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The kids at my school are little activists.  New research by the Girl Scouts Research Institute supports tendencies among today’s youth towards getting involved.  Click through to read about the particular initiatives I’ve seen and more about this study.

Around our community students have been finding ways to help the environment and reach out to less fortunate communities.

Four eighth graders got the whole school thinking about our energy consumption as part of the Green Cup Challenge.  The spoke to their peers, to the younger children, and to the adults in our community, asking each to remember to turn off lights anywhere they aren’t being used around our campus.  They even worked with the maintenance staff to remove one third of the light bulbs in light fixtures in several campus buildings.  Thanks to their efforts our school-wide consumption of electricity was reduced.

When we heard about the earthquake in Haiti, the kids wanted to help.  One sixth grader has been holding a bake sale.  Nut free treats every Monday, proceeds donated to help Haiti.  A third grade girl started a fund drive. She emailed the Lower School Head asking, “How can we help?”  They set up a jar for money to be collected.  One boy donated fifteen dollars of his own money.  The counted up the totals and donated it to UNICEF.

And it’s not just the kids I know. I also saw a story in the Boston Globe about an eleven year old girl in Hull, MA who staged an all day read-a-thon of the first Harry Potter book to raise money for her local library. Go, go, Gryffindor, indeed.

A recent study by the Girl Scouts Research Institute and Harris Interactive confirms that these are not isolated stories, young people today are “civic minded” and value “community involvement,” more so than youth did twenty years ago.  They also value diversity and acceptance more than ever.  Students from third to twelfth grade, both girls and boys, were polled.  You can download a PDF of the full study, or read abstracts here.

A few quotes that stood out to me:

“Today’s youth also highly value civic and community engagement, but previous research from the Girl Scout Research Institute shows that they often do not feel they have the places and opportunities to fulfill this desire. Youth are most interested in engaging at the community level, so try to connect what is going on locally with their interests and skills.” As the hub of the community, the library can be a place to encourage teen community involvement.  Librarians can help connect teens to opportunities to help.

“Give them [teens] the opportunity to do so by asking questions about their lives and engaging them on issues that matter to them.” Librarians already do this by having Teen Advisory Boards, asking teens to contribute booktalks or make booktrailers, helping teens use media to express themselves, by getting feedback about library programs, or simply by being good listener

I started out this post by titling it “Libraries are not Cool.” But then, the more I wrote, the more I realized I don’t really agree with that statement. For some people, they really are. And it’s important for librarians to talk up their libraries, find out ways to make them more appealing to all age groups, and allow for the library to approach levels of coolness — by lifting food and cell phone bans, bringing in video games, and talking in normal voices, for a start.

But here’s the thing. When it comes to teens: we should just forget about trying to be cool. I, for example, am not cool. I am in my own head, but I’m not in reality. I watch MTV. I read gossip blogs and listen to top 40 radio and I even pay attention to fashion, though I dress like I don’t. But I am also in my thirties. I dress like I don’t care about fashion. I sometimes accidentally start sentences with “when I was in high school…” or “that band used to be cool when…” And top 40 radio + gossip blogs does not = cool for all people anyway. All teens and all communities are different. Which is why we should forget about trying to be cool. In the words of mothers of teenagers everywhere: libraries, you really should be yourselves, and people will like you.

Teens have a super-high BS meter. They see right through you if you’re faking it. This came up in a comment on my “Speidi” post, in which one wise librarian said that really, we just need to care about things—be passionate about things—no matter what they are. Teens will respond to that. And I agree wholeheartedly. In my experience as a librarian (and dorm parent) at a boarding school, I saw a lot of teachers try hard to be friends with their students. It was tough to watch. Kids do not take kindly to that. I know it sounds cynical, but many teens will just take advantage of adults in those situations. Once you’re “friends” with your students, it’s very difficult to enforce boundaries.

Many responded to mk Eagle’s post about the boundaries issue to say that yes, indeed, teens want them. It’s even mentioned in the 40 Developmental Assets, which as we all know is the teen librarian’s Bible. Kids like to know what the line is so that they can avoid it, bump up against it, or decide to cross it altogether. And if you’re trying to promote yourself as their peer, then how will they feel when you turn around and try to show them the line? Like you are full of baloney.

A few of the girls in my Teen Advisory Board complained to me once about being able to see the Facebook profile of an adult in their lives. She friended them to keep an eye on them, supposedly — so she could see if they posted any photos of themselves drinking or doing anything else against the rules. But in turn, she opened up her own photos to them, and they were uncomfortable with that. They didn’t want to see her friends, her boyfriend, or anything about her personal life. And that is why I have a separate Facebook account that I use for work-related stuff. Yeah, it’s not the best solution, but I’d rather have to manage two accounts (including one that makes me look work-obsessed—and hence not like a real person—since all I do is talk about my li

An article in a local newspaper recently touted the launch of a new iPhone application (iCommunicate) designed to help parents of autistic or developmentally delayed children. It sounded like such a wonderful tool, and it made me wonder if there were any apps out there (other than games) that might be useful for teens. I decided to do a little research and see what I could find.

The App Podcast, which bills itself as the leading iPhone and iPod Touch app review site, has plenty of categories to choose from to help you in your search for the killer app. I was disappointed to find that they haven’t created a special niche dedicated to apps for teens. In fact, a keyword search of the site for the term “teen,” only yielded two hits: Teen Live Drive ($7.99) which helps teens prepare for the driving test, and Kipo ($0.99) which encourages good behavior in kids and teens with a point earning/rewards system. Is it me, or does the basic concept of Teen Live Drive just seem wrong in some way? Given the preponderance of warnings about the dangers of teens texting and driving, there’s something troubling to me about suggesting teens should use their phones to become better drivers.

iPhone and iPod Touch review site, 148Apps, was recently named one of the Top 100 Websites of 2009 by PC Magazine. The site provides up to date reviews and information on best selling apps and recent price drops. Reviews are organized by category. Again, none of the apps are tagged specifically for teens, rendering any type of targeted search futile.

While the mainstream review sites aren’t geared toward identifying the best of the apps for teens, check out this list of Ten Best and Worst iPhone Apps for Teens and Parents as decided by Radical Parenting. There are a few real finds on this site and a few apps bound to raise eyebrows with teens.

TextPlus is a free app that serves up free unlimited texting for iPhone and iPod Touch users. The app is free for the sender, though standard text messaging charges apply for the person receiving the text message. In the case of the iPod Touch, a number is assigned, which will show up on the other person’s phone. SAT Test Prep ($1.99) promises to increase those all important college entrance scores. And Sit or Squat fulfills a more basic need: directions to the nearest (and cleanest?) local restroom.

What do you think are the best or most popular iPhone apps for teens? What do teen patrons have to say? I took an informal poll of the teens at my library and here are the results:

• Facebook
• Tap Tap Revenge
• More Toast!
• Sally’s Salon
• Flashcards
• iTranslate
• Flight of the Hamsters

Registration for the 2009-2010 WrestleMania Reading Challenge will close July 31 —teens and tweens at your library could win a trip to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix, and you could win $2,000 for your library! Just complete Teen Read Week™ registration at www.ala.org/teenread and say “yes” to the WrestleMania Reading Challenge by July 31. .

The WrestleMania Reading Challenge, sponsored by YALSA and World Wrestling Entertainment, encourages teens and tweens in grades 5-12 to read one item a week for 10 weeks, starting in January. Teens and tweens can win prizes and incentives from WWE, including the chance to compete in the national WrestleMania Reading Challenge championships to win ringside tickets to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix in March. The sponsoring library of each finalist wins $2,000. Details on the 2010 challenge are available on YALSA’s website. After the jump, find out how students can win a trip to WrestleMania this year and read about the experiences of last year’s finalists.

Teens and tweens who want to win the trip to WrestleMania will go to the participating school or public library, check out and read a combined total of ten books, graphic novels and magazines, complete a log sheet, available from your librarian, indicating the name and author of the books, graphic novels and magazines read, and design a bookmark which includes a slogan that promotes reading. The slogan may be written in either English or Spanish.  The bookmark and slogan will be judged based on the following objective criteria: (a) impact of the slogan; (b) originality of the design; (c) relevance of the graphics and images to the slogan; and (d) overall visual appeal.

Students are divided into three grade levels (5-6, 7-8, and 9-12) for judging. Based on the submitted reviews, a national judging committee of YALSA members will select five finalists from each grade level to attend the championships. Whichever finalist from each grade levels answers the most correct questions about their required book will win ringside seats. Author Will Weaver will judge the championship round. Weaver’s appearance is courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers and Square Fish, imprints of Macmillan Publishing Group.

Looking for more info? Some of last year’s finalists talked to Lori Gruenthal, chair of YALSA’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge Jury, about their experiences.

Paula Brehm-Heeger, a past YALSA president, met with several of the winners, including Stephanie Diaz, Karolina Flores, Angelica Kruth, and Marissa Braun, at Wrestlemania 25 in Houston. They all admitted to being fans of WWE when they entered the contest. As one of them noted, “first my friend entered  and when I heard about how you can get a trip, I thought it was a hoax or something. But then when it was true, I said, ‘hot dog - I’m doing it.’”

Stephanie, Karolina, and Marissa saw posters at their library and asked the librarian for details about the contest. Marissa’s librarian told her to enter “because you like drawing stuff and you like wrestling.” As it turns out, each teen had an artistic background. Karolina was inspired by her personal experience. She told Paula, “I am a second degree black belt in tae kwon do. I wrote my text in English and Spanish since my family is from Mexico. The English side has a tae kwon do dude. On the Spanish side, I did a little girl baking because I am interested in cooking too.”

Angelica was inspired by her description of reading, “as the key to the present, past, and future.” Marissa brainstormed ideas. She says, “I bounced a couple slogans off of friends and cousins and picked the best one and then just sort of put the pictures to words.” Each bookmark was unique and creative regardless of how they came about their design.

The teens each recommended entering this year’s contest and had positive remarks to share. Stephanie said, “If you’re really interested in something just go for it and do what you have to do.” Karolina said she got a lot out of the experience. She enjoyed “going other places,” and discovering vocabulary words and different authors. Marissa enthusiastically added, “You get to meet a lot of wrestlers and of course there’s always the two tickets to Wrestlemania — awesome!”

Angelica revealed she was “never a fan of reading.” She said, “School just deteriorated my whole interest in reading. When I heard about the contest, I thought I’ll give it a try. It is 10 books. When I actually read the mission of the program, to get kids who aren’t really interested in reading to read, I knew I would be the perfect candidate for that. It was the first time I actually enjoyed reading. Now when I get a book or assignment, I think I’ll give it a shot.”