Meaningful and Fun Programming

Tweens information needs are varied.  In order to be most successful at planning library programs for tweens, librarians should try to couch information needs in fun activities that help build information literacy, technical expertise, and a connection to the library. 

Creating book trailers with tweens is an excellent way to extend the story read in a classroom setting, or in the monthly book discussion group held at the public library.  There are many copyright friendly resources that permit students to use images and music.   These are essential to a book trailor program.

Another good idea is to start a postering project around a current event or socio/political issue.  Or better yet, let kids pick their own campaign.  Help them research an important topic and then help them express their own ideas by allowing them to create posters or blogposts.  The idea is to honor the creativity and inclinations of the group while engendering higher levels of reasoning and critical thinking skills. 

This blog has been part of a semester long project in the field of library sciences.  I have been so honored to work with a group of students who believe in librarianship and can see past the vocation to the altruism.  I've learned an immense amount in this semester and look forward to a time when I can implement some of the ideas we've shared with the tweens I serve in the library.  Thank you.

Media Messages

The messages we receive from mass media outlets influence the formation of our identities and perceptions.  For tweens, this can be both good and bad.  Take for example drug use.  The use of drugs is portrayed as normal, even cool, in music, movies, and in the off-screen lives of many cultural icons.  Exploited by the media, the lives of young start like Lindsay Lohan, Ke$ha Kaitlan, and many others are portrayed and over-portrayed in a manner that makes it seem as though the use of drugs is normal and exciting.  Case in point: the new trailer for the tween movie based on Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  The boy in the trailer lip-sings a song by Ke$ha.  The lyrics he goes on to perform say "before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack...trying to get a little bit tipsy."  Even tweens who don''t see the movie are left with the idea that emulating the lifestyle expounded in the song is cool and funny.   For some kids, underage drinking is a normal part of adolescent development.  For others, though, it is far from cool or funny and poses a serious problem. 

Because tweens have not yet developed the critical thinking and information literacy skills they need to see past the media hype, they misinterpret the messages they receive from the media and may begin to internalize some of the more destructive ideas.  Their perceptions are not based in reality, but in the story created by media outlets.

This phenomenon is important to recognize and address.  With access to information and resources, librarians are in prime position to help balance out the messages received by youth.  Media projects, discussion groups, and academic assignments create teachable moments when critical thinking and information literacy skills can be modeled and discussed.  Librarians can also help to balance out media messages by emphasizing alternative ideas online, and in print.  Librarians should not shy away from recommending sources like the Points of View or Opposing Viewpoints series.  Access to information from all sides will help tweens filter and process the media messages they receive.

The Internet and the Normal Development of Tweens

According to the Search Institute, tweens need support, and empowerment to achieve healthy development.  They need to understand expectations and consequences, and they need to know how to use their time constructively.  They need positive values and a positive sense of identity.  They must demonstrate a personal commitment to doing well in school and getting along with others.  If they can achieve these developmental assets, then tweens have a good chance of faring well in life.  The Internet can be a very useful tool in helping kids attain these milestones.

The Internet has empowered tweens to express their ideas in ways never experienced before.  deviantART.com, for example, is an "expansive, worldwide community of artists of every age, and every nationality who create works spanning every medium, every subject and every level of talent and skill" (deviantART, 2011, Etiquette Policy).  More than a social network, this site is a venue through which artists of every age, including tweens, can share their original work in a safe environment that is conducive to collaboration and growth.  Flickr, YouTube, and many other popular Websites also provide tweens with an opportunity to showcase their artistic creations and to receive immediate feedback. 

Sites like deviantART support tweens' interests and abilities and empower them to take risks and accept constructive criticism.  In this way, the Internet has enhanced a child's support network from the home and community to the home, community, and virtual community.

In addition to support and empowerment, tweens also need to understand expectations and consequences.  In the physical world, expectations and consequences are taught in homes and schools.  These valuable skills are also taught online.  Closed networks designed to teach digital citizenship, like Everloop.com, help tweens identify and internalize the principles they will need to succeed in a virtual environment.  When behavior pushes the boundaries of acceptability, adult moderators gently intercede, reminding tweens of expectations, and maintaining the safety and integrity of the Online social network by issuing consequences when necessary.  This type of training is immensely important especially since cyberbullying has come to the forefront of public interest.

Cyberbullying occurs when a bully harasses another person online.  Many reports find that cyberbullying is more damaging than regular bullying because it permeates the traditional boundaries of public versus private spaces.  The Internet reaches into our private domains, and cyberbullying has the potential to occur all day long as it can intrude into private homes.  Without the kind of training condoned by netiquette policies and networks, like Everloop, tweens might be more susceptible to cyberbullying or other kinds of Internet dangers.  By informing tweens in the area of netiquette and making expectations explicit in this way, the Internet has also increased tweens understanding of social rules and expectations.

Perhaps the area where the Internet has enhanced the development of tweens the most, is in the areas of personal identity and positive values.  The Internet provides tweens with access to the world.  Whereas just a decade ago adolescents were limited by the social norms endemic to their neighborhoods, schools, churches, and homes, now, tweens have the capacity to transcend their physical locations through virtual groups, and friendships.

Many people fear that the Internet will corrupt tweens through unfettered access to information about sex, alternative lifestyles, or a myriad other topics that cause contention for adults.  However, this information may save tweens' lives.  Before, sex, alternative lifestyles, homosexuality, abuse, and many other situations may have isolated tweens from sources of comfort and support.  Now tweens can seek that support through the Internet.  They are able to find identification and community.  The Internet may provide lifesaving information that tweens might have been too embarrassed to seek in person.  Or, it may create a more inclusive reality so that tweens can develop a positive sense of self, values, and a positive understanding of community.

The Search Institute claims that if tweens develop certain assets, they will more likely grow into well-adjusted individuals.  Many people fear the Internet will detract from tweens' ability to do so.  Proponents of digital literacy, on the other hand, view the Web as an important tool for growth and point to the many tween Websites that can be used to promote healthy development.        


deviantART.  (2011). Etiquette policy.  Retrieved from http://about.deviantart.com/policy/etiquette/

Search Institute. (2007).  40 developmental assets for middle childhood.  Retrieved from http://www.search-institute.org/40-developmental-asset-middle-childhood-8-12

Information Literacy is more Critical than Educational Success

Tweens use media.  A recent study from the Kaiser Foundation claims that tweens use media an average of 7.5 hours a day, and that because they often use multiple types of media simultaneously, they are actually exposing themselves to 10 hours and 45 minutes of media content every day.  They are using laptops and smart phones to access high-speed Internet, and MP3 players to download music.  They have facebook accounts, create podcasts at school, and some even write research papers on their phones.  No longer is cutting edge technology reserved for the elite, everyone uses technology across the board.

Technology has been deeply entrenched in the everyday lives of all Americans.  From the flatscreen TVs that hang from the ceiling of our SUVs to the telephones we use for driving directions and to check our email, Americans use media.  The fact that tweens are using media on their own should be no surprise.  Instead of biting our fingernails, adults, and librarians in particular, should embrace this new found opportunity to help mold our tech-savvy kids into competent and successful individuals.

  

According to Beaufort (2009), “technology plays an increasingly important role in both classroom and workplace settings and affects literacy activities significantly” (p. 243).  Today’s tweens must become information literate if they expect to succeed in school, or at work.  Libraries can help tweens attain the evaluative skills they need to choose reliable Internet sites, abide by the rules that prevent plagiarism, and turn their natural inclination towards using media to serious educational assets.  Partnering with schools and teachers, creating regular library programs that teach information literacy skills, and maintaining collections that are conducive to media learning are essential activities of all librarians serving youth. 

The reality is that information literacy is more critical than educational success. “Just about a quarter (23%) of online low income teens look for Health information [online] compared with 11% of teens from households earning more than $75,000 a year.” (Lenhart, 2010).   However, inexperienced with wading through the thousands of search results generated, tweens and teens report having difficulty searching for online health information.  They often feel frustrated by the lack of consistent quality information, or daunted by the number of sites from with to choose (Vargas, 2005, p. 17-18).  

It is not enough to say that these kids should go to their parents or their doctors.  The truth is that they aren't going to qualified adults for answers to their health related questions.  They are going to the Internet.  It is imperative that libraries work to provide access to the most reliable and comprehensive sources of information online.  Evaluating health websites, setting up pathfinders, creating mobile apps, and directing tweens to reputable sites can eliminate some of the frustration tweens experience and can minimize the threat that they will encounter misinformation.  One excellent health related website for tween girls is: girlshealth.gov

Beaufort, A. (2009). Preparing adolescents for the literacy demands of the 21st-century workplace. In L. Christenbury, R. Bomer, & P. Smagorinsky (Eds.), Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research (pp. 239-255). New York: Guilford Press.

Lenhart, A.; Purcell, K.; Smith, A.; Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media & mobile internet use among teens and young adults. Pew Internet and American Life Project. http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2010/PIP_Social_Media_and_Young_Adults_Report_Final_with_toplines.pdf

Rideout, V.M., Foehr, U.G., & Roberts, D.F.(2010). Generation M²: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf

Vargas, K. (2005). Teenagers, health, and the Internet: How information professionals can reach out to teens and their health information needs. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 9(3), 15-23. Retrieved March 9, 2009, DOI:10.1300/J381v09n03_02

Nonfiction music

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Nonfiction music

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Boys' Literacy

Recently, a lot of scholarly attention has been given to boys and their literacy rates because boys are falling behind their female counterparts in reading ability and interest. This problem is international in scope and can first be traced through to kindergarten where boys are retained at a higher rate than girls. Whether the problem of boys' literacy can be traced to female teachers teaching female books as argued by St. Jarre (2008), or to external factors like video games and medicines (Sax, 2007), is irrelevant. What is relevant is that teachers and librarians can take positive measures to combat the international trend.

If boys lose interest in reading because the book selections taught in school are introspective and/or deal with meditative subjects, open curricula to include books with more appeal to male audiences. In a study by Farris, et al. (2009) researchers found that boys like fact-filled books, comics, magazines, and scary stories. They are drawn to books that "look good" with sections of text that are divided by graphic elements and separated by wide margins and white space. "As literacy educators, we need to acknowledge the reading preferences and interest of boys in our classrooms and examine what types of texts are available to use that will encourage boys to read" (p. 181). While classic texts have an indelible place in school curricula, there are many new works that can be incorporated to facilitate important classroom discussion while being more accessible to those students who resist traditionally assigned works. Librarians should work to build collections that include these works, and should foster relationships with teachers and school administrators to attest to the merits of newly published works in a variety of formats.

If boys learn through experiential activities and are inclined to move and do (Sax, 2007), make allowances for their natural tendencies. Story Times and class visits to the library should not be so draconian in their expectations of stillness and quiet. Instead, read a book about the history of outdoor activities and then go outside and play an old fashioned game. Or, start a book club where participants read a well-acclaimed novel as a group, and then use the machines in the computer lab to write to electronic pen pals on skype or via email. Of course, librarians must always work to uphold the safety of all library users, and logistical questions of screening potential pen pals and privacy issues must be thought about carefully.  The point is that boys like the interaction and will better relate to any text that is enhanced for them through action.

Farris, P., et al. (2009). Male call: Fifth-grade boys' reading preferences. The Reading Teacher, 63(3), 180-188. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.3.1

Sax, L. (2007, September). The boy problem: Many boys think school is stupid and reading stinks. School Library Journal, 40-43. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/printissuecurrentissue/863623-427/the_boy_problem_many_boys.html.csp

St. Jarre, K. R. (2008, January). Don't blame the boys: We're giving them girly books. English Journal, 97(3), 15-16. Retrieved from Arts & Humanities Full Text database. 

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Middle Schools, Tweens and Libraries

The evolution of the American public school system at the turn of the century was motivated  by demands to decrease overcrowded conditions.  The influx of new immigrants meant that the American population was growing rapidly in the early 1900s.  In order to cope with large populations of young students, school administrators devised a plan to separate older children from younger ones by creating middle schools that would act as a bridge between elementary schools, and high schools and colleges.  At the time, leading psychologists argued that the increased demands of transitioning to middle school would hinder students at the time when their development was in so fragile a state.  Still, middle schools were built and populated quickly.  The act of separating students into two classes of children, one young and one older, had the added effect of changing perceptions and constructing a new developmental phase: the preteen.   (Juvonen, et al. 2004).

It didn't take long for the "preteen" to become fully entrenched in American culture.  Now, the "preteen" has given way to a new, younger "tween" population, as manufacturers have decided upon tweens as the new commodity to target.  Tweens vary from preteens only in age.  They are younger, but they exhibit the same willingness towards adolescence as did the "preteens" before them.  It is hard to say whether tweens' willingness towards adolescence is caused by, or is the cause of the targeted marketing campaigns that seems to facilitate the transition to adolescence at a younger age.  Tweens look older, they dress older, they have styled hair, and some of them even wear make-up, but despite the appearance, they are not yet teenagers.  Rather, they are children beginning to experience the first traces of adolescence.  As such, they have a unique set of needs and capacities.  They vacillate between child and teen, needing space, direction and support. 

It is important for librarians to be well aware of the particular needs and capacities of tweens when recommending reading material and building collections.  Tweens who want to read vampire romances, for example, may not be ready for Sookie Stackhouse or Twilight.  In this case, a good fit might be a book from  the Oliver Nocturne series, or the Poison Apple series.  These picks are developmentally appropriate both in terms of reading ability and subject matter.          



Juvonen, J., et al. (2004).  Focus on the wonder years: Challenges facing the American middle school.  RAND Corporation: Santa Monica, CA.

The Library's Role In Tweens Social Understanding

Tweens are a difficult age group to define.  In between the transition from childhood to adolescence, tweens develop individually and at different rates and different times.  However, just as most children cut teeth and most adolescents eventually learn to drive, so to do most tweens undergo similar milestones associated with the age group.  Most tweens undergo physical changes in their bodies as they enter puberty; most tweens become less dependent on their family to fulfill their social needs (Andersen, p. 4-8).  Most tweens develop psychologically and cognitively, becoming competent, confident, and connected and developing the ability to think abstractly (Lesense, p. 12-14).  Though these changes occur naturally on a continuum from childhood to adolescence, these processes are less than painless for most tweens.

I was small and young in the fifth grade.  My best friend Melina, on the other hand, was developing at a quicker rate.  When she started "going" with a boy in class, I felt so sad.  I thought I was losing my best friend.  I thought she loved him more than she loved me.  I didn't know where I fit in this new picture, and I didn't like it one bit.  My mom, who had always been a source of great comfort, didn't seem to get it.  She thought Melina was fast.  She thought I should just play with someone else.  She didn't seem to realize that my world was crumbling.

When I read Just as Long as We're Together (1987) by Judy Blume, I cried and cried and cried.  I don't remember the plot line.  I don't remember the names of the characters.  The only thing I remember is that one of the girls felt exactly as I did.  I wasn't alone anymore.  And even though I was still sad, I wasn't afraid anymore.  Reading it didn't alleviate the pain of growing up, but it did help me to relate to the world around me.  The truth is that I was lucky to be a reader.  If my librarian hadn't known my preferences and abilities, she may not have recommended Blume once I'd finished Cleary, and I may never have read the book that saved my fifth-grade self.  I was lucky.

The problem, is that just when things are starting to change for tweens, many, many tweens stop reading.  Reaching today's youth is probably the largest challenge facing librarians.  But it is a cause that should not be abandoned.  Librarians are well equipped to maintain collections that can help inform tweens of important, and often life saving information.  Librarians can recommend the right books so that tweens will be better able to cope.  Librarians are a positive external force that buttress tweens in their development.




Anderson, S. B. (2007). Childhood left behind: Tweens, young teens and the library. Serving Young Teens and 'Tweens.  Sheila B. Anderson (ed.). Libraries Unlimited: Westbrook, CT.

Lesesne, T. S. (2006). Naked reading: Uncovering what tweens need to become lifelong readers. Stenhouse: Portland, ME.