Author’s Personal Note

Many teens experience difficulties they are unprepared to manage. The death of my son’s girlfriend caused me to reconsider my role as media specialist in helping teens cope with the pressures of life in an increasingly complex and confusing world. Information seemed to me to be the key to help teens develop the practical life skills to overcome life’s challenges. The results of resiliency research bore this out. The research showed that teens who were able to problem solve were more apt to be resilient – to bounce back from adversity. The Big6 teaches teens to use information to overcome life’s challenges.

Why do students need information literacy?
Many students walking the halls of America’s schools are experiencing complex challenges they are unprepared to manage. Many of these problems are rooted in economics, family dysfunction, and mental or physical health. Statistics indicate that in a typical middle school one in two students has experienced the upheaval and confusion of their parents’ divorce (Divorce and its Impact on Teens, par. 1); one in four lives with a parent who abuses alcohol, and one is five lives in poverty (Indicators of Children’s Well-Being, p. 17).

While many problems are rooted in the home, school and peer issues can cause a great deal of confusion as well. For example, many middle school students face the daily problem of bullying. In a study conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of almost 16, 000 students in grades six through ten, it was found that one in three had either been the victim of bullying, had bullied others, or had been both victim and perpetrator (Nansel et al. p. 2094). In a typical high school, one in three students report either they or a friend has experienced violence in a dating relationship (What You Need to Know About Dating Violence, p. 4-22) and one in five suffers from depression (Koplewicz, p. 5). America has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any other developed country in the world. Some teens – especially girls – suffer from eating disorders and use self-inflicted violence as a means to control their emotional pain.
It used to be that educators developed programs and interventions only after teens had been identified at risk of educational failure because of such things as drug abuse and pregnancy. Now the focus is on providing teens with supportive environments and teaching life skills to buffer them before they succumb to risky behaviors. The concept of resiliency – defined by Bonnie Benard as the ability to “bounce back despite exposure to severe risks” – is embraced as one way to strengthen children and adolescents (Benard, p. 44).

The Kauai Longitudinal Study and Resiliency
Much of what is known about resiliency was learned from the Kauai Longitudinal Study. In this study, which began in the 1950s, social scientists Emmy E. Werner and Ruth Smith followed all children born on the island of Kauai in Hawaii for more than 30 years to determine their response to such problems as family conflict, poverty, and poor health. As a result, Werner and Smith were able to identify many factors that helped these children and adolescents succeed despite adversity. Five of these factors are especially relevant to library media specialists. These five factors are:

• mentoring and making connections
• reading
• problem solving and information skills
• social skills, and
• hobbies and interests (Jones).

In the book A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence, Patricia Hersch monitored a group of adolescents to gain an understanding of the realities of their world. Hersch found that a significant problem facing adolescents is the lack of adult role models to help them develop problem solving and decision making skills. She writes, “The more we leave kids alone, don’t engage, the more they circle around on the same adolescent logic that has caused the dangerous situation to escalate” (p. ix). The purpose of this lesson is to teach middle and high school students to apply the Big6 information problem solving process to the real-life issues, problems, and challenges facing them. The power of information literacy is not limited to academic pursuits, but extends to personal decision making and improved quality of life.

Helping Teens Cope Big6™ Lesson Plan (Grades 6 – 12)
By Jami Jones

Objectives: To teach teens to apply critical thinking skills to everyday living and to develop an information product to enlighten students about the challenges faced by their peers.
Subjects: Psychology, sociology, health, critical thinking
Grade Level: This lesson can be modified to use with students in grades 6-12.

Big6 Stage One: Task Definition
As a class, students brainstorm and identify 10 to 15 “difficulties” their peers might be experiencing. Students select a difficulty to research. The following scenario is then read to students:
You are worried about your friend who is struggling with a particular issue, problem, or challenge – we’ll call these “difficulties.” You know other teens in your school who are struggling with this difficulty, too. Working with a partner, you are to research your friend’s difficulty so you can help him or her become proactive in resolving the problem. You are to develop a report to give to your friend that contains a brief summary of your findings as well as a list of national and local resources such as hotlines, web sites, organizations, computer listservs, and support groups. The report must also contain bibliographic information of teen fiction and nonfiction books to recommend to your friend. The information you provide your friend must be detailed enough so he or she can begin to develop a personal plan to prevent, minimize, or eradicate the difficulty.

Big6 Stage Two: Information Seeking Strategies
In this Stage, students develop a search plan whereby they identify various resources most likely to contain the information needed to successfully fulfill the task as defined in Task Definition, Stage one. Note: Because of the sensitive nature of these topics, it is essential that students only use resources that have been peer reviewed or authored by learned and credentialed individuals and respected organizations.

Big6 Stage Three: Locate and Access Information
In this Stage, students use proper search techniques to implement the search plan identified in Stage Two, (Information Seeking Strategies). Students will locate the information to implement the next Stage – Use of Information.

Big6 Stage Four: Use of Information
Students read, take notes, skim and scan information in order to become knowledgeable about the difficulty they are researching. Next, students organize what was found to make sure that the information requirements of the task have been met. If additional information is needed, students will need to repeat Stages Two, Three, and Four.

Big6 Stage Five: Synthesis
As stated in Stage One, students are to develop a report to help their friend learn about his or her difficulty. In addition to the report, students may develop a product such as a pamphlet, web site, article for the school newspaper, book cover, or fast food tray liner to distribute to their friend and other teens. Either the report or optional product may be delivered in an oral presentation.

Big6 Stage Six: Evaluation
Students are evaluated on the following elements:
1. Information resources. Did the student utilize quality information that was written by credentialed professionals or reputable organizations that are knowledgeable about the difficulty? Students must be able to defend their information choices.
2. Range and diversity of resources. Did the student identify and use a variety of resources such as web sites, hotlines, support groups, organizations, and fiction and nonfiction books?
3. Summarization. Did the student distill the salient points of the information into a readable report and optional product?
4. Mechanics. Did the student use grammatically correct language with no spelling and punctuation errors? When citing resources, did the student adhere to a bibliographic format such as MLA or APA? The student must not plagiarize.
5. Report. Did the student organize and utilize resources effectively to write an informative report based on research, not opinion or personal experience?
6. Optional product. Did the student produce a product with the potential to impact teens?

Works Cited
Benard, Bonnie. “Fostering Resiliency in Kids.” Educational Leadership, 44-48.

Divorce and its Impact on Teens. U. of new Hampshire Cooperative Extension. 27 Aug. 2003 http://ceinfo.unh.edu/common/documents/divorce.htm

Hersch, Patricia. (1998). A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence. New York: Ballantine.

Indicators of Children’s Well Being. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. 27 Aug. 2003 http://www.childstats.gov/ac2002/pdf.econ.pdf

Jones, Jami. “Library Ladder of Resiliency.” AskDrJami.org. 27 Aug. 2003 http://www.askdrjami.org/pdf/LibraryLadderofResiliency.pdf

Koplewicz, Harold S. 92002). More than Moody: Recognizing and Treating Adolescent Depression. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Nansel, Tonja. “Bullying Behaviors among US Youth.” Journal of the American Medical Association 285.16 (2001): 2094-2100.

What You Need to Know about Dating Violence. Liz Claiborne Inc.. 27 Aug. 2003 http://www.lizclaiborne.com/lizinc/lizworks/women/pdf/teen_handbook.pdf

You’re Not Alone. 27 Aug. 2003 http://www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/notalone/thefacts.htm