Quotes: Twenty-First-Century Kids, Twenty-First-Century Librarians

Twenty-First-Century Kids, Twenty-First-Century Librarians by Virginia A. Walter

Boston Public Library's original 1852 mission statement:
"There can be no doubt that... reading ought to be furnished to all, on the same principle that we furnish free education." (quoted from Williams 1988, 4) p. 1

Writing Programs

"No Wrong Way to Write"
Overview of starting a Teen Writers Group, including writing exercises:

"Writing soundtracks - Ask teens to compile their favorite writing soundtracks for different genres.

By the beat - Share a short story with the group, then give them ten minutes to re-write it using only one-syllable words. Discuss how different the story feels.

Round Robin - Write a sentence on the white board and then have everyone continue the story for three minutes. After time is up, everyone passes the page to the right to continue the story. For the next pass, the fold the page down so they can only see what the last person wrote. The page goes all the way around the group one time.

Speak up - Ask your teens to write a scene using only dialogue--no descriptors, no tag lines.

Story in a hat - Choose four types of words (nouns, adjectives, colors, actions, etc.) and ask the group for as many examples as there are teens in your group, writing each word on its own piece of paper. Then pass a hat with the words in it so that everyone gets one of each type. Give the teens 15-20 minutes to write a story using those words as often as possible."

Issue also includes a couple more articles/columns on teen writing programs.

VOYA April 2011

Bullying Resources

"The Elephant in the School Yard"

Picture Books, Middle Grade, Middle and High School titles
Media Picks (DVDs)
Websites

SLJ February 2011