Content: Social Media and Networking

Type: Podcast

Length: 1 Hour

Level: Library Professionals

Organisers: School Librarians United

Presenters: Amy Hermon and Lucas Maxwell

Format: A one hour podcast

Reflection

Objectives: This episode of School Librarians United spoke about the difficulties of promoting reading to teenagers. The guest, Lucas Maxwell, spoke about his experiences with teens at his school library, and how he tries to promote reading amongst them. He also spoke about the reasons behind this, and used an analogy of a coke can to explain why they might not be able to engage, which I will talk about in the learning outcomes.

Reasons for attending: Simply put; the library I work at is a high-school, with students aged from 11 to 18 years old. This falls right into the group that this episode is talking about, so I decided to listen to it in order to assist with promoting reading and the library to teens, which is sometimes a struggle at work.

Relation to studies and learning outcomes: This episode spoke a lot about concepts of managing patrons, student engagement, and reading advisory practices. It offered a good insight into the reasons behind teens being disengaged from school and from reading, and offered the coke can analogy; a teenager is like a coke can, and everything that happens to them after they wake up shakes the can a little. By the time the teen reaches you at the library, the can has been shaken so much it is ready to explode, and this analogy is really fantastic when it comes to understanding and empathy, putting more of a focus on student wellbeing than forcing them to read if they are going to explode.

Future Uses: Focusing more on wellbeing is, I think, much more valuable than getting them to read a book immediately. Building a relationship based on trust and safety is important for a school library, and this coke can analogy will no doubt help me understand why some students don’t want to engage. Lucas also spoke about how signs don’t work, and this is something I have noticed, so I will take those suggestions into account, such as no negative signage like ‘don’t do this or that’

Evidence: Screenshot during podcast

Screenshot during podcast

Link: https://schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com/161-teaching-teens