[LM_NET] HIT: Lesson Plan on School Libraries and Censorship

[Davinna Artibey <davinna@COMCAST.NET>]

Thanks to everyone for all of their ideas.  I ended up having students do a
role play of a challenge to "The Bluest Eye" (on ALA's 2006 top ten
challenged books).  Some students played the concerned citizens posing the
challenge, some were the librarians, and some were our school district's
board of education.  We discussed concepts like intellectual freedom and its
connection to the first amendment.

 

Below are the replies I received that cumulatively helped me to create the
lesson above:

 

I've done a similar presentation for juniors in American History classes. 

I brought in a copy (on an overhead) of our school district's selection and
reconsideration policy.  Students were especially interested in the
procedure for challenging a book and their rights when it comes to the
availability of books.  We also talked about their privacy rights. 

Combined with a news story on a local book challenge and they were engaged
throughout the presentation.  I come in with the resources, but let the
students drive the discussion.

I also do a display of challenges books in the library.  Each book is
accompanied by an explanation of where and why the book was challenged. 

This produces a lot of discussion.  Only "problem" is they check out the
books ruining the display.

Hope this helps

 

Go to ALA's website, www.ala.org, and get the stuff they have for Banned
Books Week.

 

When do you need the information for the censorship lesson?  I developed
some lessons on book censorship and presented them during my practicum.
Materials I created for this unit include a PowerPoint introducing the
subject, a quiz about the PowerPoint, a database of challenged books and
question activity using the database.  It is not geared directly towards the
library's or librarian's role, but I'm sure that you could add your own
dialogue about that.  It was presented to a young adult literature class
consisting of students from all grades in the high school (mainly freshman
and sophomores were in the class, though).  Let me know if you would like
these materials. 

 

Could you set up some role playing activities and engage the students in
debate?

 

 

Davinna Artibey

Teacher Librarian

Denver Center for International Studies

Davinna@comcast.net

 

 

 

 


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