Young Adult

Media Literacy and the Art of Storytelling, Ep. 01

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This Spring I joined a group of 20+ educators from around Alaska for COVID-19 Podcasting & Digital Storytelling: Culturally Responsive and Social Emotional Best Practices, a virtual professional learning course offered by See Stories. I’ve been exploring the technical aspects of creating podcasts and telling stories, with an eye towards supporting teens as creators, as well as how to engage youth with social emotional learning. The course has provided a great opportunity to learn from other educators/learners and excellent instructors as well as a “moment” to reflect on what I consider valuable aspects of my work with youth and families in the public library.

I have been thinking about audio and oral storytelling more over the last year as I developed and hosted Radio Storytime in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Families and whole communities have a rich tradition of oral storytelling in Alaska and discussions within the course included how to foster those culturally important skills among youth. Podcasts and other digital storytelling platforms can offer opportunities for teens to be both the creator (storyteller, director, interviewer) and consumer (listener, reader, viewer), unlike what they might experience with other formats, books for example, where the roles are more static.

The beauty of podcasting and digital storytelling with teens, and this course’s focus in particular, is that it supports the key principles behind creative learning, grounds media literacy in social emotional learning and cultural identity, and gives youth tools and platforms to express their own ideas in meaningful ways, all ideas I think a lot about. The ultimate goal of the course is to incorporate podcasting into our work with teens, but for now each of us is learning the skills we’ll share with teens by creating our own podcasts. I have loved the time to explore how podcasts are made and the excuse to have deeper conversations about media literacy and youth, both of which this course offered me.

For my first foray into podcasting, I interviewed women with different perspectives of media literacy, learning and youth. Here is the first episode of my multi-part podcasting experiment in which I talk with friend and colleague Lisa Guernsey who is the director of the Teaching, Learning, & Tech program and senior advisor to the Early & Elementary Education Policy program at New America. From her role in national conversations about learning in a connected world, Lisa has a bird’s eye view of media literacy and youth.

I would love your feedback! Add to the comments below or feel free to email me.

Media Literacy and the Art of Storytelling: Episode 01 with Lisa Guernsey

Media Literacy Week: Girls Learning to Code at the Library

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It’s Media Literacy Week (November 5-9)! How are you helping youth in your community learn how to access, analyze, evaluate, COMMUNICATE and CREATE using a variety of media formats? 

Girls learn how to solder with the help of a teen mentor at the Girls Get IT! NCWIT camp. (Ages 9-12)

Two high school girls from my community are in the process of applying for NCWIT’s annual Aspirations Award. The award “honors women in grades 9 through 12 who are active and interested in computing and technology, and encourages them to pursue their passions.” Many young women, from all 50 states and US Territories, apply each year so two might not seem remarkable. But, in my community it is another step in the right direction.

While not new, the fact that women are underrepresented in the tech world and STEM professions, especially in leadership roles, still persists. In rural communities, jobs in tech-related fields, and many types of STEM professions, seem out of reach or are never introduced as an option, especially to girls. At my library and many others, girls are often out numbered by boys in maker programs, LEGO clubs, and robotics teams. The goal of these programs is to provide access to learning opportunities that introduce and strengthen Computational Thinking (CT) skills and computer science knowledge, yet a significant number of kids are still missing from the picture. Populations of kids still think these programs, and the associated skills, are for others. How much do we really talk with kids and teens, including girls, about the important role computer science now plays in business, government, and our/their personal lives, beyond “screen time?”

Makers2Mentors, our Libraries Ready to Code project, aimed to change that. What if kids and teens in our community had new opportunities to become comfortable not just using digital media on a superficial level, but digging deeper to understand how computers work and using digital tools to express themselves and make their voices heard?

Girls learn the basics of 3D design with the help of a teen mentor at the Girls Get IT! NCWIT camp. (Ages 9-12)

Over time I have connected the idea of learning how to code to learning how a book works. If we teach young children the fundamental concepts that will later fuel them as readers and writers, which we do in storytime and in other experiences, why can’t we prepare kids and teens to control digital information, creating and manipulating the medium, just as authors and creators have done with paper formats?

One of the goals we set for the Makers2Mentors project was to provide CT and CS learning experiences specifically for girls. We want more girls to learn CT and CS skills, and be prepared to think critically about information in all its forms, so we wanted to encourage their participating in all of the M2M programs. I also recognized that I needed to reach out to girls in targeted ways. In some cases, this meant integrating CS and CT into traditional library programs like storytime to reach girls before extreme gender stereotypes about STEM get a foot hold. I also led a coding program for girls and their moms (or grandmothers, aunts, grown-up female friends), partnered with the local Girl Scouts to provide a girl scout overnight for area troops featuring robotics and CT activities, and hosted a camp for girls, led by visiting CS college students, that introduced girls to new skills as they explored computer hardware and software.

Reaching underrepresented populations requires creativity and doing things differently. Obviously, if a group isn’t coming to the current programs or using the library space now, something needs to change. New partnerships, unique program designs and flexibility are essential. Sometimes opportunities to provide learning experiences come in unexpected ways.

Girls and their families are excited about making a space for girls’ voices in the digital world, even those from a faraway place like Homer, Alaska.

Teen mentors are recognized for their service and interest during the reading of the 2018 National Library Week proclamation at a City Council meeting.

Key to the success of many of the M2M programs was the empowerment of teen mentors who helped fill leadership gaps often found in small communities like mine. Many of these mentors were girls, and in fact, several of the girls who acted as mentors became interested in learning about CT/CS as they mentored. They got involved not because of their tech experience, but because they like mentoring. So, I capitalized on their valuable leadership skills and ended up providing CT/CS training sessions that became ‘programs’ in and of themselves. They learned about CT and CS and helped other girls (and boys) gain new skills also. Over the course of the year long grant period, more girls were interested in both the girl specific programs and general events.

Here are some images highlighting girls in the library’s M2M programs.

Girls make cardboard automata at an afterschool Maker Club.
A girl programs Ozobots with markers at a Maker Club session.
Two girls, with their moms, make the robot Dash move during a coding program. (Ages 8-12)
Girls and moms work in teams to program Dash & Dot robots.
Young girls, and a teen mentor, learn coding basics with Dash and Dot at the Girl Scouts overnight held last winter. (ages 5-11)
A teen mentor preps materials for a LEGO Lab featuring LEGO WeDo.
Girls Get IT! camp was a little fun…

Makers2Mentors: HPLCode Program

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Searching for images for a Scratch project background

Beginning in November of last year, a group of kids ages 11-14 started meeting at the library once a week after school as part of a new program, <HPLCode>, which is part of my library’s <M2M> or Makers2Mentors initiative. (Read general information about the initiative and Libraries Ready to Code here.) In years past, we’ve offered intros to coding, Hour of Code sessions, a web design series and a week long coding camp (thanks to a grad student at Carnegie Melon’s Entertainment Technology program), but we have never offered a program that allows kids to delve deeper into coding, computer science and computational thinking; particularly programs specifically for ages 11-14 (middle schoolers). We decided to offer the <HPLCode> program for a few reasons.

  • We recognized that understanding both Computational Thinking (CT) and Computer Science (CS) concepts is part of literacy in the Digital Age. With CS and CT skills, kids would be better prepared for the work force that lies ahead regardless of the field or occupation they choose.
  • There are no computer science courses offered through area schools. I recognized a void that the library could help fill.
  • The kids who have regularly attended the Maker Club and LEGO Club events (for 8-12 year olds) were aging out and expressing interest in other opportunities to keep making and creating using digital tools.

The first part of <HPLCode> ran for 7 weeks. 5 weeks included “formal” instruction (led by me with the help of video tutorials) followed by free play, tween style, inspired by a particular concept. The goals of the program were:

  • introduce key CS concepts common across programming languages and provide opportunities for kids to apply those concepts
  • provide a new social experience for kids interested in Computer Science; connect kids from different schools and friend groups
  • attract more and different kids to the library, including those underrepresented in formal library programs
  • connect kids to CS professionals with a connection to Alaska
  • offer a CS program that allowed kids to help mold its design
  • broaden after school ‘making’ opportunities for kids older than 12
  • make accessible the opportunity for kids to create a digital project that addressed a problem in their life or in the community
  • test the program prototype for the Libraries Ready to Code project

picture of boy watching Skye interview on monitor

HPLCode Interview with Lauren Farleigh of Dote

When: Thursdays, 4-5:30 (extended to 4-6 based on kids’ requests) November 2 – Dec 21 (except for Thanksgiving Day)

Who: Kids ages 11-14 (primarily 11-12 years)

What: Kids were introduced to basic Computer Science and Computational Thinking concepts while they learned to code in Javascript and design basic video games or choose your own adventure apps.

Where: Library’s meeting room which offers conference style seating, dry erase board for drawing/planning, and a large monitor for projecting slides, teaching videos, Skype video for expert interviews, and group work

Resources: Code.org (CS curriculum, App Lab and Game Lab), App Authors, Scratch, Google CS, MakeCode (for micro:bit)

CS Concepts: Algorithms, Functions, Variables, Loops, Conditionals, Events

Computational Thinking Concepts and Ideas: Abstraction, Decomposition, and Pattern Recognition, Debugging and Problem Solving, Prototyping, Feeling connected to the broader CS community

Equipment and Materials: Chromebooks, micro:bits, Scratch challenge cards, large monitor for projecting slides or video, flash drives for each and ear buds or headphones for each (provided by Friends group) with splitters to foster shared projects, paper/pencils for storyboarding, designing and problem solving, snacks

CS Professionals interviewed: Lauren Farleigh (dote.com), Reid Magdanz and Grant Magdanz (Chert- Alaska’s Native Language Keyboard app), and Kasey Aderhold (IRIS).

Staffing: Myself and one local high school mentor with previous programming and game design experience

Successes:

  • We received notice about LRtC participation and the grant award at the end of October. The grant funding was needed to move ahead with <HPLCode> as planned so up until then, the program was only tentative. We were able to go ahead with the dates and got to work with last minute advertising. We attracted several kids (4-7), all who had not participated in formal library programs before. The group size actually allowed for me to work out some of the planning bugs as we proceeded with the program plan. it was a prototype. For example, the kids were on the younger end of the range and less experienced with maker projects and coding in general. We spread out the CS concepts over the 7-week program and spent more time with each concept than initially anticipated.
  • The majority of the small group, which grew from 4 to 7,  participated each week and continued with the follow up program after the Winter Break (<HPLCode> Lab), allowing for deeper exploration and practice of CS concepts.
  • I found a high school student to help with the program who will continue to act as a teen mentor during the Makers2Mentors initiative. His participation continues a legacy of integrating high school students interested in STEM careers as leaders for youth programming. These mentors help us extend program reach and support their growth as young adults.
  • While we started the program using Code.org’s App Lab and Game Lab (remixing pre-made apps and creating choose your own adventure apps) because of the nice selection of associated video tutorials found in the various curriculum, kids ultimately wanted to use Scratch for their projects. That was fine with me because one of the program’s intended outcomes was to get input from the participating kids and offer them the opportunity to help mold this prototype program and the next iteration. I was clear from the beginning that this program was an experiment and I needed their help defining it.
  • I introduced a Mini Design Challenge during the 6th and 7th week of the <HPLCode> portion of the program to spark project ideas using the resources we had available. Kids loved this and immediately got to work. They helped define the must-have elements for the challenge projects.
  • The program’s teen mentor entered and won the Congressional App Challenge for Alaska after I connected with him initially about helping <HPLCode> and then sent him info about the national challenge.
  • An issue with access to Scratch (see below) initiated a conversation about digital citizenship, respectful participation in the Scratch community and responsible game design.
  • Interviews with CS professionals introduced kids to ‘start ups’, the different jobs available in the world of CS, and online communities like GitHub where they can participate and develop their skills beyond the library program, even in communities outside the traditional tech hubs.

The circled portion of the image shows the elements of the challenge kids defined.

Challenges:

  • The code.org curriculum options beyond Hour of Code are extensive, but I couldn’t quite find one that fit my age range, length of program, topics and learning environment exactly. They seem best suited for a classroom experience where kids are with the educator everyday or meet regularly over a long period. All of the curriculum included the concepts I wanted to introduce but they were taught amidst other concepts or ideas (how the internet works, for example) that I didn’t have time to include.
  • The program attracted less kids than I had hoped and only 1 or 2 girls, depending on the week. Beyond gender, the program did attract a diverse group of kids all of whom had not participated in library programs before. (I am offering a Girls Code one-off program in February to try a different approach to connecting girls with CS/CT. I am also working with the local Girl Scouts troops on an overnight event for girls related to the new badges focused on CS and robotics.)
  • The kids had minimal coding experience and had not participated in the library’s maker programs, in particular, so they were less familiar with CT in practice, with me or the other kids. It took some time to get comfortable with each other and figure out their interests and experience.
  • The kids who attended were younger than I had anticipated (11-12 mostly) and either had a project in mind that was beyond the resources we had available or had no project in mind. We developed the Mini Design Challenge for week 6 and 7 to address this (see above.)
  • We weren’t able to order and receive the Chromebooks until 4 weeks into the program (because of a funding delay), so we had to borrow Chromebooks from another city department for the first part of the program.
  • When the kids wanted to switch to Scratch, we discovered that our library’s IP address had been blocked by Scratch for violations of the Scratch Community Guidelines. City IT staff helped us with a temporary solution between program sessions while we contacted the Scratch team about the issue. We discovered that someone using our public computers or wifi had posted ‘flirtatious’ and inappropriate comments about a project and once blocked had tried to create a new account with the same email. We worked with the Scratch team to get our address unblocked and discussed the guidelines and digital citizenship at <HPLCode> the following week.
  • The teen mentor has programming experience, but wasn’t comfortable talking in front of the group formally, I discovered after we started the program. I was initially expecting him to co-teach with me, filling in my knowledge gaps, but that didn’t work out. Towards the end of the 7 weeks, we finally figured out what role was a good fit for him and he worked best as a near peer mentor. He was happy with that, but it meant more work for me learning and preparing for each session. I will have clearer job descriptions and expectations in the future.
  • The teen mentor has CS experience, but is less comfortable with CT concepts (decomposition, for example) and skills which was interesting and a bit surprising. He was reluctant to use Javascript or Blockly, for example. After I figured that out, I gave him tasks to help reinforce those ideas. I also gave him parameters for tasks that were real-world related, for example ideas for the mini-design challenge that required a certain programming language, a specific tool, addressed a problem, etc.

In January when school was back in session, we began phase 2 of this program, <HPLCode> Lab. The idea behind this portion of the program was to offer kids equipment, space and support to continue working on their mini design challenge or try something new. Other kids were welcome to join if they had some coding experience. More on this piece when it finishes in early February.

Makers2Mentors logo in black and white

Makers2Mentors: 1

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Happy New Year!

2017 was a crazy year all around, but it was exceptionally busy for me. The latter part of the year was consumed with my work on the Caldecott Award Committee and the Makers2Mentors <M2M> initiative I started, thanks to a Libraries Ready to Code grant funded by ALA and Google. Mum’s the word, for now, regarding my year of evaluating picture books, but I am ready to share about the <M2M> project.

Makers2Mentors logo in black and whiteWhat:
Makers2Mentors is a series of programs and opportunities for local youth and families to explore Computational Thinking and Computer Science in age-friendly ways. As part of the Ready to Code project, I am a member of a cohort (28 libraries in 21 states plus the District of Columbia) contributing to the design of a toolkit for all libraries to help kids, teens and families explore Computational Thinking and Computer Science at the library.

When:
November, 2017- August, 2018

Why:
I launched the initiative, in part, to address the huge gap in access to Computer Science education in my community by providing a variety of free programs for diverse audiences. And beyond the library, we wanted to stimulate a community conversation about why Computational Thinking and Computer Science are vital skills for Homer’s kids regardless of whether or not they work as a programmer, journalist, mariner, artist, etc.

This project is also an extension of my work with families around the idea of media mentorship and literacy in the Digital Age. Understanding CS and being able to communicate with digital tools reflect the evolution of literacy, much like the printing press did in 1234 (Asia) and then in 1440 (Europe). Finding information and creating content still happen on paper, but much of our  information exchange is happening online. How do we help kids, even young children,  navigate both traditional media and new media not solely as consumers, but as active participants and creative designers, producers and writers? How do we help families and educators support literacy and learning with tools that include high quality apps, digital tools and even robots in and out of the library?

How:
This initiative targets preschoolers, older kids, teenagers and their families. It is designed to capture the interests of many- maybe not all at the same program- by showing the many faces of CT and CS. Each program or component of the initiative will include both digital and ‘unplugged’ aspects and will have its own unique goal or intended outcome. Along with formal programs, we’ll also start circulating robot kits, add new CS related books to the collection and share information with parents about CT and CS. As part of <M2M>, kids and teens can be makers and they can also be mentors. Our community lacks a large CS community, so training teens as mentors empowers them and fills a need; additional instructors to help guide and teach.

I’ll be highlighting some of the programs and resources I use, including challenges and successes, over the coming months.

Media Literacy Week 2017

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How are you celebrating Media Literacy Week 2017?

According to NAMLE, media literacy is defined as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.”

Here is what I am up to:

  • Today, I wrote about media literacy in storytime on the Joan Ganz Cooney Center blog.
  • Tonight, I’ll be talking about media literacy with my library director on KBBI AM 890, our community’s public radio station, as part of an introduction to the airing of a media literacy panel recorded in September.
  • This week, I’ll be including media literacy in storytime.
  • This month,I am leading <HPLCode/>, an afterschool program that teaches coding concepts to 11-14 year olds and gets them creating their own digital content. This program is part of our Makers to Mentors <M2M> initiative sponsored by ALA and funded by Google (Libraries Ready to Code).
  • This year, we are promoting our Teen Digital Citizenship Challenge, a curated list of resources and activities teens and their families can try to learn more about media literacy and digital citizenship.