I hosted a teen talent show at the library. I called it the Verve: the Big Teen Event. Everyone was encouraged to come and show off their talents. I plastered flyers inside and outside of the library and all over town. I asked my friends Lewis and Stacey Lux if they would bring their stage lights and sound equipment to my event. And they did! We had a packed house!
Every Thursday used to be Teen Night at the library. We had a book club, photo club, a random “whatever Kelly chose to that day, day”, and Anime movie nights. They knew if they showed up that there would be something for them to do. So, 6 weeks before this humongous event I tried to prepare my teens by offering a selection of artsy-fartsy programs.
Week 1: We had a POETRY SLAM!
There was coffee readily available and Bob Dylan playing softly in the background. I wore a black sweater and beret in stereotypical beatnik fashion. After they read their poems we would snap our fingers in approval. ? It was all in fun. After explaining beatniks to them, I had them discuss the similarities between Beatniks and Hipsters.
If you’re not familiar with what a poetry slam is, it is the competitive art of performance poetry. Poets perform their work and are judged by the members of the audience. To make this easy, I typed up and printed out scoring sheets. As incentive to participate, the winner won a $15 prepaid gift card.
Judging criteria:
- What they are saying (actual content of the poem)
- How they are saying it (the way they perform it)
My three themes to choose from.
- The Biography
- Love
- Environment
Most of our time was dedicated to writing a poem. Some of the teens were really into this! Others sipped their vanilla frappes or frozen-ish hot chocolate they made from the “Make your own Frappe Bar” and then goofed off. That was fine. I had plenty of other activities planned in the coming weeks that might be more appealing to them.
After we were all finished with our poems, I went first. Right before I started I gave them the option to read a poem from one of the many books I had displayed for them. (Some chose this option. Even a couple of kids who did not write a poem chose to perform one.)
The rules:
- Each performer gets 3 minutes. (If you go over, you lose points.)
- Perform you poem alone
- No instruments or music
- No props
Week 2: We had an ART SHOW! I invited the teens to bring their in artwork to show off.
First, we discussed different types of art. Then, I allowed them to show off their art journals and and other art works. Some of them only wanted me to see their journals. When they finished their masterpieces, I hung up their art work in the program area.
- We had snacks and music.
- I provided art supplies and paper. We had an evening of creating.
- There were instructional books readily available.
- I covered the tables for easy clean up.
Supplies:
- Paper
- Pencils
- charcoal pencils
- chalk
- watercolors
- Pens
Week 3: We had a CONCERT!
I invited my friend who used to be in a band and was at the time a worship pastor/youth pastor to come and play his guitar for the teens. He now is a pastor of a church in Illinois.
- He was great with the teens and let them try playing his electric guitar.
- We talked about music, their favorite bands, and let them play the guitars inside the library.
- Some of them brought their own guitars and played along.
Week 4: We wrote FANFICTION!
Fanfiction is a type of story based off characters, settings, or ideas from already existing works such as books, movies, & TV shows. It’s mainly written by fans of the work who put the characters in settings, ideas, and situations that they want to see.
- Choose your favorite TV show, movie, or book character
- Brush up on your knowledge. You want your story to match the original work.
- Think about the “What if____” situations. What if your favorite character didn’t get killed off? What if your favorite character got married and had a kid?
- Think about what you want to write about. What do you think happened in the past, present, or future for your favorite characters? What if they lived in a complete different setting, an alternate universe?
- Capture the mood
- Write, proofread, publish.
I was surprised when one of my teens already had a thick collection of fanfiction that she had written. She was all over this project and loved giving the other teens tips and advice.
Week 5: We had a MURDER MYSTERY DINNER!
Okay, I use the word dinner lightly here. We had a murder mystery snack session. I don’t remember what snacks I provided, but they went along with the story line. It was REN FEST STYLE and the teens got to act and role play. Many of them brought their friends!
I told them to come in Renaissance style clothes. I dressed as a gypsy pirate.
I assigned them their characters. Some of them had to pair up. They each got an instruction booklet.
- Page one: rules
- Page two: character breakdown
- Page three:Before starters
- Page four: Before main course
- Page five: Before desserts
- Page six: After desserts-the “who dunnit” part of the game
After we went through the rules together they got to read about their characters. As soon as they found who they were, hilarity ensued, because they were not allowed break character. A lot of my teens were really into Cosplay and acting so this was a good fit for the group.
*note I would share with you the full murder mystery game, but I’m not sure where I got it and I don’t want to get in trouble for copyright.
There are many boxed games you can purchase on Amazon or you can do a quick Google search for murder mystery dinner game.
Week 6: We made Videos!
Okay, I bit off more than I could chew for this library program. It really needed to be a two or three part lesson. I didn’t allow enough time for more than one class and I tried to squeeze it all into one evening.
I started out by showing them book trailers on YouTube then I challenged them to make their own. Most of the teens were familiar with the video editing process because we had been making our own book trailer videos during book club for quite some time.
A book trailer is a marketing tool for authors to promote their work, but there are also many fan book trailers. Fans of literary works use book trailers as an outlet for their fandom whether they are filling the void until the next book comes out or making a tribute to their most loved books. It’s similar to writing a work of fanfiction.
Keep in mind:
- It needs a beginning, middle, and end.
- It needs to be concise.
- It does not need to sound like a book report.
- Be creative.
- Don’t just rehash the whole story & give away the ending. No spoilers!
- Ask yourself “what if” questions.
Then, it’s time for a brainstorming session and finalizing your ideas.
Gather your assets (Your pictures, music, videos.)
- https://creativecommons.org/
- https://pixabay.com/ (Free vectors, illustrations, photos, & videos)
- https://unsplash.com/ (Free stock photos)
- https://www.pexels.com/ (Free stock photos & videos)
- https://www.videvo.net/ (Free stock videos & and motion graphics
Before using any of these free assets be sure to read up on the copyright laws and rules. You may still need to attribute the work to its creator. Just brush up on the rules and regulations of the work before publishing.
Make your video:
I use the free version of animoto.com to make videos with a big group.
Complete your project.
The rest of this project was to be completed at home before the talent show the following week. If they needed help or any had questions they could always come to the library and ask me. They were to save their projects on a thumb drive, but the during our big talent show some of them had technical difficulties.
Week 7: The Verve: The Big Teen Event!
That’s it! The big day finally came. Every teen that showed up had something they wanted to do for the talent show. One kid played the phantom of the opera on his piano keyboard. Another kid brought his trombone and played his solo from concert band. Teens read their poetry and stories. Others showed their videos, photographs, and artwork. Lewis and Stacey brought their sound equipment and lit up the programming area with moving stage lights. Lewis d’jed the event and everyone had a blast!
Week eight: The Big Teen Event Part II
The following week was the week before Thanksgiving, so we had a food drive and pizza party during book club. It was time for them to show off how awesome they really were.
- It was a low key program. We ate pizza and watched a movie based on a book.
- They got a free book if they brought something from the pantry wish list.
- The non-perishable items were given to the community service league so they went right back into our community.
Pantry wish list
Canned goods:
- Tuna
- canned chicken
- canned ham
- peanut butter
- jelly
- soup
- spaghetti sauce
- canned vegetables
- canned fruits
- canned juice
Dry goods:
- Rice
- pasta
- mac & cheese
- hamburger helper
- chicken helper
- dry beans
- pudding
- cereals-whole grain, malt-o-meal, oatmeal,etc
- breakfast bars
Baby items
- Diapers
- wipes
- baby foods-vegetables, fruits, cereal
- juices
Warm winter items
- Blankets
- Hats
- Gloves/Mittens
- Coats
Paper Goods
- Toilet paper
- paper towels
- paper plates
Miscellaneous items
- Underwear
- socks
- Clothing of all sizes-new and gently used, please no stained or torn items