

Zorana Ercegovac

ABSTRACT

Results of this exploratory study are of analytical and educational importance. Analytically, the study was designed to gauge middle school students’ capacity to describe digital expressional images. When describing the image attributes, students (N=81) used freely chosen single words, multi-word phrases, interpretations, feelings, and questions evoked by the images. These were used to derive conceptual categories for the seventeen digital images from two open source digital libraries. Educationally, the study demonstrated to the students the responsibility indexers have in their choice of index terms they assign to objects in collections for the purposes of identification, organization and retrieval. The study sheds light on the potential to improve age-appropriate access to images by means of offering a multi-tiered approach to image representation. It also introduces a transparent approach to teaching information literacy concepts through creative thinking about the meaning of resources and their relationship in a broader information cycle context.

CENSORSHIP (ALA Definition paraphrased)

A change in the access status of material based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives, including changes by:

Exclusion

Restriction

Removal

Age

Grade level

Some questions to consider include :

Do you have a collection development policy manual?

Is it governed by a collection development committee?

Who are the members of your committee?

Who are selectors?

Do you have Library Bill of Rights included in the document?

Do you have policy on disputes? what are some common issues?

here is a partial list and some examples:

• racism
• sexism
• violence
• sexuality
• politics
• "dirty words"
• gay and lesbian literature
• horror
• creationism
• witchcraft
• incest
• mental illness
• slavery
• nudity

Check the best sources on issues such as:

• access
• advocacy & legislation
• banned and challenged materials
• copyright
• diversity
• intellectual freedom & civil liberties

Criteria for selection: a template

1. Materials shall be selected to enhance and facilitate learning as well as the

educational, emotional, and recreational needs of the students, faculty, staff.

2. Materials shall meet high quality standards in:

• physical format
• treatment of subject
• accuracy and currency of information
• arrangement and organization (access)
• literary style

3. Materials shall be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional

development, ability level, learning styles, and social development of all students.

4. Materials shall represent differing viewpoints so that learners may be motivated to engage in critical thinking, to explore their own beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, and to make informed judgments in their everyday lives.

Use review sources for recommended material

Judge materials as a whole (books, maps, posters, AV)

Understand the mission statement of your educational organization

Work closely with the faculty, leaders and parents

Be creative

Read the material (you are recommending), not just reviews

Be TRUTHFUL, quesiton

Be flexible

Know your User (students, faculty, staff, district, parents, leaders)

Understand the ALA Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries that make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.

Love of Reading

A love of reading is essential to the future development of all students, especially in their formative years. This blog focuses on middle- and high school students (aka YA literature), ages 11 through 18.

As always, we at InfoEN invite your suggestions and comments !

This blog, SelectReads, is updated periodically, so visit us often!

To the wonders of books, see The Fantastic Flying Book of Mr. Morris, a 14-minute cartoon about the love of reading !!

A love of reading (listening, watching, performing) is essential in our advisory programs (for fiction, non-fiction works, poetry, musicals, film, animation). We typically start with the following assumptions and/or questions:

• Understand your learners and match reading interests with reading materials
• Promote reading across all formats, media, and subjects
• Customize as much as it is possible reading preferences, capabilities, and needs
• Align reading for pleasure (loosely) with assigned projects to provide the context, point of view, and a broader understanding of issues
• Use Learning technologies (Web 2.0 tools) and social networking services (FaceBook, wikis, blogs, twitter) to enhance and facilitate sharing and collaboration

Some of this is described in "Letting students use Web 2.0 tools to hook one another on reading," in Knowledge Quest on Futurecasting, 40(3):37-39 Jan/Feb 2012. http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/archive/v40no3

The program described in that paper started at the time when blogging was sort of a novelty; seeds of that early era were captured in students' enthusiastic comments.

Now three years later, we have learned a lot but some basic sources for YA reader advisories, collection development, and reviewing sources remain as important as before blogging and SNS.

Good sources to get you started are:

National Book Festival by the Library of Congress

National Poetry Month

My Catalog of some 300 books

YALSA Booklists

Ready to Read

CSLA Teen Learning

So this blog goes to the basics: selecting best sources, selection criteria, genres.

Evaluation criteria for historical fiction:

1. How authentic is the setting (the place, region, time, events, communities)?
2. How believable are characters in the story?
3. How authentic are the relationships between the characters?
4. How close are your students to the presented content, language, and emotional level in the historical fiction? Are there any gaps, bias?
5. What is the format of the presented materials (textual, visual, multimedia, symbolic)?
6. Censorship (next time) & on how to tell the difference: selection v censorship
7. Reading habits (more to come)

Selected review sources (many more are available, print and on the Web):

• Booklist
• Books for the Teenage also see the New York Public Library
• Books for Teens by Barnes & Noble
• Best books for Young Adults by the ALA's YALSA [Young Adult Library Services Association]
• Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Horn Book Magazine for publications about books for children and young adults
• Internet Public Library
• Los Angeles Public Library
• The New York Review of Books
• Publishers Weekly
• School Library Journal and then visit reviews for Preschool and Up, graphic novels, books for teens, and more
• Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
• YALSA Awards