The Crayon Connection

Hardly any kids came to our afterschool program this past week.  That's not so surprising as we just started them and it may take a while to catch on.  The ones who came, however, drew a bit with a pencil but could not be encouraged to color in with crayon.  I started thinking about this.  Maybe at a certain age they would prefer to work with markers, which deliver a more saturated color.  Then up in the forefront of my mind popped the image of coloring programs on the computer. No problems keeping within the lines, color even and vibrant - not to mention fast.  Kids might not be finding the same joy in drawing and coloring that we did because it's not living up to what they've seen can be done (not that they're actually doing it - actually "coloring") on a computer.  They're just clicking on a space.

True, it requires use of fine motor skills to use a mouse, as anyone like me who has had to learn to do this later in life knows, but I keep thinking they need to be using their hands more.  I have even been asked by a kid, full of energy otherwise, to cut something out for him because cutting was making his hand hurt.   Watching kids of school age who are unable to do simple tasks with pencils, scissors, and tape dispensers worries me.  This story kept edging its way into the mix.  This man lost his ability to read from a stroke, but was able to work around his loss by tracing the letters he was looking at with his finger and then later with his tongue on the roof of his mouth.  Yes, it was slower - but he had not lost that part of the skill.  There is a clear link between the motor skills used to write with the ability to decode the printed word inside the brain.  This was only reiterated to me when I read this blogpost.

Computers are an integral part of our present and future, but we are already past the point where mouse use is a vital skill in computers.  We are now using just our fingertips (those of us - not me yet - who have the phones and tablet computers that do this).  Computers can now obey commands we vocalize.  We are running right past Star Trek science in some categories - even the more recent Star Trek versions.  We don't need to teach skills that are already on their way out.  And if I can learn to use computers at my age (I started after age 30 when you actually needed a huge manual and classes to figure out how to print a letter), these kids don't need to be saturated with those skills. 

Kids will learn to read better if they can connect the movements of their hands with the shapes of the letters. They need to be coloring, which teaches them to control their hands (and used to be deeply satisfying), as a pre-literacy skill.  They need to be writing and drawing with a tool in their hands to learn letters and to learn creativity.  We aren't just killing literacy with computers, but we are killing creativity.

Now, I spend way too much time on computers and I, too, get cramping in my hand trying to write a letter to someone.  I have also seen a great deal of creativity online, but most of this from people who already possess the skills from decades of writing and coloring - people who are already artists.  They aren't creating textures this beautiful with a mouse:

Virtual gown and avatar skin with hand-painted textures.

Let the children use the computers - but for limited amounts of time.  [And, while you're at it, make me get away from mine.  I am only too aware that this is not going to be an easy task.]  Make sure they get access to lots of paper, crayons, scissors, and quiet time.  Maybe you can share that time doing some writing or drawing of your own.  Try it.  It's a skill worth cultivating.  It has more value than you'd think.

201.01.10 - Updated to give a better link. Video no longer available, but NPR story still there.

SCLA 2007

The link is to the program ... which took me four clicks to reach from the SCLA homepage. Heads up, guys! When I was looking for information, I had to really hunt for it. Four clicks is the minimum for someone who knows exactly what they're looking for because they already found it once. I can't tell you how long it took me to find the program when I first hunted for it. If you have a big annual event coming up, there should be a direct and obvious link on your homepage.
The same thing applies to us, I guess.
Ahem.
Next time remind me to drive myself - or to check to see when people think they are arriving and leaving.

South Carolina in Second Life

[Sigh. There she goes about Second Life again!]. I had been asked by Catherine and Kevin to be on the panel, for questions at the end (so being there at the very beginning wasn't necessary). Then when Catherine batted the ball to me, I choked and had to pass. Hmm, mixed metaphor there. I don't think every library needs a presence in SL, but when the question was asked, "Why at all?" I thought it was self-answering. "Is there any reason for being in SL other than because people are there?" You could ask the same question about any branch library or bookmobile stop. Why scatter yourself all over? Make the public come to you. Haven't they got legs? Doesn't everyone have a car? If they have a computer with internet at home, surely they also have a car and you have a website. Why add this new interface?
Why do telephone reference? Damned technology, messing up our lives!
Why provide materials for the handicapped (they're useless anyway), non-English speakers (they should learn the language!), children (most can't read), or any specialized group?
Why stay downtown when you could move out to the suburbs, have a lovely library without the pesky homeless people walking in and spoiling the ambiance?
We go where there are people! It's our job!
Kevin showed that you could have a storefront in SL for the total cost of Zero United States Dollars ($0.00). Lemme see, how much is that in Linden Dollars ... dum-de-dum, carry the four ... uhhhhhh, Zero Again (0.00L)! And he has a conference room with a video uplink. Of course, he doesn't have any puppet shows going on ...
It was also brought up that you get a certain amount of anonymity in SL you don't get when you bring Home Remedies for the Clap up to the giggling women at the circ desk. There's a medical library on SL with live staff to direct you to better websites, and if they giggle, you'll never hear it. An avatar's face remains pleasantly frozen.
And I didn't remember to point out that I wouldn't have had to travel over two hours to get there if the sessions were simultaneously on SL. I could have slept to a normal time, sat in front of my computer in my jammies with a mug of tea, and not missed a thing. Well, unless there was a technical glitch. And then I might have connected late and ... oh, hmmmmmm.
I was able to give Kevin a real hug when it was over. Bless him, he has the energy and conviction of a Pentecostal preacher.

Serving SC Latino youth

I took a page and a half of notes on this and got an 8 page handout. Jamie Naidoo started by reading one of my favorite stories, Just a Minute! by Yuyi Morales. He went over the statistics on official and undocumented latinos in SC. We don't need to do any research, we can see them every day. Latino culture is based on four core values: familia, pertenecia, educacion, and compromiso. Note that the family one is first.
Intergenerational programming is best. They will come as a family.
Find someone in the latino community to assist in planning.
Survey the community before doing anything.
Naidoo is concerned about stereotyping, inaccuracies, and omissions. Bi-lingual books can have bad translations or the Spanish may be represented in a way that diminishes it (placement, font style or color that makes it difficult to read). We should be on the look-out for these things in choosing books.
The hand-out was loaded with resources, printed and web, that will take ages to sort through to glean info useful to our particular situation.
Tidbits:
When doing a bi-lingual storytime and you have the book in English and the book in Spanish - should you read the whole book in one language and then in another? At Lexington they are able to double-team for bi-lingual storytime, so one person reads one page in one language and the other person follows up with the same page in the other language. That's handy! [So, if you just have one person? Use the Spanish book and translate page by page. It may have to be a very simple one such as Oso pardo, oso pardo, or you might just have to memorize it.]
Idea for a program: make a dia de los muertos altar! (There's one in SL, as a matter of fact!). Do holiday programming, on Saturdays (hush my mouth!), once a month.

Lunch

I hadn't meant to stay for lunch. I didn't see an afternoon session I was interested in, but everyone else was staying for lunch. I wasn't even hungry until the vendors kept talking about lunch. Is everyone going to the lunch? Was the lunch extra? What are they having? We might go somewhere. After listening to all of that, I regretted my decision to not have the lunch (although there is really nothing worse than convention food - and I saw that the dessert was already sliced and drying out on the tables). I decided to eat at the hotel, and I ran into Annette from Abbeville at the bar. Ahem ... I mean, we ran into each other at the hotel restaurant. We ate and had a nice chat and she talked about some YA programming she had done that sounded like a lot of fun (instead of having everyone make the duct-tape wallet, she had instructions for that, another duct-tape craft, and then threw out the rolls of tape and let 'em have at it!). We agree at how much you can plan for a craft and then see that the kids will take it to another degree. I told her about the people pens we made one year with round-stick Bics and embroidery floss. One teenager just couldn't deal with it and one 9 year old boy made what he said was Britney Spears, complete with long blonde hair and exposed midriff. I made a Sammy Sosa. I should send her that page from American Girl where I found that craft.
It makes me think I should turn the wiki into a craft info center where we can share ideas and photos of crafts.

21st Century Literacy

This was far more interesting than I thought it would be. It was the closest session to my field, and I didn't expect much. Deborah Yoho (not about to forget that name) works for the Organization Formerly Known As Literacy Council. They merged with some group and now call themselves "Turning Pages." Things like this only inspire a rant with me about how names of companies these days just don't make sense. I am suspicious when companies change names (often to shake off bad publicity). Gone are the days when someone's name meant that a genuine person or family took pride in their business. But I'll save that rant for another blog.
Part of the problem with learning to read in schools today is the "tension" between the three methods: phonics, whole language, and sight word. When dealing with kids with learning difficulties and especially with adults, you have to find the best method to use with them. That will require some one-on-one teaching which is expensive.
In SC we are still dealing with the legacy of the denigration of education. Education was not compulsary for all SC children until the early 1960s. I ran into a more in-depth view of education in SC, particularly in the upstate, in Kathy Cann's history of Spartanburg Methodist College, Common Ties. SMC started up as a school to teach textile workers, some who had had no education or school experience prior to attending.
You didn't need any school to work in the textile mills and children were often brought to the mills to watch their parents work until they were old enough to be doffers or take on some other paid job. This was in the 20th century.
We babyboomers are the last generation to reach a greater education level than the one before us. I see in my notes that I don't say we are better educated. Or smarter. There's this synergy between a lost generation (education-wise), immigration, and shrinking resources that is creating "The Perfect Storm." [I'm so glad she brought that up because I hadn't heard of that movie/book and it was part of the answer to a question on "Says You!" last night. That made me look soooo smart!]
Literacy needs: volunteers, space (we'll have more space in the new library), and resources such as books and magazines for new readers. It would also be nice to have a private audio-visual space. Math books. (This is so hard for librarians. If we could do math, we'd be in industry making the big bucks.)
An important lesson she learned is that It's About Story. She had to relinquish her animosity toward the furry animals in stories when she discovered that the adults could relate to them because they were in stories. Go figure!
It is about stories. It is the stories that engage children and adults. A story makes it worth puzzling out to the end of the word, the end of the sentence, and all the way to the end of the piece. Did it turn out the way you expected? Was it satisfying? Was it worth the effort? It made me want to tutor ... although the idea that it took Yoho four years to get her group up to a second grade reading level is pretty daunting.