Going Back to Middle School!

Technology is awesome. It’s a major theme of my blog because of my course about integrating technology into the curriculum, and I’ve been able to preview and use so many great new web 2.0 tools for education.

However, my graduate courses have also been able to connect me back to something I used to love, and that is YA fiction.

When I began my course track in school library and media studies, I was immediately leaning toward elementary library. I love elementary students and the fact that they are still kids. I love showing young kids cool things for the first time, and helping them to figure out what this big world is all about.

But, after having observed in Middle School LMCs, I’m realizing that middle school students are still in that discovery period. Even better, they are starting to gain a sense of who they are and how they fit into this world. That’s a really exciting time. It’s a hard time, too, and there’s even more we as educators can do for them.

Because they are slightly older and have developed higher order thinking skills, middle school students are able to really start using some of the cool new web 2.0 creation tools in elaborate ways.

PLUS, bringing it back to YA fiction, there are some really great books out there to help them through adolescence.

This semester, I have had the opportunity to read such a great handful of books geared toward teens that span a wide range of themes, genres, and target audiences. For my final project, I wrote a bibliographic essay on YA dystopian novels and why (or why not) young adults should read them. Several of the books were geared toward high school students, but there are some great books out there for middle-aged kids, too.

Absorbing myself in the books that kids are reading just really brought me back home and reminded me that even without all the jazzy new tech tools, adolescence can be an exciting time for learning and discovery and thought-provoking discussions.

One of the great things about recent teen dystopias is that so many of them focus on the dangers of technology in terms of privacy and future problems, such as over population. Since technology is SO ingrained in kids’ lives today, literature can be a great way to have them think critically about the whole picture.

So, while I’ve made final decisions, I think my courses and observations have really changed my mind about the future that I see for myself as an LMS. I might be ready to do something that I NEVER thought I’d want to do…and that is go back to Middle School!

-LB