We Should Teach "Banned" Topics...

• Title: Ban? No, Teach the Topics.
• Source: Teaching Tolerance Website and Blog/Hoyt J Phillips III/9-26-16
• URL: Here's the Link to the blog post.
• Key Points: Mr. Phillips noted two key themes from the list of 10 most challenged books of 2015- Gender/Sexuality themes, and Religious themes. He understands why they are challenged, but believes that it is critical to have students "engage" with texts like these because it can "serve as mirrors of their own experiences and as windows into those of others." In honor of Banned Books Week, he encourages educators to use a book that deals with controversial themes in their curriculum.
• Relevance: I believe that in the society we are living in now, it is more critical than ever for us as teachers to find ways to challenge our students to develop empathy and a perspective of "the other". Banned Books Week is a reminder that there will always be people who want to shelter our youth from the hard issues we face in the real world. However, if they are not taught about struggles and life experiences different than their own, are we really creating consious members of their communities committed to making it better than when they encountered it?

Battle of the Books!

"Brains and Books team up at the Oregon Battle of the Books state finals," by Matt Buxton

Oregon Live from The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/04/brains_and_books_team_up_at_th.html

Summary and Key Points: The Battle of the Books finale event was fought out at CCC in Salem recently. This event (for which our school started reading and forming teams back in November, I think) is an exciting way to get kids reading-- and reading critically, for a deep understanding of the content. In fact, that is what the Battle is about: students are quizzed on not just greater themes, but also on small details from the books from their age group.

Intended Audience: general public

Relevance: As a language arts teacher, I am excited about anything that promotes reading-- and all the more so if some group has already chosen half a dozen age-leveled, recent books for the purpose! Making things competitive is always a good engagement technique, and the fact that this is an actual competition with participation from all over the state gives the kids who might not be inclined to sports competition a venue to feel the thrill of competition (although I should say that our star soccer player was also on a district-winning team this year!).

As a reader and lover of all books, I snagged the high school reading list to add to my own personal summer reading list. It will be beneficial both for maintaining that crucial "withit-ness," and also just to see what sort of level is deemed appropriate for highschoolers these days.