IASL 2009 Annual Conference

Abano Terme (Padua), Italy, 2 - 4 September 2009

38th Annual Conference incorporating the 13th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship

Workshops - August 31, 2009

Workshop 2 Crea(c)tivity@your school library (code: CR) CR a (9-13): Sabine Maehne (Lesart Zentrum, Berlin, Germany) 25 participants max.
CR b (14-16: 1st group / 16-18: 2nd group): Roberto Pittarello (artist, Italy): Book Construction according to Munari's method. 30 participants max.

From A like alphabet to Z like zest (for reading)

The workshop presents an interaction between the dead of LesArt and the head of the group of Berlin childrens- and youth libraries. Here is to see, to hear, to taste, to touch and to smell what are the possibilities of literacy in the work of LesArt and the youth libraries of Berlin. The welldone networking between both sides is the basic and the experiences from here is the centre of this workshop.

1. The idea
LesArt develops creative models for literary-aesthetic education using all the arts and media. These models are based on the experiences that children and young people have in their own lives and when reading or looking at pictures.
Which aesthetic signals in books appeal to children? What space is provided by texts or by pictures for encounters and transitions between aesthetic and real worlds? Which items, words, pictures, noises, smells, spaces or situations remind us of stories or could lead us to them? Can these stories be told in your own words, pictures or games? Can collages, photographs, poems, stories, songs, pantomime, posters, puppets, sculptures, scenes, talk shows, plays, cartoons ... newspapers be used? The more complex a literary text is, the richer the aesthetic material it provides. Literary quality is guaranteed by the books which have been shortlisted for or have been awarded the German youth literature prize. LesArt uses these books as a reliable source. LesArt, as the Berlin Centre for Children's and Youth Literature, is coordinator and partner for joint ventures for activities concerning children's and youth literature in Berlin, Germany and elsewhere. As such, LesArt initiates and structures events for children, young people and adults in Berlin outside of their own location, throughout Germany and also in other countries.

2. Facts and Figures
LesArt opened sixteen years ago on 2nd April, the International Day of Children´s Books. The Berlin Centre for Young People, with its central position in the city, is a meeting place for young readers from all districts.
Since 1993, about 85 000 children and young people have taken part in literary events held at LesArt. Their own literary centre has been the venue where they have been able to meet some 400 authors from home and abroad, along with illustrators, translators and narrators.
A further 100 000 children and young people have been involved in literary activities connected with projects to encourage reading, in cooperation with other cultural or educational institutions in the city, particularly children's libraries and schools.
More than 17 000 adults have participated in activities for further education.

3. The questions around the workshop:

  • Who has the responsability for LesArt? And how is it financed?
  • How often does LesArt change its programmes?
  • What about the process to create new programmes? Does LesArt start with an interesting theme and than look for suitable books or does it start with an interesting book?
  • What about the cooperation with schools? Does it cost the schools anything to participate? How do you choose which schools or which classes you invite?
  • Do the groups have to prepare something before they are coming? Are they supposed to go on working with the theme afterwards, back in school?
  • In what way does LesArt cooperate with libraries?
  • Most of the programmes take between 3 and 6 hours. Do you have shorter programmes as well? Do you have programmes that are going on for a longer time and where the group returns to LesArt several times?
  • Can you participate as an individual in any programmes?
  • What we can see you don´t lend out books. Do you recommend children to visit a library afterwards and borrow the books you have worked with?

4.Overview of the Programmes

A is for Alphabet
Learning to read and write through play
Children and young disabled adults are offered a differentiated programme, to help define the problems they have when dealing with letters, syllables, words, sentences so that they subsequently understand the text as a whole.

In the beginning was the book
Literature in other media
Books and their adaptation in other media are presented as equal partners. Children and teenagers are both audience and producers when working with books, films, cassettes or CDs. They become aware of the possibilities and restrictions of each medium by experiencing their individual aesthetic characteristics.

The alphabet is the greatest thing
Letters, words, poems
Games and drama-based approaches to visual interpretations of letters, words, rhymes and poems are thought up and rehearsed, in addition to creative writing impulses.

In evening's lap the earth was lying
Reading night for young people of 14 and older
The central point of each reading night is an important topic for teenagers, which (in various different forms) revolves round the question: "Who am I?" Art and literature provide ideas and are maybe even a source of debate for lively discussions at table and also for creative individual productions.

The well of the past is deep
Old and new classics for children and teenagers
This programme presents literary texts from past centuries and also new classics of children's and youth literature: poetry, prose and drama. Aesthetic impulses, motifs and adaptations of media take children's and teenager's methods of reception today into account. Children and teenagers have the opportunity for a more intense approach to literature in visuals, plays or theatre workshops.

The moon has risen
Children's reading night as of 8
The moon was there before me
Children's reading night as of 11
Each reading night concentrates on a topic which will be of interest to children. This topic becomes clear through games with letters, words, pictures, props etc. and is then further emphasized through stories. The programme for the event reaches its climax in a trip out into the city at night. A literary text provides the motif for this adventure.

The howevers cost reflection
Children and teenagers as jurors, critics and editors
Young readers discuss and write reviews of children's and youth literature and edit the online literature review: xyz. wir für uns. literaturzeitung berliner jugendlicher.

The city is big
Berlin as a literary setting
Literary locations can be of real, fictional, symbolic importance and/or as motifs. Depending on the literary text being used, associations can be made between literature and the history of a city. One can follow the footsteps of authors or literary figures, irritation can be caused by the difference between fiction and a real place or real locations can become alienated through a literary perspective.

It was and was not
Fairytales and myths from around the world
Children and teenagers love to listen to stories being told. In meeting artists from different cultures, the tradition of storytelling - and thus cultural identities - is brought to life. Methods including art and play encourage the participants to tell their own stories.

I spy with my little eye
Picture book artists, picture books, picture media
In order to school visual appreciation, book illustrations are analysed for their colour, form, perspectives, picture sequences and their relationship to the text. This aesthetic realisation is deepened through the direct contact with artists and through the application in groups of certain artistic techniques.

Each to their own
Authors, literary texts, aesthetic programme
Literary games and also approaches, all based on experiences that children and teenagers have in their own lives or through reading or pictures, make the participants curious about a text. Readings, discussions and/or creative workshops provide the platform for a debate on literary and real worlds. The central point of these debates are normally the books that have won the German Youth Literature Prize.

Thoughts dwell easily alongside one another
Guests at LesArt - LesArt as a guest at other locations
LesArt offers authors from home and abroad, librarians, booksellers, coaches, readers, teachers, editors, social educators, students, translators, publishers and scientists a creative platform for consultation, discussion, training and their own creative activity.

Address: LesArt
Weinmeisterstraße 5/ D-10178 Berlin
Tel.: 030/ 282 97 47 Fax: 030/ 282 97 69
E-Mail: info@lesart.org
Internet: www.lesart.org

Workshop 1 - Guided Inquiry (code: GI)
GI a (9-13): Carol C. Kuhlthau. Carol C. Kuhlthau Professor II Emerita, LIS, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL). 50 participants max.
GI b (14-18): Ross Todd (Rutgers University, USA). 50 participants max.

Workshop registration fees [Workshop registration form -- check this link]

1 workshop (morning OR afternoon, including coffee break, materials and certificate of attendance):

IASL Conference Attendees
IASL members:
        € 15.00 Zone C Countries
        € 20.00 Zone B Countries
        € 30.00 Zone A Countries

NON IASL members: € 55.00

2 workshops (morning AND afternoon, including lunch, coffee breaks, materials and certificate of attendance)

IASL Conference Attendees
IASL members:
        € 35.00 Zone C Countries
        € 45.00 Zone B Countries
        € 65.00 Zone A Countries

NON IASL members: € 120. 00

Last updated 4 May 2009 (KSB)