Banned Books PART 1: Censorship in the Classroom [S3 E66]
Listen to the full episode below:
You may or may not know that banned book week is a thing. It happens to be one of our favorite weeks of the year, and this year it takes place September 26-October 2, 2021. To honor this week, which celebrates the freedom to read, we’re addressing our responsibility in the classroom in regards to challenged or censored books.
For this specific conversation, we are defining banned books as a situation where one party has deemed the content of a text threatening, dangerous, or unsuitable for a particular audience.
Like it or not, as teachers, we are gatekeepers. Our students are both impressionable and sheltered, and our curriculum decisions carry weight. High school is especially tricky because we want to expose our students to the real world but we also need to be sensitive to trauma, misappropriation, and concerns from parents and administration. Because of this, choosing books can be difficult to navigate.
Our objective of this episode is to simply start the conversation around text selection so that you can begin to think through your next steps. Tune in to the next episode for part two on defending our decisions and what to do when they are challenged!
Topics Covered:
Spaces we hold as teachers and the curriculum decisions that come with each of them
What to do when a text or an author is challenged
The difference between replacing a text in the curriculum vs. censoring our students
Separating your love of a text from what’s best for your students
Getting your kids involved in this conversation
Resources and Related Episodes:
Episode 41: To Celebrate Diverse Voices: African American Writers
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Join hosts Amanda Cardenas (Mud & Ink Teaching) and Marie Morris (The Caffeinated Classroom) in discussions about being brave, trying new things, and all things teaching! As seasoned classroom teachers, Amanda and Marie bring their experience, insight, energy, and oh, so many opinions and ideas... It's time for all teachers to take their classroom and teaching practice into their own hands!
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