Catch the Possibilities

For review: I wrote about my challenge to myself, mapping my state's early childhood indicators of progress to my storytime program year, in this post, and about storytime planning for 0-3 in this post.

My mixed-ages kids are used to themed storytimes. Many families make a game out of trying to guess what the theme of the day will be before they get to the library. So I knew that if I could find a way to build themes from the standards I could provide storytimes that would feel familiar to the patrons, but also fulfill my goals.

One thing I sacrifice by trying to plan for a theme in the standards-based approach is that sometimes I am only choosing to highlight one indicator for each component vs. many indicators. For instance, the first component of the 3-5 guidelines is emotional development. There are six indicators covering all sorts of good stuff: recognizing and describing emotions, using words to express emotion vs. actions, empathy, self-regulation, expression through various outlets like music, play, and art, and responding to praise, limits, and correction. From that, I planned a "Feelings" storytime, but I could also imagine a self-regulation focused storytime, self-expression, or empathy storytime plans as well.

The guidelines for 3-5 in our state include strategies for four categories: family members, teachers and caregivers, community members, and policymakers. I like to read through these boxes to find information I can share with the adults at storytime about why we're doing what we're doing. I have an interesting on-going situation in that many of my adults who attend storytime are not the child's parents/primary caregivers, so it can be hard to get them to really tune-in during those blurbs. So I've been phrasing things a lot this year like, "Did you know Miss Amy cares about your brains and your bodies and the way they're developing? Guess what, the other grown ups who love you do too. When they help you learn how to tell a friend that you don't want to be hugged instead of pushing them away, they're helping you learn to resolve conflicts with words."

Similar to the younger crowd, I have a few pieces of storytime that stay consistent for a program year: the opening and closing songs. This year I also decided to add two transition time rhymes that we'll practice and learn so that I can toss them in whenever we need to regroup a bit.

I also decided to repeat an element each week of a domain to help tie things together. For the first domain, I chose a Jim Gill song called "Your Face Will Surely Show It," (library) which is a song about feelings and the faces we make. It's a cute song, but the 8 different faces go by quickly. By choosing to repeat it for four weeks in a row, it will help the weekly attendees really learn the song.

I'll be posting individual plans, but I wanted to explain some of the "how" behind the "what," to help those of you thinking about trying to do this too!

One of the things I've been thinking about a lot lately is library buildings, services, patrons (and non-users), design and the future. Bryce's thoughtful look at the ACE study (here) got the ball rolling for me on trauma-information library service and what that might look like and the two have been swirling around in my brain all summer.

This is my attempt at a "twist" cone, if you will, of the two concepts. I did a bad librarian thing and forgot to write down the citation information for one of the books, so I'll list all the resources I've read so far at the end in my feeble attempt to give credit where credit is due, albeit in a roundabout fashion.

Observation: Many of our patrons, young and old, exhibit signs of having experienced trauma, either in the past or currently

Here’s a tiny bit about what researchers know about trauma:

-Anger is a cover for feelings of despair and/or fear resulting from these unresolved issues:

1) abandonment

2) betrayal

3) helplessness

4) shame

5) hopelessness

6) disappointment from broken promises and unfulfilled assurances

7) sadness or depression

-When in a state of anxiety, the brain cannot recall information processed and stored successfully during less stressful times

-Trauma impairs the ability to order things sequentially or to use sequential steps to solve a problem --Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom by Susan E. Craig

-Parents who use corporal punishment rather than reasoning to set limits for their children also spend less time talking to them. Consequently, these children exhibit socially maladaptive behaviors such as outbursts or meltdowns that occur when the cognitive demands of the situation exceed the child’s capacity to respond appropriately. --Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom by Susan E. Craig

-Children whose early language experiences are more limited have a harder time discriminating between important and unimportant stimuli in the learning environment. They miss the point because they attend to irrelevant stimuli. This leads to frustration and an inability to complete tasks in an efficient and independent manner. --Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom by Susan E. Craig

Here’s what research has to say about children’s environment and trauma:

-Environments conducive to emotionally responsive practice need to have defined areas that contain invitations for expression

-Opportunities to play or participate in other role-taking activities are essential to developing the ability to appreciate another’s point of view.

-Games and puzzles require a systematic approach. Talking about problem-solving strategies and applying them in play situations help children develop the ability to think outside the box and generate a variety of solutions to the same problem. --Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom by Susan E. Craig

-Language-rich family environments provide children with opportunities to develop the vocabulary they need for using language to organize their experiences and mediate their emotions. The result of families with a more instrumental understanding of language is a roundabout discourse style with the story parts ordered by emotional intensity rather than procedural sequence. Children with an instrumental language style need a lot of practice experimenting with words and learning how words can be used to build connections between people and things. --Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom by Susan E. Craig

-“A play space created to achieve optimal learning would encourage children to set their own goals, choose their own materials and means to achieve them, and follow through on their plans.” –The Power of Play: Designing Early Learning Spaces by Dorothy Stoltz, Marisa Conner, and James Bradberry

What others need to feel safe coming to the library:

-A clean and safe environment

-Supportive people

-A place to “vent”

-Respect

-Empathy

-Non-judgment

Philosophy for the Future?

-An active library invests in people’s success rather than just the library’s success. That’s how it measures itself. The objective is to focus on the complex dynamics of the systems around us to better understand the types of engagements or improvements that are necessary. Rather than seeking just to increase our current transactions (answer more reference questions, teach more classes, support more digitalization projects, the goal is to determine barriers that people are facing (beyond just using the library) and then working to reduce roadblocks.” –Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments That Unlock Human Potential by Brian Matthews and Leigh Ann Soistmann

“While scientists once believed that brains were fixed, we now know they are constantly morphing. As we interact with the world, our brains respond, making each one of us unique. So, in libraries, we’re not just helping people find and use information, we’re empowering them to rewire their brains and changing how they relate to and experience the world.” –Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments That Unlock Human Potential by Brian Matthews and Leigh Ann Soistmann

Design for the Future?

What would a library look and feel like that was specifically organized and designed as a place that reduces roadblocks to engagement and empowers people to rewire their brains from their experiences of trauma?

How could projects like Building Dignity serve as a model to inform the way we want to utilize our space?

I've got a legal pad full of notes on these two topics, so this is highly condensed, but I'm hoping this might spark some conversation in the comments! (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge). :)

Resources:

Creating Schools That Heal: Real-Life Solutions by Lesley Koplow

Starting Out Right: Nurturing Young Children as Peacemakers by Kathleen McGinnis and Barbara Oehlberg

Annie E. Casey Foundation 2016 Kids Count Data Book

Reaching and Teaching Stressed and Anxious Learners in Grades 4-8: Strategies for Relieving Distress and Trauma in Schools and Classrooms by Barbara Oehlberg

Ending the Shame: Transforming Public Education so it Works for All Students by Barbara Oehlberg