By
Heather
Gruenthal
Southern
Region President
Teacher
Librarian, LBUSD
Lindsey
Middle School and Stanford Middle School
Twitter @hgruenthal
It’s important to educate your students,
parents, and staff on the procedures regarding challenging instructional
materials so that you are not caught off guard when faced with a
challenge. Following the proper
procedures will protect everyone involved and possibly avoid a lawsuit.
If using the term “Banned Books” is too
controversial for your school climate, consider
Celebrating the Freedom To Read with these ideas from Scholastic. And if it just can’t be done in September,
use these activities at another time of the year such as when English Language
Arts Classes are reading a controversial novel.
#1 Be ready to face any
challenge by finding
out your board policy on removal of instructional
materials and the forms needed to file a challenge. Have copies readily available for when you
receive a complaint. Be sure to, report the challenge to ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom. The ALA estimates that up to 97% of
challenges are never reported:
#2 Create a newsletter to send out to your staff informing them on
how to face a materials challenge in your district. Make this an annual reminder during Banned
Books Week each year. Here are some suggestions
from Education World: Banning Books from the
Classroom: How to Handle Cries for
Censorship.
#3 Put an Announcement in the Bulletin about
Banned Books Week
If you are not sure how to start talking about Banned Books at your
site, read this Banned Books Week Q & A from
ALA.
#4 Make a list of the Banned Books you have in your collection. Use ALA's top 100 list as a place to start. These books will have
already passed your school district’s selection process, so it’s safe to
promote them. In the display below from
Western High School, the books that are chained up are all taught in English
Language Arts Classes.
#5 Create a "Caught Reading a Banned Book" Background to use in posts on social media. Let students take pictures and post
with your school’s #hashtag.
#7 Make Banned
Books book covers for
your display. This can be done as a
class activity.
● Look up the reasons for challenges in the Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle from the ALA Store.
#8 Make Book Marks with information about challenged books. This display was created
by Ticia Riche, Library Media Technician at Western High School using the Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle from the ALA Store.
#9 Put up your Banned Books Week Display using the paper bag
book covers.
If you do not have the time or resources to make the book covers,
consider doing a Controversial Issues display or Teen Issues book talk.
#10 Visit Pinterest for
more Banned Books Week ideas
