This was, for sure, a very successful program. We had a large turn out, 40-something teens on a Friday night and I learned a LOT.
We had about 6 of the older teens arrive at about 7 to help us set up. These were teens who helped from the start... they brought cds of music to play, helped bake the cookies and hung christmas lights. The space looked really nice. I also had a co-worker score us some half-dead roses from the grocery store. We set up the cookies and drinks and dimmed the lights(just a little).
The teens wanted an old silent film to play on a projector as ambiance, but unfortunately, the laptap we were given wasn't able to play dvds. grrr. but i smiled and moved on.
We had 2 activities. One was to make a mask. we had plain white masks, feathers, ribbon, glitter and hot glue guns.
We also had a "vandalize a romance novel" area. This was a huge hit.
The teens danced and goofed off...
as you notice, the pictures have turned to black and white... this is because, just like the masquerade scene in Labrynth, it was a surreal. This is what happened...
Thankfully, they all cleaned up the majority before they left and a few older teens stayed to help even longer.
This introduces the biggest lesson I learned. It should have been divided by ages. The difference in behavior was obvious. The younger teens made a mess out of the crafts, one boy getting burned. They tore apart the roses and novels and threw them around. The older teens carefully made elaborate masks. Giggled and censored and drew in the novels.
Do't get me wrong... the event was still a success, and everyone had a great time.
4 comments:
I like the Vandalize A Romance Novel event. I should suggest that to our Teen Services Librarian. C'est tres cool.
This is why I started separating all my programs into two categories: 4-8 grade and 9-12 grade. Makes life a little easier.
Seperating between 4th-8th grade leaves some problems... 8th graders and sometimes 7th graders feel they are "too mature" to hang with the younger kids. I was thinking 9th through 12th and 6th through 8th. Anyone else do that?
I'm actually having similar problems with my Anime Club. I have an age range of about 12-18, with a 9 year-old tag-a-long. We've recently had content conflicts. The things that appeal to the 16+ age range are too mature for younger ones. I thought I got around it by having a permission slip for anyone under 13 and stressing that there would be some mature content. But problems have arisen with the parents of the 12 and 9 year olds saying they don't want their kids to watch something and the rest of the group deciding not to watch it so that everyone can come. Sounds nice, but now they're wanting more mature shows, so...
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