Teen Program Ideas

[anabolina]

I'm a teen librarian for a small/medium sized city in a predominantly hispanic area. Right now the teen center is used mostly by 11-15 year old white boys, but I'd like to bring in more girls and hispanics.

I'm planning our teen summer reading program events right now and I need a fun history program that doesn't try to cram too much knowledge into them. The SRP theme for teens is Time Twistin' so most of my programs are either history or SF related. We've also just reopened after being closed for almost a year and my instructions are to plan fun and interesting events that don't necessarily have to be educational.

Right now I'm considering a swing dance class or History of Spam, but I only have space for one more program and I want to pick an awesome one that will teach the teens without them knowing they're learning something.

Ideas?

 

[Paisley]

East coast swing is easy to learn and should attract some more girls.

 

[Caity Lynn]

as a 16 year old girl, SWING. lol

 

[Sertsa]

I'm not sure if this will work into your theme, but I taught English in a program for minority and underprivileged students as part of my graduate assistantship. I used music a lot to get them interested in the subject matter (I also have a music background), particularly discussing Rap and lyric-writing in general, which wound up being more productive and interesting than I thought, and it helped demonstrate the rhythms of language, etc.

And it was fun.

(Come to think of it, I really miss those days, especially after dealing with clinically insane PR people lately, but I digress).

 

[chanteuseCarey]

swing dancing...

Have you seen the film Take the Lead" with Antonio Banderas?? Or the Aussie import "Strictly Ballroom"?

 

[Drew B]

I'd say swing dance is a good way to go.

It's fun, easy and it teaches you a lot about yourself and others. But most importantly dance is about bring people together. An if that is the outcome required then your are on a roll.

Strictly ballroom is one of my fav movies of all time.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Ditto what DrewB says here. Mine too! (SB)...

One of my fav lines is "Where the man leads, the woman must follow, I had no choice!"

I'd suggest looking for some fun and classic E.C. Swing tunes that the teens might recognize, like Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" for example.

I'd say swing dance is a good way to go.

It's fun, easy and it teaches you a lot about yourself and others. But most importantly dance is about bring people together. An if that is the outcome required then your are on a roll.

Strictly ballroom is one of my fav movies of all time.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Ditto what DrewB says here.

One of my fave SB lines is "Where the man leads, the woman must follow, I had no choice!"

I'd suggest looking for some fun and classic E.C. Swing tunes that the teens might recognize, like Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" for example. Micheal Buble' is real popular with the kids that age too.

I'd say swing dance is a good way to go.

It's fun, easy and it teaches you a lot about yourself and others. But most importantly dance is about bring people together. An if that is the outcome required then your are on a roll.

Strictly ballroom is one of my fav movies of all time.

 

[Drew B]

I could never get over the line: "pam short's broken both her legs and I wanna dance with you."

 

[Paisley]

Mad Hot Ballroom is a documentary from 2005 about New York City elementary students--just regular kids--competing in ballroom competitions. I usually hate movies with dancing, but I liked this one very much.

 

[Paisley]

I'd suggest looking for some fun and classic E.C. Swing tunes that the teens might recognize, like Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" for example.

These are early rock n roll songs. The thread "Learning to Dance" (I believe) in the Golden Era section has some posts on recommended swing dance music.

 

[Drew B]

I'll have to look up that doco Paisley... Thanks,

Drew B