Language is important...

...and indicates understanding.

"Some people do different things or need different things from the average person. (Or the imaginary average person.) Other people have to decide how they feel about that difference.
...
However, usually a minority group's right to option one is supported or denied on the grounds of whether they can help being different or not. If you want someone to be responsible for your bad behavior toward them, you argue that they are being different on purpose.
...
Therefore you can kind of tell what side someone's on just by how they talk about someone who is different.

Medical and mainstream culture descriptions of autism are steeped in option two language. They are very superficial descriptions of things Autistic people do, with the implication that Autistic people do these things simply because they like them, or for no reason at all.

1. "Autistic people stim" not "Autistic people stim BECAUSE" or "Autistic people have motor/sensory stuff going on that causes them to move like this or be soothed by doing this."

2. "Autistic people avoid eye contact" not "It scares Autistic people to look at other people's eyes."

..."

And more examples/explanation on the blog post behavior vs. ability

Stop Stealing Dreams - Seth Godin

Seth Godin's TED talk on "What is school for?"

Includes a little history on the development of public education (purpose: to train people to follow directions and work in factories), how current schooling focuses on training/processing rather than educating or thinking, desire to do art vs. work, and 8 important ideas. Lots of great quotes/one-liners!

For Those Who Want to Lead, Read - HBR

"But deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders and can catalyze insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness."

"And history is littered not only with great leaders who were avid readers and writers (remember, Winston Churchill won his Nobel prize in Literature, not Peace), but with business leaders who believed that deep, broad reading cultivated in them the knowledge, habits, and talents to improve their organizations."

-from John Coleman, Harvard Business Review blog

Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage

Best thing ever.

Communicate with Infographics

"People don’t like to read. They don’t read signs, they don’t read fliers and they don’t read all that web copy. ... But I’ve learned that to communicate a message less is more.

So I wanted to share with you this trend, Infographics: using visual power to tell your story."

from LJ's Bubble Room blog: "Telling Your Story with Visual Power"

Stephen Fry is Fantastic!

"Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators."
-Stephen Fry

Pet First Aid

Consider offering Pet First Aid courses to teens (gender neutral, unlike Babysitting courses). Could also turn into program series with entrepreneur/business programs to create a teen Pet and/or Babysitting series.

American Red Cross offers Cat First Aid and Dog First Aid training materials. Arlington Heights community center is offering Cat and Dog First Aid courses.

April is Pet First Aid Awareness Month.

VOYA October 2011

Community Service Teen Programming

To increase teen program attendance, create programs that also offer meaningful community service. Many teens need community service hours for school or religious organizations, so programs fulfilling this need are popular and well-attended.

Could be Community Service Week (held in February)

Required training and orientation sessions

Programs for teens who like working with children: Book Buddies, Game Day, Yoga Buddies (taught by certified instructor), recycled crafts, story/craft time

Programs for teens who like working with adults: Tech Team (one-on-one basic computer instruction for adults who register in advance)

Programs for teens who like working solo: Food Drive (sort and box food during Community Service Week food drive), Read-a-Thon (teens are sponsored to read with money raised going to local food banks and shelters; library supplies books, bagels, snacks, beverages to keep teens fueled; various times - could be 6 hour event)


VOYA October 2011

"Let Them Eat Dougnuts" management tips

"What was the secret to [the best library supervisor's] success, I wanted to know.

'I have one rule and one rule only,' Tom said. 'Figure out what employees really want and give it to them. ... Pull out your copy of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I know you have one because you have an MLS degree, and anyone with an MLS degree had to read and digest Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow is the only management book you will ever need. Get rid of every other management book. ... When it comes to staff morale, I stress three things and three things only: salary, benefits, and food.'"

'Tom's five rules of food:

1. Pot lucks are a disaster. The last thing tired employees want to do is go home and cook and bake for their colleagues. ... Instead, have pizzas delivered on your dime.

2. Clean the staff refrigerator. Yes, Mr. Manager, that means you. Don’t delegate this job because you will be hated. Put on a respirator and some rubber gloves and throw everything away every Friday afternoon after lunch. Staff will love you.

3. Keep a chocolate jar on your desk. You want open communication? Put a jar filled with chocolate nuggets on your desk. If you keep that jar filled with morsels of milk chocolate, your office will be the most popular work space in the library.

4. Invest in multiple microwaves. Yes, that’s right. Technology is taking over libraries. Computers are important, but they are not nearly as important to staff as microwaves.

5. Don’t forget the Friday-morning doughnuts. And, hey, no matter how much you admire Mrs. Obama, don’t ever be tempted to substitute a fruit platter for doughnuts. Ever!'

-from "The Manley Arts" Oct. 1, 2011 Booklist

The People's Library of Occupy Wall Street

"The Occupy Wall Street Library is an incredible source of credibility for the larger Occupy Wall Street movement. A quick online search turns up dozens of stories from around the world that reference the library, and the prevailing attitude about it seems to be some variation of “these protestors are more together than you think, they even have a library.” This is a strong endorsement both of the movement and of the role of libraries in modern society. The idea that a library is seen as a mark of culture and that creating one is a mark of civic pride and gravitas says a lot about how the institution is still valued by society at large."

"Along with the movement, Occupy libraries are spreading. ...It is becoming a part of the working model of long-term occupation sites that they have a library. This isn’t a formal decision and there is no network or protocols between the libraries. It is simply taken as a matter of course that this niche would present itself and be filled by a library. These hard-working activist library volunteers are ensuring that the revolution will archived and cataloged for generations to come."

-American Libraries article

Libraries

"Is there anything more satisfying than making it possible for people--irrespective of class or appearance or age--to learn, to laugh, to reflect, and to relax in their own public space and without being exhorted to do this or buy that?"

-Sanford Berman, quotes from Unabashed Librarian 158

Importance of (School) Librarians for 21st Century Learners

"To use the Internet as a library you need new research skills: the ability to pick out reliable sources from an overwhelming heap of misinformation, to find relevant material amid an infinite array of options, to navigate the shifting ethics of creative commons and intellectual property rights and to present conclusions in a manner that engages modern audiences."

"In addition to learning how to phrase a search query, students need to learn how to protect themselves online, and how to share their work through wikis, videos, and other interactive media. Without a dedicated guide, they end up, in the words of professor Henry Jenkins, as 'feral children of the Internet raised by the Web 2.0 wolves.'"

"Students at many elite schools are learning critical 21st century skills while librarians are eliminated from budget-stressed school districts. The result? What a University College of London study called a 'new divide,' with students who have access to librarians 'taking the prize of better grades' while those who don't have access to school librarians showing up at college beyond hope, having 'already developed an ingrained coping behaviour: they have learned to "get by" with Google.' This new divide is only going to widen and leave many students hopelessly lost in the past, while others fully embrace the future. Already Tufts University has begun to accept student-produced Web videos as a supplement to admissions applications."

"Before parents accept the wisdom of a school board to cut school librarians, they should ask: Will my child graduate with a 21st century resume, or a 19th century transcript? Can he use collaborative technology, such as wikis? When a search engine returns 105 million results, can the student find the five that will set her paper apart? With the Web evolving by the minute, can classroom teachers alone, stressed by assessment testing and ever-growing paperwork burdens, help students figure this all out? As the information landscape becomes ever more complex, why does a school district want to abandon its professional guides to it?"

Young Learners Need Librarians, Not Just Google: Forbes 3.22.10

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