STACKED

books

Subversive (Passive) Programming at the Programming Librarian

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Two years ago, Jackie and I put together a proposal to present at the 2012 ALA Annual Convention in Anaheim on teen passive programming and passive reader’s advisory. We had our proposal accepted, and we presented in front of an awesomely packed room. All of the presentation notes and the presentation visual itself is available here.

After the presentation, we were approached to write an article about the topic. So we did!

Since Jackie and I are both big proponents of making sure professional information is actually useful, we took our time in writing a very thorough and — we hope — supremely useful tool kit to starting and implementing passive programming. The article took nine months to write and edit.

That is a very, VERY long time to write and edit one piece of work that is not a novel.

But now, you can read our entire article in full at The Programming Librarian. I like to think it’s useful for anyone who works with teens and wants to engage them in productive, intellectual, and FUN ways. It has ideas not only for programming and hands-on activities, but for advocating for reading and readers, too.

If I may highlight the most important thing in the entire piece, it’s this one: be prepared to fail. It’s okay and it’s inevitable.

We’re super eager to hear your feedback on this, and we’d love if you’d contribute your own ideas in the article, too. There’s a space for commenting. Please, please speak up. Spread the word.

It’s kind of amazing to look at the culmination of 2 years’ worth of work, isn’t it? I love Jackie’s post on this, too, enough I have to share it as well.

Guys read

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This is the second post in a series to be shared over the next couple of weeks. Today’s topic: why boys don’t read. Before I give the background, make sure you read the first post, and then keep in mind that these comments are about the average boy (not the exceptions you know) and they ARE backed by research. I will post a bibliography in a concluding post.

So, why don’t boys read like we wish they would?

Simple: they’re wired differently.

Boys’ brains work differently than girls because they are hardwired differently. They react differently to stimuli than girls (think of this simple example: a desk chair is in a classroom. Who is making it come off the floor?). And maybe most importantly, boys are taught very different lessons about reading than girls are. When they’re young, reading is fun. They get story time, which allows them to be active and stimulated. The other time they’re read to they’re getting ready for bed. Reading is an activity that energizes and relaxes boys.

But when they get into school, reading is work. You can’t get up and dance and you can’t fall asleep. The way the boy brain works just doesn’t “get” this like a girl brain. So now reading is a chore – but it’s moreso when the boy is nestled between two girls in a classroom, both of the girls reading well and beyond. The boy? He’s struggling because reading is not fun now and he’s struggling because he thinks he’s dumb since Suzy and Sally are reading just fine.

Boys think in a manner we can call “rules and tools” — they want something to do and they want a way to do it (or a way to figure out how to do it). Women think in a manner that seeks information to communicate and connect. Sullivan gave the great example of a man and a woman driving and getting lost. The woman suggests asking for directions while the man pulls out the map and insists the road was supposed to be there. He doesn’t want to ask because he should be able to figure out the solution.

So when the boy sees that Suzy and Sally are reading well and he is not, he’s discouraged. He has no rules nor tools to do it here. And since the majority of teachers are female, particularly in those developmentally important years for reading, boys are taught to read in the same way girls are, but since they don’t learn that way, well, they’re stuck. Boys are trying to read for information, but they’re being taught how to read for communication.

This does not make on type of thinking better than another. It means they are different. This is what we are missing with boys and reading. We are teaching them the way we’ve learned as women — people who have always been catered to in learning reading — and we’re missing that boys learn it in just a different way.

Just to note: a girl’s brain is fully developed at 11 1/2. Boys? 14 1/2. There’s even further disadvantage for them because they’re already starting out behind, but because they aren’t being taught in a manner most advantageous to them, they’re further and further behind.

Now to complicate this information a bit more, here are some scary statistics:

  • Over the last 30 years of standardized testing, girls always outscore boys on reading
  • Boys get 1.5 years behind in reading ability and level (makes sense when you know about their brain development, right?)
  • By 11th grade, the average boy is 3 years behind in reading
  • The Sophomore Study in the U.S. found that boys read 10% less than girls…being 2.3 hours a week on average (that also doesn’t say much for girls).
  • Boys can drag girls down
  • A Kaiser Family study found that boys spend 6.5 hours in front of electronic screen … per day.
  • 35% of the entering males in the freshman class at UCLA said they don’t read
  • 23% of females in that study said they don’t read

Scary stuff, right. Well, it gets scarier:

  • 70% of the Ds and Fs earned in school are from boys
  • 80% of high school dropouts are boys
  • 80% of convicted felons are high school drop outs
  • 85% of special education students are male
  • 85-90% of those diagnosed as ADHD are male
  • 14% of all boys are coded as ADHD
  • 1 out of every 3 boys is in remedial reading by 3rd grade (recall the statistic about boys being 1.5 years behind in reading than girls)

Besides being scary, what do these things all mean?

Being a boy is a disability.

Did you see that part about 35% of UCLA freshman males say they don’t read? This is something important — remember the structured thinking aspect of boy’s brains? Well, for them, admitting failure isn’t okay. Rather, admitting they don’t do something fits with their rules and tools mindset. It’s easier for boys to say they DON’T do something vs. they CAN’T do something. Boys do read. We just need to reach out to them to get them understand they they can.

Thoughts? Comments? Share them. I promise this is my only scary post on this topic. Next installment I will discuss about where and what boys are reading, and then in a final post, I’ll give some of the links to resources from Sullivan’s fantastic program.

Kid-Friendly Graphic Novels & Knights of the Lunch Table by Frank Cammuso

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Every two months, all of the children’s librarians from my entire system (73 libraries!) gather downtown for an information order meeting. One of the presentations at a recent session? You guessed it – graphic novels for kids. Our fearless leaders in Children’s Services have been trying to broaden the world of graphic novels in the Los Angeles Public Library. The battlecry? No longer will the Young Adult area hold a monopoly over the graphic novels! Publishers, children’s librarians, and patrons are demanding more content for younger kids.

I managed to coerse the graphic novel committee into letting me post their great powerpoint overview of the graphic novel genre and how Los Angeles Public Library is incorporating these books into the children’s collections… and programming around it! As a verified non-expert in this genre, I appreciated the synthesis of a huge amount of information into a simplified format. I only wish I could’ve grabbed some snapshots of the cute insanely cute crafts that were demonstrated. I hope you enjoy the efforts of Marc Horton, Eva Mitnick, Carey Vance, Joanna Fabicon, and Maddy Kerr – I know I did.

The September issue of School Library Journal reflects this trend. Peter Gutiérrez wrote an article entitled “Good & Plenty: It used to be hard to find good graphic novels for the K–4 crowd. My, how times have changed.” Okay, the title is a bit of a clunker, but the article itself offers a great primer to some of the awesome material for children. And I decided to challenge myself to read a few of the novels mentioned.

My favorite of the bunch? Frank Cammuso’s Knight’s of the Lunch Table series, without a doubt.

I accidentally ordered the second volume of the series, the Dragon Players, instead of the first volume, the Dodgeball Chronicles. No matter – the story was easily picked up without needing an introduction.

King Arthur and the Round Table seemlessly fits into this modern day story about middle school. Artie attends Camelot Middle School with his evil sister Morgan. Of course, there’s a Mr. Merlyn, a science wiz with a mysterious raven as a classroom pet. And Percy and Guen show up as Artie’s best friend and love interest respectively. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to references to the Camelot legend. At times, I really want to go back and grab my copy of the Once and Future King, just to catch more obscure allusions in the text.

In the Dragon Players, Artie finds himself in a competition of dueling dragons – robot dragons, that is. The bullies of the school, appropriately named “The Horde,” have forced Percy to build them a fearsome dragon competitor. Cammuso weaves the theme of duality from the beginning of the story to the narrative climax. I particularly loved the scene where “the ladies of the lunch” dispense a warning.

Arthur, King of Middle School,
Within thy heart, two dragons duel.
One is warm and one is cook,
In thy life just one shall rule.

All pretty standard stuff, right? Of course the mystic lunch ladies would speak in cryptic gibberish. But Cammuso continues the exchange… with an appropriate food-related sense of humor. This, of course, totally confuses Artie.

French fries… or veggie sticks?
Who knows which dragon you shall pick?
Chef salad… or pizza cheesy?
One is right and one is easy.

I couldn’t stop laughing, and then I forced several co-workers to listen to the dialogue.

A shadowy figure in the guise of a dorky kid named Evo shows up with an easy answer to Artie’s dueling robots dilemma. And of course, Artie and his friends have to go through harrowing hijinx before they must make a decision. Kids will definitely identify with Artie; he’s savvy, street-wise, but a little uncertain at the same time. Like most kids, he looks to his friends and his mentors for advice… but Artie can also look to his magic locker (a middle school version of Excalibur) for a more unique form of guidance.

The art is fantastic – the characters are drawn with deft, broad strokes. The coloring is vibrant, appealing to both younger kids and their parents. I’m not extremely visually oriented; I read text too fast. But I found myself going back through the pages a second (and even a third) time to absorb all of the small details in the background of the panels. The stories pertain to middle schoolers, but younger elementary school readers will eat up this series.

Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around

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I work for a very large library system. Sometimes, this is a curse – I’m subject to the whims of bureaucracy, I’m unable to enact a great deal of change without paperwork, I deal with disgruntled city workers on a regular basis, and oh, yes, there’s a lot of paperwork. But one of the advantages of this system has to be the amazing group of donors who support library programming – Library Foundation of Los Angeles. At Central Library, the Library Foundation holds a regular lecture series called ALOUD on subjects ranging from Neutra’s architecture to urban farming to poverty. The Library Foundation attracts fascinating authors to speak about their latest published works, and most of the programs are free. On occasion, ALOUD attracts some very big names – I’ve seen Steve Martin play the banjo and talk about his book Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life, Garrison Keillor will perform next week to promote his novel Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance, and last night, I was able to attend a panel discussion featuring special guest, David Byrne. The lecture was called “Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around.”

David Byrne, to promote his new book Bicycle Diaries, has been on a whirlwind tour of the United States, hitting many major metropolitan cities. In each panel discussion, he brings together a civic leader, an urban theorist, and a bicycle advocate. I had the pleasure to hear Michelle Mowery, Bicycle Coordinator for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Don Shoup, Professor of urban planning at UCLA (a “parking rock star”), and Jimmy Lizama of The Bicycle Kitchen as they joined David Byrne for a lively two hour discussion. Each speaker had fifteen minutes to give a presentation, then they all sat down for Q&A… that was supposed to last for 20 minutes, but ended up in the hour long territory.

David Byrne himself gave a really thoughtful speech – he talked a little bit about the freedom after he discovered cycling in an urban environment. He was living in Manhattan, and he found himself tired of relying on taxis or the train schedule. He found that when he rode his bike, he could easily hop from art gallery to a concert to a restaurant in much less time (and expense) than any other means of transportation. His presentation was particularly notable for the number of photos of different cities – both of urban spaces that worked with cycling (most notably in Europe and Asia) as well as places that weren’t conducive for bicycles – including a snapshot of an Austin road.

Donald Shoup added a more academic tone to the discussion; his book, The High Cost of Free Parking, details the amount of money (and time) spent looking for curbside parking spots in urban locales. A biking enthusiast himself, he also introduced the idea of the Bicycle Boulevard as a cheap way to encourage biking within Los Angeles. I’m a neophyte when it comes to new urban planning ideas, so I was particularly fascinated by his engaging presentation. Honestly, it makes me want to take his class at UCLA!

The bureaucrat, Michelle Mowery, was the real star of the show, though. Articulate and passionate, she obviously loves her job… and the world of cycling. Every Monday, she rides from Long Beach to her downtown Los Angeles office via the LA River Bikeway. Her presentation was on the shorter side, but almost every single question in the Q&A section was addressed to her. And boy, was she able to answer them. She was one of the architects of the new Los Angeles Bike plan, and she was able to refer to specific chapter and page numbers that dealt with the complaints of the attendees. She said that the plan was incomplete, but her office was really working hard to gather more funding and more importantly, more awareness for the issues at hand. Mowery was also able to outline clear and feasible ways to practically implement almost every single suggestion from the biking community. I came away from the presentation extremely impressed that cycling had such an advocate in the city government.

The final presenter, Jimmy Lizama, offered a grassroots perspective on cycling in Los Angeles. I liked his presentation style; instead of using a traditional PowerPoint, he used a series of photographs to illustrate a story about his girlfriend’s daily bike trip to the local elementary school with her son. Jimmy was able to illustrate both the joys and struggles of a typical Angeleno cyclist. And during the Q&A, he was able to offer more personal recollections to expand on theories presented by the other speakers.

I love the idea of using books as the basis for lectures such as these. Honestly, I have no real connection to the biking community here. I haven’t owned a bicycle since my father sold mine in a garage sale during my high school years. But I really enjoyed the community that the library brought together through this book-based discussion. I’ve added a couple of items to my growing to-read pile, plus I gained some insight into my neighborhood. Sometimes, reading can seem like an insular activity, but events like these can be found at local libraries all over the country… and they’re worth the trek. Or the bike ride.

Serving Patrons of a Digital Generation

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While browsing through my daily stack of blogs, I found mention of George Lucas’ latest educational project, Digital Generation. I quickly navigated over there, and I was impressed with the array of content, especially the youth portraits. A lot of older librarians don’t always see how young people are using the richness of media around them. These portraits profile some very tech-savvy “born digital” kids – and I think they’re representative of many young library users.

The website describes itself in the following terms:

Today’s kids are born digital — born into a media-rich, networked world of infinite possibilities. But their digital lifestyle is about more than just cool gadgets; it’s about engagement, self-directed learning, creativity, and empowerment. The Digital Generation Project tells their stories so that educators and parents can understand how kids learn, communicate, and socialize in very different ways than any previous generation.

I haven’t had the chance to browse through all of the content of the site, but it’s bookmarked for further exploration. I see a lot of potential for incorporating some of the content into library educational programs, especially for those who focus on YA or “tweens.” Video editing, social networking, digital modeling, and the like can make for interesting (and fun) activities for patrons. Plus, there are good curriculum tie-ins located on the site, ready for educators (and librarians) to use. Not too shabby.

Note: I learned about this website from Henry Jenkins’ blog. I highly recommend reading his breakdown of the Digital Generation website – and his blog is fascinating for those interested in digital media, cultural exchange, and gaming. His book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, is at the top of my “academic” reading list.