san diego 2010

1

CONNECTING WITH TWEENS

NAKED READING

2

4

URLs for PPT

http://professornana.livejournal.com

www.slideshare.net/professornana

Bulwer-Lyttonworst first lineannual contest

2009 winners

She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida - the pink ones, not the white ones - except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn't wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren't.

Towards the dragon's lair the fellowship marched -- a noble human prince, a fair elf, a surly dwarf, and a disheveled copyright attorney who was frantically trying to find a way to differentiate this story from "Lord of the Rings."

On a fine summer morning during the days of the Puritans, the prison door in the small New England town of B----n opened to release a convicted adulteress, the Scarlet Letter A embroidered on her dress, along with the Scarlet Letters B through J, a veritable McGuffey's Reader of Scarlet Letters, one for each little tyke waiting for her at the gate.

9

Tweens: Some Questions to Frame the Day

Who are these tweens?

Do we really need another division/category of young readers?

How do they differ from teens and children?

What can we offer them to keep them connected to books and reading?

10

• A HAPPY MEMORY FROM WHEN YOU WERE 10 YEARS OLD

• A SAD MEMORY FROM WHEN YOU WERE 11 YEARS OLD

• AN EMBARRASSING MEMORY FROM WHEN YOU WERE 12 YEARS OLD

• A GREAT MEMORY FROM WHEN YOU WERE 13 YEARS OLD

• A “TRAUMATIC” MEMORY FROM WHEN YOU WERE 14 YEARS OLD

Close your eyes (yes… close your eyes) and take a moment

to think back on…

11

Now take a moment to share one of those memories with the person to

your right and left….

How different were your memories from the person

next to you? They may have been very different or there

may have been some similarities.

12

There are no cookie-cutter adolescent experiences. Some

of these things will apply to the tweens and early teens you

know and some of them won’t.

13

DEFINING TWEENDOM

Who are they?

14

What age range encompasses tweendom?

TIME article narrowed tween to 10-12 yo This was a marketing term originally Educators took up the term since it defined more

Surveyed YALSA and FACEBOOK and TWITTER

Ages ranged from 9 to 14Median response was 10-14Grade equivalency is 4th to 9th

15

Defining Tweens

Tweens is a fluid definition meaning that different cognitive, emotional, and social developments happen at different rates in different adolescents. Some 10 year olds may have begun physically developing while others may not see these changes until they are 13. (or older/tsl)

Anderson, 2007

16

What’s going on physically?

17

Some Physical Basics

Tweens and early teens are being bombarded by hormones and begin to develop reproductively (i.e. breasts, pubic hair, etc.)*

Many experience a growth surge. Guys get taller, and girls get rounder.

Many experience a hormonal rollercoaster – becoming moody and seemingly different over night.

Pruitt, 1999

18

What’s going on psychologically?

19

A story about Ed Psych classes

Piaget Take one Take two Take three

Maslow

Kohlberg

Havighurst

20

Some Psychological Basics

Their reasoning capabilities rise to new levels of complexity.

The adolescent is learning how to handle adult responsibilities.

By age 12, he or she will be able to think about possibilities, consider hypotheses, think ahead, consider the thought process, and think beyond conventional limits.

Pruitt, 1999

21

More Psychological Basics

Increased ability to use abstract verbal concepts.

Increased ability to engage in abstract thought to engage in issues like politics, religion and morality.

During the middle school years, moral development continues to evolve as the adolescent becomes more aware the relationship between the individual and society. Pruitt, 1999

22

What’s going on socially?

23

Social Development Basics

Expected increase in freedomMove away from family toward peersLikely to have best friends of the

similar social and ethnic backgrounds.In 7th grade, the above holds true

PLUS they want friends with similar attitudes and values.

Peer approval and acceptance grows more important.

Pruitt, 1999

24

Social Development Basics

Rely on friends for everything from companionship to understanding.

In middle school, the more a child is pressured by peers, the greater the chance he or she will go along or join in.

Pruitt, 1999

25

How do tweens differ?

Different from children Physically Socially Intellectually Morally

Different from teeens Socially Intellectually Morally Developmentally

26

Besides being welcoming places to these often unlovable

library customers without a place (self identified as too mature for the children’s

section and system defined as too young for the teen books),

having literature that speaks to them is one of the most

important things that we do...

27

Anderson, S. (2007). Serving young teens and ‘tweens. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (1999). Your adolescent: Emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development from early adolescence through the teen years. New York: Harper Collins.

Zuckerman, D. (2001). When little girls become women: Early onset of puberty in girls. The Ribbon, 6(1).

28

BS, that’s brainstorming

What is your vision of a perfect space for tweens and young teens? What does it look like? What materials are there? What is your role? Who else is involved?

Pretend that money is no object and that you have the freedom to do ANYthing.

Over lunch, we want you to talk in your groups about this vision.

29

So when I began to write a book about tweens and teens

and reading….

A TITLESOME RESEARCH

A LATE NIGHT INSPIRATION

30

Origin of title

31

32

The research?

Vickey Giles

Karen Sue Gibson

Replicated study from 20 years earlier

The questions?

33

What could someone do to make you WANT to read

BEFORE/AFTER you read?

THE CONVERSE: WHAT COULD SOMEONE DO TO

MAKE YOU HATE TO READ BEFORE/AFTER YOU READ?

34

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?K-12

Being allowed to choose any book you want to read

35

Quick Note

Nomads of the library

Providing more narrowed focus Good book box/truck

Displays

Helping create more independence If you liked lists Shelf talkers and shelf markers Staff suggests

36

Reading Ladders

37

Step Stools

38

And then, what?

39

Next steps?

Newbery Books

Audiobooks

Other variations of traditional literature

???

40

NONFICTION

Or different directions…

41

Walker, 2008

42

Series nonfiction

43

Topics near and dear to tweens

44

45

Picture book biographies

46

Center for the Study of Cartoons

47

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?K-5

Reading in a comfortable place like on the floor, in a bean bag chair, or in a rocking chair

48

Spaces and places

Remember to include this aspect in your lunch time discussion about your vision of the perfect space

for tweens and young teens.

49

FSG

50

Cinco Puntos

51

Wendy Lamb

52What could someone do to make you want to read BEFORE you

read?K-5

Being allowed to buy your own book through a book fair

OWNERSHIP!

53

Ownership means re-reading

54

Scholastic (AUDIO)

55

Series is a special ownership

56What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?K-5

Reading books for a contest

57

Reading as Social Justice

Banned Books Week

MS Read-a-thon

Collecting books for donations

Other charity drives

58

Social justice displays

59

Civil Rights

60

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?K-12

Having a classroom library

61

For public librarians, this means…

Offering workshops for teachers

Creating booklists for schools, teachers, and parents

Checking out books for temporary classroom libraries

62

63

64

65

66

67

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?K-12

Having someone read a book or chapter a day

68

Reading Aloud

Research

Versus

Practice

69

Silly stuff

70

71

72

73

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?K-12

Having the teacher take you to the library

74

75

76

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?6-12

Author Visits

77

78

79

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?

Seeing the movie or television production of a book.

6-12

80

81

82

83

What could someone do to make you want to read

BEFORE you read?6-12

Being allowed to read books with lots of pictures in them.

84

85

86

87

88

89

Graphic-ish Novels

90

So, some quick program ideas:

Displays

Movie night

Author visits

Always tied to books

91

Candy Sushi

Manga

James Patterson’s Maximum Ride

Asian American authors

Laurence Yep, Lensey Namioka, An Na

Craft and how to books

Howtoons

92

The late night inspiration

T-A-R-G-E-T

93

T A R G E T

94

T is for TRUST

95

96

97

98

99

A is for ACCESS

100

101

102

103

104

105

R is for RESPONSE

106

107

108

109

110

111

Lemony Snicket is back

113

G is for GUIDANCE

114

Reading ladders

Begin with where they are

Build reading experiences slowly

Move readers “up” with assistance

Provide bridges between books

115

for instance…

116

BUILDING, MOVING, GROWING

Picture book ladder

117

118

119

120

121

122

Or…

Family reading ladder

123

124

125

126

127

128

E is for ENTHUSIASM

129

BETTER BOOKS

Bad covers

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

UGLY BOOK ADOPTION

Create new covers

Use them

Display them

Adopt-a-book

138

T is for TWEEN and TEEN APPEAL

139

AUTHORS TO TRUST

Established names

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

familiar

Stories

Settings

Themes

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE

Issues

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

PURPOSEFULENTERTAININGINFORMATIVE

Nonfiction

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

IT, TOO, IS DEVELOPMENTAL

humor

179

180

181

182

183

184

There are many ways to describe Ms. Underdorf. She was brilliant and joyous, and she believed-probably

correctly-that libraries contain the answers to everything, and that if you can’t find the information you seek in the library, then such information probably does not exist in this or any other parallel universe now or ever to be known.

 She was thoughtful and kind and always believed the best

of everybody. She was, above all else, a master librarian and knew where to find any book on any subject in the shortest possible time.

 And she was wonderfully unhinged… And so the Amazing Armadillo.

185

186

187

188

DEFYING CATEGORIZATION

A few more

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

I Need a Good Book

I need a good story,I need a good book.The kind that explodesOff the shelf.I need some good writing,Alive and exciting,To contemplateAll by myself.

196

I need a good novel,I need a good read,I probably needTwo or three,I need a good taleOf love and betrayalOr perhapsAn adventure at sea.

197

I need a good saga.I need a good yarn.A momentous and mightyOr slight one.But with thousandsAnd thousandsAnd thousands of books,I need someoneTo tell meThe right one. 

John Lithgow

198

Reader's Bill of RightsBy The Readers at Book Chat Central

There are many versions of the list below. This one comes from Book Chat Central. Use what you like, adapt as you need. Enjoy.

199

1. You have the right to read in exotic settings. You have the right to move your lips when you read You have the right to read anything you want.

2. You have the right never to apologize for your reading tastes.

3. You have the right to read anywhere you want—in the bathtub, in the car (preferably at stop lights if you're driving), in the grocery store, under the porch, or while walking the dog.

4. You have the right to read in bed. Under the covers. With a flashlight.

200

. You have the right to laugh or gasp out loud and choose whether or not to explain.

You have the right to read the good parts out loud to your nearest and dearest, and when you're not near your book bunch, to strangers if desperate.

You have the right to read and eat at the same time.

You have the right to read as many books as you want at the same time.

201

More importantly, you have the right to ignore all critics.

You have the right to read the book spine of the person sitting next to you, even on a plane. And if you can't make it out, you have the right to ASK.

You have the right to stop reading a book whenever you decide it's not worth the effort, or that you simply don't like it.

You have the right to refuse to read any book anyone else picks out for you. Even if it's a birthday present.

202

You have the right to read the last chapter first.

You have the right to read the last chapter first and then put the book back on the shelf.

You have the right to refuse to read any book where you don't like the picture of the author.

You have the right to ignore all of these rules and do whatever you please as long as it's civil...hee hee.

New Rule: when you find that you're dawdling on your way back to a book, ditch it.

203

Finally…

You have the right to read a book and not take a test or create a diorama or

write a report or do ANYthing

204