The Two R's

Reading and wRiting---two-thirds of the "3 R's," which many of us worry are increasingly neglected by teenagers.  However, there are many studies and websites that show both scientifically and anecdotally that this assumption is not true.  I was inspired to do a post on this based on Paulette Rothbauer's writings in Becoming a Reader (chapter 3.)

One way that libraries can increase their relevance to teens is to promote writing clubs.  Many schools have literary magazines that are produced in-house, and the library should be a partner in this endeavor.  Many schools also have "poetry" clubs where students prepare to go to poetry slams and other venues where they can share and perfect their craft.

I think that libraries should sponsor, advertise, and offer online access to as many writing programs as possible.  Since "writing is an extension of reading (Rothbauer) it is only proper that we as youth services librarians support this interes and need through the library.

One such site that I am aware of that does an amazing job of promoting the reading-writing connection is Figment (the newer, way-sleeker version of Inkpop.)  This site has everything from book reviews to fan-fiction to personalized recommendations.  Its visually appealing and easy to use--plus it doesn't attempt to be too "cool" or seem forced, it looks like teens really made it.  I know the director of the Figment project received a huge grant within the past year to continue to improve the site.

Libraries should use these tools to help empower kids to share their experiences and increase their literacy through writing.

Link for Figment: http://figment.com/

"40 of the Best Websites for Young Writers" (fully linked!) http://education-portal.com/articles/40_of_the_Best_Websites_for_Young_Writers.html

Once upon a time, children were empathetic...

...but then they stopped reading fiction.  In our culture of testing, something that the general public might not know is that on a standardized test such as the ACT, the reading portion contains only non-fiction passages.  Why am I telling you about standardized test reading sections?  Because this has led to many schools focusing on the teaching of non-fiction almost exclusively, rather than exposing students to all types of writing and reading.  In Maryann Wolf's book, Proust and the Squid,  Wolf speaks to the importance of reading when it comes to developing a sense of empathy:

"This period of childhood [3.5-5 years old] provides the foundation for one of the most important social, emotional, and cognitive skills a human being can learn: the ability to take on someone else's perspective...Through stories in books we can learn what it feels like. In this process we step outside ourselves for ever-lengthening moments and begin to understand the 'other,' which Marcel Proust wrote lies at the heart of communication through written language" (Wolf, pages 85-86.)

So, if young people don't read both real and not-so-real stories from an early age, they are less able to empathize with their peers, their elders, people who they see on TV that live thousands of miles away.  I find this to be a fascinating idea.  I know that I personally love to read fiction because it allows me to see in to other people's world's (both real and imagined,) but I certainly never thought that it might actually be helping my moral character.

I found a number of articles and other blogs that have compiled serious scientific studies, and some more casual experiments that seem to prove this.  Here are the links, with my annotations in parentheses.  This is certainly not exhaustive, a simple google search for "empathy deficit teens fiction" yields too many articles to list here!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/07/reading-fiction-empathy-study (very recent experiment that used excerpts of JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer novels, short read from a UK newspaper.)

http://cogscilibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/07/reading-fiction-improves-empathy.html (Cognitive Science Librarian's blog, with a good overview that speaks to how reading fiction improves empathy, she also has a brief bibliography that would be great to help with further reading on the subject.)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-me-care (focuses on empathy deficit in teens and where in comes from.)