One of the most important parts of successful library program relates to serendipity. By being among students in unscripted settings (for me, it's sitting out at the desk with kids casually hanging out at our "information bar"), I hear their interests and can bounce ideas off of them. I think of it as my "daily zeitgeist" reading.
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with the head of our creative writing group (a group who are resurrecting our school's defunct literary magazine). A bunch of my writers are taking part in National Novel Writing Month, known to devotees as NaNoWriMo, where participants pledge to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. Impressive, yes?
I was exploring the site's companion Young Writer's Program as well as the main site and reveling in all the information. Granted my teenagers seemed to fall between the YWP and the adult version of the program, but the flyers and free supplemental materials were terrific (awesome Facebook banner, anyone?). That's when I stumbled on "The Night of Writing Dangerously."
Seemingly meant as both a motivator to write in a party-like atmosphere and as a fundraiser for the nonprofit that runs NaNoWriMo, The Night of Writing Dangerously seemed to have food, fun and writing all in one package. Why couldn't we have a writing party at school? When the kids and I began talking, we quickly made the connection to the fact that November is the end of our fall term semester - and it's crunch time for a lot seniors working with December 1st college deadlines. This was one event that could combine creative writers, kids working on term papers, and our college-bound seniors in one fell swoop.
It was just crazy enough to work. I bought some prizes from the NaNoWriMo website which was for the creative writers at the party (so popular!!) and contacted by Director of Student Life since this would be a nighttime student activity. He said that end of term activities the weekend before exam week were always tough to plan since we want kids to relax but also don't want to distract them from studying, so this fit the bill. He was happy to provide the pizza and soft drinks and I would handle the sweet stuff.
Anyone who knows me is aware that I take sugar very seriously. "Teenager" is synonymous with "hungry wolf-like human who loves chocolate" in my opinion and I have enough of an established reputation as a baker to draw kids in. But I wanted to make this extra special and pull out the stops. We had a sign up sheet (exclusivity gives it a little more cachet and helps you predict how much food to make) and I was astonished to have 60 kids sign up in two days! I actually had to turn people away since more than 60 kids makes the library kind of zooey. I could have easily added 10 more students if my library could have accommodated them. Here's what to make for 60 kids:
Order 12 pizzas
Have a case of bottled water and a couple boxes of soda
Keurig hot beverage maker and a couple boxes of the entertaining assorted cups for hot drinks
Because I wanted to make sure everyone who came understood they needed to work, I built off of NaNoWriMo's idea of "Guilt Monkeys". In actuality, I have no idea what the heck these are, but my local NaNoWriMo leader threatened people with them. I decided to create Guilt Monkey stickers (Avery label 22807) that we would slap on people if they weren't working. Three Guilty Monkeys and you were out of the library. Kids loved the Guilt Monkeys so much (I only gave out two and each to a different person) that they actually asked to have one to keep at the end of the night, which made me laugh.
The night was incredible. To see between 50 and 60 students diligently working on their writing projects on a Friday night from 6 pm to 10 pm was so gratifying and they seemed to love having the opportunity to work. We took a break midway through to run around the library (literally - see below video) and then got back to business. I interviewed the kids between helping students, so here's the video of their feedback about the night (it's about fourteen minutes).
I think we will definitely do this at the end of each semester - I might be ready to collapse from all the baking but it was so helpful (this number of kids represent about 15% of our school population) that I can't deprive them of this opportunity.
I'm glad that NaNoWriMo managed to inspire me to reach out to all kinds of writers and that I have a student body willing to immerse themselves in the fun of a work night. I ended up having a ball with all the sugared up enthusiasm floating around and cheerfully look forward to future Nights of Writing Dangerously.
When I realized during my Hunger Games Party last spring that the nail art table was the most popular craft, the thought occurred to me that this was an ideal library program. Okay, yes, it's a bit stinky with the acetate and nail polish fumes, but usually no one minds and the fun the kids have (and associate with the library) goes a long way to making students feel the library is a comfortable, welcoming place to spend their non-nail polishing time.
Every October, one of my wonderful colleagues - who is a teacher, athletic trainer, class dean and dorm parent, no less - takes in upon herself to organize our school's Breast Cancer Awareness fundraisers during the month of October. This fundraising has at its center the selling of that year's t-shirt, which the students can wear on a set day and dress down, always a welcome break from dress code.
I wanted to make sure that the library had some kind of tie-in programming that would ramp the kids up and encourage them to buy their t-shirt. Having a bunch of supplies left over from the Hunger Games nail art table (like the OPI drying spray, which is pricey but a must-have and it lasts forever), I realized while browsing in my local Ulta that I could easily drop $30 dollars on pink nail polish and have a snazzy little programming afternoon (and supplies for the future). The store was having an October special where if you purchased two pink OPI polishes you would get a free top coat or base coat, so I choose six shades of pink (Japanese Rose Garden and Pinking of You were popular favorites) and got my freebies. Piles of pink Watermelon Jolly Ranchers to snack on and we had a fun party in progress!
The terrific aspect of doing a nail program is that you don't have to be an expert about the technique. I rely heavily upon sites like Pinterest for nail art boards which possess oodles of inspiration and links to the actual sites that contain the DIY components. With the addition of glass head pins and toothpicks to your program, and/or nail art pens if you want to get fancy with effects. I was amazed at how many students used the toothpicks and pins I had left over from previous craft programming to make this terrific breast cancer ribbons on their nails.
I know that other librarians will instantly note that anything involving nail polish is programming that leans heavily to our female patrons. Since so many students had expressed an interest, I still felt it was a good idea and I was pleasantly surprised to see plenty of boys. Granted most of them were watching and flirting with the girls, but more than a few boys were cajoled into having a single nail painted pink since it was "for breast cancer awareness."
When our Lower School bus let out at the Upper School campus, a bunch of little kids (faculty children) joined us, and since a bunch of the high school students present were babysitters for these little ones, the energy really jacked up a notch. The little girls LOVED having their nails done by the big girls and were particularly entranced by the nail art and sparkle effects that some of the students brought to the party. I asked a bunch of kids if they would put their hands out so we could capture all the pretty nails, and I love the picture (left) which was the result. Little hands and big hands, with lots of different skin tones, but all perfectly showcasing the pink. Over 40 students (out of a 420 student population) ended up having their nails done and they are still talking about how much fun it was. I'm going to have to think up other tie-ins (like Halloween nails for Teen Read Week 2012) that let my nail creators to express themselves.
