All the World's a Stage

    Reading aloud to groups of students was one of the most enjoyable parts of my job as a Library Media Technician some ten years ago. But as much as the children seemed to enjoy my reading to them, how much more might they have enjoyed experiencing some of those stories through a Readers Theater? Even in the self-conscious tween years, there are always those students who enjoy being "on stage." And preparing a version of a well-known tale to present to younger children can often catch the imagination of even the most reluctant students. (The added benefit of this approach is that it allows even those students who read significantly below grade level to be fully involved.) Not everyone needs to be an "actor," either - although Readers Theater is sometimes referred to as "minimalist" and is intended to be presented without costumes or stage sets, there is still a need for a director, a prompter, and perhaps someone to create supplemental narration. There could also be a committee of students who select the books to be presented. Readers Theater need not be limited to fiction. Fictionalized biographies could be adapted to Readers Theater (Claire Rudolf Murphy's I am Sacagawea, I am York comes to mind here), as could some works in history.
    As Elizabeth A. Poe reminds us, Dewey observed as early as 1938 that the deepest learning takes place when students are involved in the creation of their own learning experience. (Dewey, 1938) Writing in From Children's Literature to Readers Theatre, Poe points out that teachers and reading specialists have praised the positive effects on fluency produced by the repeated readings that occur in rehearsals for Readers Theatre.
    For librarians, particularly school librarians, Readers Theater represents a chance to collaborate with classroom teachers, as well as an opportunity to get children more interested in reading. It's a win-win situation.

References:
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Murphy, C.R. (2005). I am sacagawea, i am york: our journey west with lewis and clark.. New York, NY: Walker Books for Young Readers.

Poe, E.A. (2010). From children's literature to readers theatre. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. excerpted in the May 2010 issue of American Libraries, 41(5), 28 - 31.

It's A Mitzvah!

In the Jewish faith, it is a mitzvah (both a commandment and a blessing) to teach one's children to swim - the underlying reasoning is that by doing so, one preserves life in a far more certain fashion than simply trying to build higher and stronger fences around the numerous bodies of water those children will come into proximity with. Interestingly, the National Research Council used the metaphor of teaching children to swim in its report entitled Youth, Pornography and the Internet, stating "Swimming pools can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences, and deploy pool alarms. All of these measures are helpful, but by far the most important thing that one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim." (Thornbourgh and Lin, 2002). And it is this quote that, in turn, provides the focal point for Nancy Willard's article Teach Them To Swim, a discussion of how and why school librarians need to push schools to move beyond the reliance on filtering systems and engage in training classroom teachers and students how to safely negotiate the sometimes treacherous waters of the Internet. 

    Among the points Willard raises are the following: filtering leads to a false sense of security, as the perceived wisdom is that blocked sites are always of questionable content, while unblocked sites must be credible; filtering leads to overblocking, keeping teachers from being able to access legitimate sites when filters are set to block any site classed as games, or shopping, for example; filters are ineffective, failing to block all objectionable material, and they are easily bypassed by savvy high school students and many adults; filtering programs lack reasonable procedures for overriding or unblocking sites, causing aggravation for educators; and, perhaps most alarming, filtering companies are not publicly accountable for the material they choose to block - or not block. Willard goes on to discuss various alternatives to reliance on outside filtering companies, among the most interesting of which was the installation of real-time monitoring technologies on all school computers, with public, highly visible notice of the monitoring as a deterrent to misuse. And along with this locally controlled monitoring, Willard emphasizes the need to train students how to prevent and respond to accidental access of objectionable materials - teaching them to swim. Willard closes by making the case for the school librarian as Information Literacy Specialist, one who keeps administration and staff aware of what sources can be considered credible, and one who holds the authority to override filters as appropriate.

References:
Willard, N. (2010). Teach them to swim. Knowledge Quest, 39(1), 54 - 61.

Thornbourgh, D., & Lin, H.S. (Eds.). (2002). Youth, pornography and the internet. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

The elephant in the library

    Violence and the injuries resulting from violence are the leading cause of death among all young people between the ages of 5 and 19. (Cart, 2010) Risky behavior has always been a hallmark of the adolescent years, and 21st-century tweens and teens are no less likely than preceding generations to indulge in drinking, reckless driving, unprotected sex and other behaviors that put them in harms way. But the question inevitably arises - does the increased exposure to violence, real or imagined, in the world around them put today's young adults and pre-teens in more danger of acting out in violent fashion? 

    Researchers have been studying the effects of media violence on tweens and teens since the 1950s, and the connection between media violence and real-world violent behavior has been almost universally confirmed. Certainly it seems reasonable that the constant repetition of violence found in media and video games must at the very least desensitize the observer. So, if this is the case, is there any real reason to give shelf space to books that feature violent themes?          Author Michael Cart maintains that there is, because the printed word can give its readers something that no movie, television show or video game can - the experience of empathy and sympathy. (Cart, 2010) Bullying, cyberbullying, and the different ways in which teens and tweens respond to them have all been the focus of some truly remarkable books in recent years, and even teen suicide - that "permanent solution to a temporary situation" - long a forbidden topic in YA literature because authors, publishers and others feared triggering a copycat effect - is being treated with empathy and understanding in recent years. Cart concludes that the strongest argument for writing - and shelving- YA books that deal with even the darkest experiences of adolescence is that, by doing so, we may shed light on the darkness and share experience, strength and hope.

References:

Cart, M. (2010, May). A literature of risk. American Libraries, 41(5), 32 - 35.

"If all your friends jumped off a bridge..."

    Being able to hide behind the (supposed) anonymity of the Internet, to assume a persona, to create an avatar that is the polar opposite of one's true appearance - all of these factors have contributed to a blurring of the lines between free speech and socially unacceptable behavior by tweens and teens. Misguided by the belief that, on the Internet, no one knows who you really are, young people will engage in behaviors that they would likely never attempt in the face-to-face real world. The most common response to, "Why did you do that?" is, "Everybody does it." How do we begin to teach socially responsible social networking to children whose characters are still developing? And how do we know that the message we send has been not just merely heard but actually internalized? As author Annette Lamb points out, "...just because a student provides the socially acceptable answer does not mean the child understands the underlying moral issue discussed." (Lamb, 2010)
    Rather than focus on the right or wrong behavior in a specific situation, Lamb recommends providing opportunities for children to develop their moral reasoning abilities through the use of decision-making scenarios that are generic, rather than personal. Work should be done in small groups, using such methods as brain-storming, debates, discussions, role-playing and simulations. (Lamb also mentions lectures, but those of us who work with tweens on a daily basis know this strategy is likely to lead to them tuning out after the first few words.) As tweens and teens grow more comfortable with the process and feel more secure with the other members of the group, more personal topics may be introduced. Lamb concludes that it is not enough merely to provide students with guidelines for acceptable use of the knowledge they access and share - librarians must teach students how to make ethical decisions regarding that knowledge.

References:

Lamb, A. (2010). Everyone does it: teaching ethical use of social technology. Knowledge Quest, 39(1), 62 - 67.