R buckley lis506 - post 3 - concluding thoughts - best practices assignment
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Teen-led story times in libraries and schools have many benefits. The author implemented a successful program in their library using student volunteers to lead story times for young children. Research showed that teens gain confidence and skills while building relationships with children and library staff. The author's students said the program helped them learn literacy skills and the importance of reading to children. One student hoped to read to their future kids daily. The author was motivated to share their positive experience and consider writing an article about implementing such programs in school libraries.
R buckley lis506 - post 3 - concluding thoughts - best practices assignment
- 1. Best Practices Assignment Opinion Post #3 Teen-‐Led Story Times in the Library By Rebecca Buckley LIS 506 Concluding Thoughts I am glad that I chose Teen-led Story Times in the Library as my topic for this Best Practices assignment as it has really validated my implementation of this type of program in my own library. I thoroughly enjoyed reading some of the articles and got some great ideas for further implementation with my Student Library Advisory Council. It is great to see that so many libraries have found success using teens to serve young children. I found so many other great articles (listed at the end of my Annotated Bibliography) examining the worth of training teen volunteers in more traditional library service as well. I look forward to reading more of these and perhaps taking a few ideas to my SLACkers for feedback. I am highly motivated to successfully use student volunteers because of staffing cuts and a very busy library schedule and intense workload. Student volunteers can be a handful, but if I train them and manage them pretty strictly, with lots of verbal praise and occasional sugary treats, I could end up with a great staff of student workers. I wasn’t all that surprised that I didn’t find any research or articles related to school libraries implementing such Teen-led Story Time programs, but that has motivated me to consider writing my own article. I think that the model of my own Children’s Library and Teen-led Story Times in my high school library might serve as a great example for other high school libraries with neighboring Early Childhood Centers or Centers that are on campus, like mine is. I can see how much good my own program has done with my teens and with the preschoolers and so far, there has been very minimal cost. The program builds confidence in teens and young children as well as building relationships between
- 2. myself, the Youth Services person at my local public library and my teens. It’s been an exciting opportunity for all involved! When I asked my students about their experience with the Children’s Library and Teen-led Story Times at my school, all of the kids were very enthusiastic. They mentioned how they were learning really handy skills now so that they could help their little brothers and sisters or cousins learn to read better. One girl mentioned that now she understood how important it was to read aloud to small children and that literacy is more than just words. She said that when she has her own children, she would take them to the library every week and read aloud to them every night before bed. One of the students said that he enjoyed playing with the little kids and he thinks it’s important that small children have positive role models. He said that, as an African American male, he thinks that it is especially beneficial for small children that they know he loves to read and to read aloud to them! I have two teen participants that receive Special Education services and I think that they get the most out of participating. They were so excited to share their books with the young preschoolers and I could see an immediate ego boost when they had that captive audience of eager young faces listening to their every word. Seeing that is so rewarding to me! Teen-led Story Times are beneficial for all involved and I look forward to implementing some new ideas, as well as share experiences from my own program with others in the future.