Week 13: What is the role of libraries in literacies for tweens?
I believe that the library can play an integral role in supporting the literacy learning objectives for tweens. The teacher-librarian has the responsibility of integrating information literacy goals into the program so that the academic curriculum can be supported through the use of information literacy skills taught by an information specialist. This involves a great deal of planning and collaboration with classroom teachers so that the partnership can be successful.
Week 12: Serving Tweens
How does understanding tween’s developmental stage assist in providing programming? What are some of the keys to a strong tween program?
There are a lot of great ideas for program planning covered in Chapter 4 of Serving Young Teens and Tweens. One suggestion that stood out is empowering youth to help with the ideas and preparation for programs in the library. Because peer groups play such a dominant role in the lives of tweens, they are likely to suggest activities that they know their friends would participate in, which in turn, will portray the library as a safe and welcoming environment for all to enjoy. At the same time, we need to understand that not all programs have to have an academic or literacy-based outcome. The appeal is in providing a time and a space for tweens to express themselves through creative, physical, and meaningful activities.
Week 7:
What surprises you about this research? What beliefs, attitudes or opinions does this research appear to confirm or contradict?
What are the implications here for addressing the needs of tweens in our libraries?
Week 6:
As you read these two chapters, connect them to your own experience. What ideas seem obsolete? Which endure?
How has the digital age influenced tweens' search for identity and community?
Tweens have learned to be very good at multi-tasking, but it also becomes a huge distraction. Having several programs and devices operating all at once while trying to do your homework simply does not seem to be a conducive to forming good study or work habits. There's also a constant need for instantaneous information, where it seems that a lot of tweens don't have the patience to tolerate slow delivery of information. I believe that access to technology and social networking has its benefits, especially the role that it plays in helping kids to explore and discover their identities. But it also takes away from the physical face-to-face interaction that is very important at this age.
Week 5:
How do the recommendations and studies presented in these readings square with your own experience? What seems counter-intuitive? What do you see as the key factors in promoting boys' reading? What common threads run through these readings?
As the mother of a tween-age son, I've struggled to keep my son engaged in reading for pleasure, unless the latest Rick Riordan book were to come out. As he was growing up, I tried to expose him to high-interest quality literature, and when that didn't work, I gave him the freedom to choose his own titles, which meant reading books like Pokemon or Wimpy Kid over and over again. He never got into Harry Potter or any of the other popular series books. But just because my son doesn't enjoy reading during his free time doesn't necessarily mean that he is a struggling reader. He's always done well in his English and Language Arts classes, (including scoring high on the standardized tests), and thanks to a couple of terrific English teachers, (both male and female), he has been exposed to quality classical and contemporary literature including books by Lois Lowry, Gennifer Choldenko, Gary Schmidt, George Orwell, Jack London, and several works of Shakespeare. But the lack of motivation is still there, and I find myself constantly struggling to get him interested in leisure-time reading. There are just too many other distractions, and many of them are technology related. I'm finding myself at a cross roads because I'm learning about all of the wonderful ways to infuse learning with technology, plus the fact that my children are digital natives, but the traditional parent in me feels obligated to limit the amount of time with the computer and electronics. What's a parent to do?
Week 4:
How do these populations change your understanding of the tween experience?
What are some of the ways we can serve tweens in these and other special populations?
Week 3:
What are the titles that are popular with the tweens you see/work with? Percy Jackson Series, any graphic novel, the Guiness Book of World Records, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series, Craft books, scary and horror stories, Judy Blume books, Judy Moody & Stink books, Inkheart Trilogy, Amelia series, Star Wars themed books, etc...
What are the activities, issues, etc. that are popular with tweens? Sports, music, clothing, getting into desired middle school, friendship cliques, latest video games, online gaming.
Why do you think these items and activities are popular? Books become popular by word-of-mouth. Tweens want to read what everybody else is reading or has read. The same is often true of activities. Kids want to do whatever their friends are doing, wear what their friends are wearing, and this gives them the feeling of belonging and feeling socially accepted.
Week 2:
How do marketer's presentation of/to tweens impact public perceptions of the age group?
Given their newfound independence, tween spending plays a large role in consumerism. Marketers have begun to capitalize on this niche as tweens are directly involved in spending $15 billion a year and influence and additional $30 billion in other spending by their parents. Many of the products targeted for tweens, from clothing to video games to TV shows, are somewhat loud, brightly-colored, a little bit goofy, with bold images, and conveys to the public that this age group lives a very fast-paced, (short attention-span), multi-tasked way of life. While some tweens fit into this description, many are overwhelmed with the newfound set of expectations that are being asked of them, in addition to having to deal with all of the physical and emotional changes that they are going through.
Week 1:
What ages would you use to define "tween" and why?
Tweens are a group of young people who generally fall between the ages of 8 – 14 and are developmentally between the stages of being a child and a teenager. This is a complex stage of development as tweens are still developing their own unique personalities, and are often torn between their family and their best friends. Friends, peer groups and their social status mean everything to them. They begin to realize that there is a greater world out there, and they begin to see themselves as a separate individual from their families. Peer groups and social acceptance are crucial at this stage of development.
