Library & Information Science,
Course 262: Resources for Young Adults.
Created by Dr.David Loertscher
Copyright, David V. Loertscher,
Fall 2006
Begin reading, viewing and listening to a wide variety of materials as soon as possible. Keep a record of what you consume using the guidelines for #7 below. Students always ask if they can include materials they have previously read. The instructor allows materials read up to 6 months previously read to count, but they should be fresh enough in your mind to discuss intelligently.
Do you have to read every word of the book, sit through every minute of the movie/concert/music video hour, view every page and link of an Internet site, etc. to count the item? The answer is no, but you must be able to know the item well enough to intelligently discuss it and know how to introduce it to a teen.
The instructor recommends that you learn how to skim, scan, devour, enjoy, probe, peruse, and any other verb that helps you to know the contents of an item pretty well. While amount counts, there is no use breezing through hundreds of items you will not remember and in the process feel frustrated. The objective is to enjoy building a solid repertoire and to develop a skill in repertorie-building that will last a career. This is a fun class, so slow down a bit and smell the roses. In the library world, we want to spread enthusiasm about the content of materials to teens and the people who work with them. It is tough to recommend what you don't know.
Should you learn to speed read? No. But it helps. Here is how David Loertscher does it:
As a reader, viewer, listener, and netter, I skim sometimes and sometimes read or consume every delicious bit or byte. For books, I read carefully at the beginning getting the setting, characters, and author's writing style under control, and then if the item isn't really worth reading, I start skipping and scanning, slowly at first, and then faster until I get through the item and still preserve some sense of enjoyment. If suddenly I realize that the book is too good to ignore, I slow down and enjoy. I also try to sample many authors rather than read everthing an author writes. I always carry a book with me and am never without an audio book in the car on my iPod. I have adults and teen confidants who feed me good things and I feed them in return. I look at all the lists that come out for recommendations. And, my personal reading habits cost me a fortune since I am not a very good library user. Amazon.com thank you. (No, Dave: thanks for being such a great customer! signed Amazon.com.) Publishers send me stuff too, and that helps.
For other materials, I sample, probe, hear others talk about, and if I like it, I spend solid time enjoying. I read all the movie reviews and go to the cheap showings. There are always 10-20 items/videos on my bed nightstand.
It's one of the most pleasing hobbies I have and I hope it will become your hobby too.
(The above was written before my major loss in vision due to macrodegeneration. Now, I am confined almost exclusively to audio books. These come from a variety of sources: Audible.Com and the Library of Congress but I leave my suggestions above as the way I did it for many many years)
Now to the assignments:
Schedule.
First class period:
Complete the weekly assignments for week 1 before the first class meeting and start building your media file.
Second class period:
Complete the weekly assignments for weeks 2-4 before the second class meeting.
Third Class period:
Complete the weekly assignments for weeks 5-9 before the third class meeting.
Fourth class period:
Complete assignments for weeks 1-13
Media file and mini-expert project due August 10 along with the log of the class (everything you have done on each assignment). All are posted to Blackboard.
Assignment 1: Connecting. Enroll yourself in this course by going to Blackboard at http://tigris.sjsu.edu. Instructions are on the greensheet.
Assignment 2: Learn how to read the professional articles on electronic researve. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0, for PDF files if it is not already on your computer. This will gain you access to professional articles on electronic researve from the San Jose State University Library in the PDF format. PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Any document created by any software can be converted to a PDF file, preserving its original content, layout, and color. These files are viewable with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat Reader free at Adobe's Web site. Be sure to take note of the name of the file you are downloading. After download, look again at the instructions on Adobe's download page. There are a few more steps for installation.
For caputing documents and webpages, experiment with Microsoft word in the Save As porion. See if you can PRINT to pdf instead of a printer. You should be able to capture most any printed document and convert it to a pdf file that you can save on your computer.
Assignment 3: Read one 2006 copyrighted book for young adults, write a review, and post it to the YAReviews wikii on seedwiki.com.
Assignment 4: Create a media file. Create a media file (w1u.html) of everything you read, view, listen, and compute in three sections: Required reading, Additional reading, Professional Reading. Put titles for your mini-expert project in the additional reading section. For your media file, use the three Exce3l spreadsheets located in the documents section of Blackboard to record all you read, view, or hear. These spreadsheets are to be uploaded to the assignment manager of Blackboard no later than August 10.
Assignment 5: Topical Conversations. Also each week, you should participate in a class discusson on Blackboard. Post at least twice at different times before Friday of each week.
Topic 1: (All semester ) share tips and tricks for creating mini expert projects with the entire class. This place will be on the main discussion board.
Topic 2: (Sept 4) Hinton and Cormier got us started with realistic fiction for teens. Do you think teens really enjoy reading about other teens problems? Is a steady diet of teen problems actually contributing to the dysfunctional image of teens?
Topic 3: (Sept 11)Many bookstores only stock series books for teens rather than more substantive titles. From your sampling of these types of titles, what is the appeal of these books and do you think they appeal to a wide variety of teens: rich, poor, cultural groups, etc.?
Topic 4:(Sept 18) Do you feel that realistic fiction or nonfiction aimed at teens can have a theraputic affect on the reader? (this has often been called bibliotherapy in the professional literature, i.e., give a girl with anorexia a book about a girl who conquered the problem.)
Topic 5: (Sept 25) Can books and film bring the past to life? Draw positives and negatives from what you have read and viewed.
Topic 6: (October 2) Many teens read about celebrities either in magazines, on TV, or in books. But are there any role models worth their attention?
Topic 7: (Oct 9) Is there enough great stuff in the world of science and technology to attract the best and the brightest of all teen groups into productive careers? If so, how would you promote this type of material?
Topic 8: (Oct 16) Is science fiction and fantasy an escapist literature for the disconnected teen? When this is the case, how does one attract a reader into other genres?
Topic 9: (Oct 23) Must the entire teen experience be held by the popular culture? or, is there room for "higher" culture? - examples, please, from what you are sampling.
Topic 10: (Oct 30) From your reading, viewing and listening, are materials for teens promoting a society that gets along or are they helping to widen the gaps?
Topic 11: (November 6)What aspects of adult materials are appealing to teenagers?
Topic 12: (Nov 13) What advances in the world of reference works for teens are making it easier for this group to participate in the information society?
Assignment 6: Professional Reading. Help build the new collaborative bibliography and resource wiki for 262 during the summer. directions will be given in class Go to: http:/www.seedwiki.com and search for LIBR262 Bibliography. If asked for a password, it is: 262. Read at least 1 articles/resources and add at least 3 quality sites/professional books/websites that other YA librarians would find very useful.
Assignment 7: Writing More Reviews. Add five other reviews of materials you read, view of hear to the same wiki. The best way to learn how to do this is to read and analyze already-published articles in a journal you'd like to write for. After you have written several good reviews, you can submit your work to the journal and volunteer to be a reviewer for them. Journals are always looking for good reviewers. Kathleen T. Horning (w1aj.html) has some excellent suggestions in her book: From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books. HarperCollins, 1997.
Assignment 9: Professionalism. Show that you are a member of any professional organization dealing with teens such as YALSA, NCTE, AASL, etc. Because you are a student, these organizations provide reduced rates for memberships so it is a very good time to experience their services and insert yourself into their work. It will also be of value in preparing your 3portfolio for our masters. Report this information on the Assignment Manager.
Assignment 10: Mentoring. Build a repertoire of authors, titles, performers, films, Internet sites, etc. and help others in the class develop their repertoire. None of us, including the instructor, can know it all.
Assignment 11: Class Participation. Participate in class and Internet discussions in a positive way. Points are given for the various projects and activities we do in class. These activity points cannot be received in any other ay than attending the class.
Assignment 12 Post all assignments to the Assignment Manager on Blackboard. Check in advance to see each of the boxes and prepare your files appropriately during the semester so you will not need to do everything at the end.
Assignment 13 Prepare and submit one video booktalk to YouTube.com and Google Video. This will be a class project.
Adapted from the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
• Listen openly to what is said, rather than who says it.• Respond to the comments of others, rather than merely waiting for an opportunity to say your comments.
• Comment to the group as a whole, rather than someone seated near you.
• Look at each book or multimedia item for what it is, rather than what it is not.
• Make positive comments first. Try to express what "works" before you talk about what doesn't "work" (i.e. difficulties you had with a particular aspect of the item). One way of expressing difficulties is by asking questions, rather than making declarative judgments of the book. Fore example, saying "Would Max's dinner really still have been hot?" rather than "That would never happen" would promote further discussion.
• Avoid recapping the story or booktalking the book or item of media. There is no time for a summary.
• Refrain from relating personal anecdotes. The discussion must focus on the item at hand - its quality and why young adults would or would not like it.
This page was last revised on Aug. 206