Banned Book Week!

Reading Banned Books Banned Books Week, which runs September 27 to October 3 this year, draws attention to the issue of censorship and how it can best be combated. These resources explore ways to discuss censorship issues with students as well as ways to respond to text challenges in your school. For a general introduction, visit the ReadWriteThink calendar entry (G), which links to classroom activities and online resources. Be sure to check out the ReadWriteThink lesson plan A Case for Reading -- Examining Challenged and Banned Books (E), which introduces students to censorship and then invites them to read a challenged book and decide for themselves what should be done with the book at their school. The Language Arts article "Focus on Policy: Intellectual Freedom" (G) outlines details on current banning incidents, the importance of selection, and suggestions for overcoming text challenges. The article includes sidebars that list additional resources. The English Journal articles "A Battle Reconsidered: Second Thoughts on Book Censorship and Conservative Parents" (M-S) and "Facing the Issues: Challenges, Censorship, and Reflection through Dialogue" (M-S) include suggestions for responding to book challenges in ways that respect the positions of all stakeholders. You'll find a range of materials for exploring censorship in the classroom with the ReadWriteThink lesson plan Censorship in the Classroom: Understanding Controversial Issues (S). The College English article "Deflecting the Political in the Visual Images of Execution and the Death Penalty Debate" (C) explores the visual images that readers are and are not allowed to view and asserts that "the attempt to suppress the visual, as in any censorship of the press, is an attempt to limit debate." Teacher educators can share "What Do I Do Now? Where to Turn When You Face a Censor" (G), from the NCTE book Preserving Intellectual Freedom: Fighting Censorship in Our Schools, with preservice teachers. The chapter provides scenarios and the related resources that K-college teachers can use as the basis of discussion and problem-solving role-playing. Preservice teachers might then use the detailed instructions in the SLATE Rationales for Teaching Challenged Books (G) for writing their own rationales.

Related Links for Ch. 2, Reading, Learning, Teaching Margaret Atwood

Vertigo, Louise DeSalvo

The Passion of Emily Dickinson, Judith Farr

The works of Adrienne Rich

The works of Sylvia Plath

Biography and other scholarly work by Linda Wagner-Martin

The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell (Bill Moyers)

Graphic Storytelling and the New Literacies: An Interview with NCTE Educator Peter Gutiérrez
Referring to The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies, Gutiérrez notes, "Yes, new technologies encourage non-traditional, often non-linear ways of engaging with text, but there's a danger in supposing that what makes the new literacies 'new' is the technology per se -- it's the literacies that are new; . . . they speak to the idea of 'participatory culture.'" Diamond Bookshelf, September 2008

Understanding Rosenblatt

While or after you read Rosenblatt, read this critical essay on her work; it may help you understand her points more concretely as they apply to the classroom:

The Significance of Louise Rosenblatt on the Field of Teaching Literature

How do we encourage reading by our students?

Consider these stories:

"The Storm," Kate Chopin

"Hills like White Elephants," Ernest Hemingway

How would we approach these stories in a traditional class setting?

How would a class consideration of these stories look if we embrace Rosenblatt's view of literacy? Freire's critical lens?