 |
| "Stop Sign." Retrieved from http://goo.gl/KdV1Ol |
Dear
reader,
I’m putting this message here for
your safety. What you were mistakenly about to read is so vile, so unpalatable,
such a complete affront to human decency, that it will surely leave you
sleepless for many nights, disturbed in mind and soul. If you read this, who
knows what might happen to your psyche? So really, it’s in your best interest
to stop right now before you become further corrupted.
See what I did there?
The minute someone tells you what to
do, presumes to think they can tell you what knowledge is and isn’t appropriate
for your mind you resist, if for no other reason but our natural morbid
curiosity. If someone suggests that you won’t be able to handle something or
that it is too racy, rather than deter you from reading it you think, well this should be good. It’s that
thinking that gets educators and soon-to-be educators such as myself thinking
they can exploit Banned Book Week for their own nefarious purposes. What
purpose is that? Getting children to read.
Heather Wolpert-Gawron wrote an interesting article on Edutopia about using Banned
Books Week in schools to teach about censorship and to encourage reading. All
this talk of banned and burning books set my mind alight with ideas on
classroom possibilities. A surefire way to get an adolescent to do something is
by telling them they can’t do it. Introducing a section in your classroom or
school library of books that were considered dangerous or unsuitable for the
minds of children should generate some interest. If your classroom has independent
reading time, or students are expected to create a reading log for class, have
students pick one of the banned books to read. You could even design a
worksheet or report for them to do looking into the history of the book, and
what themes or events in the book caused it to be contested. Here’s a list
of challenged books for young adult readers and another of challenged
picture books that you can set up in a corner of your class.
Acknowledging Banned Books Week in your classroom is a great
springboard into a host of conversations and activities you could have with the
class regarding freedom of speech and its limits. This is a way to incorporate
some Canadian law and politics into the classroom, as students can begin to
think about what censorship laws we have in Canada, what speech is and isn’t
protected e.g. hate speech, and can begin to consider their own views on
freedom of speech and what restrictions are and aren’t okay. Depending on the
grade (I would say grade 8 and up), you could have debates or discussions in
the classroom about some of the more controversial censorship cases in Canada
and when it may or may not be warranted or necessary to limit freedom of
speech.
Banned Books Week can even be a way to get a little philosophical
with the students as they can consider larger topics like the duties of the
author or some of literature’s purposes. I don’t mean we need our students to
put on togas and recreate a Greek symposium (although that could be fun if you
wanted), merely that this can be a good entryway for getting students to think
about why it’s important to study fiction, or even why it’s essential to have
the arts in our schools. The authors of these banned books write about “tough
stuff” in their books, sometimes having risked ridicule, scorn, and even jail
time for their words. Ask your students: why would they do that? Why is it
important for these stories to be heard? Is it important at all? Have them
think about the medium. Why is it sometimes a good idea to talk about
controversial issues, such as war, abuse, etc. through a narrative?
As you can see, Banned Books Week can be a fun and easy segway into
conversations about deeper issues. If nothing else, making reading seem a
little more exciting is always a good thing. I don’t know if there are many
things more rewarding to a teacher of language and literacy than seeing a
student that typically doesn’t read or like reading delve into a book and
actually enjoy it! A word to the wise though: make sure the banned books you
put in your classroom are reasonably age-appropriate. Maybe leave Tropic of Cancer for when the students
are a little older than grade 5.
“You weren't there, you didn't see," he said.
"There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a
woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay
for nothing.”
--Ray
Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
 |
| "Fahrenheit 451 Propaganda Poster." Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/436919601321018427/ |
No comments:
Post a Comment