Your Turn: What does culturally responsive teaching look like in your district?

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Education, Education Policy, Equity, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Parent Involvment, Professional Development, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | , , ,

We asked our bloggers to tell us about their experience with culturally responsive teaching. We asked them:

What does culturally responsive teaching look like in your district?

How are you and the educators you know using relationships to connect with students, honor their individuality and support academic achievement?

Gretchen Cruden

“We embrace learning that connects to their real lives…”

Culturally responsive teaching may look a little different in our school. I work in a high-poverty, extremely rural school. Example? We are so rural that we are defined as a frontier school and have had “cougar patrol” as part of our playground supervisory activities. That said, our school embraces what our students walk in the door with and honor it. We are a culture of “make do” and “outside the box” thinking because our students often do have to be creative in their problem solving in their home environments. We embrace learning that connects with their real lives including studying outdoor survival skills, gardening and dissecting parts of animals their families have hunted. These lessons honor their home lives and connect families to the school. In this way, our school embraces and supports our students’ backgrounds and helps build bridges to adjacent possibilities as they grow in their academics.

Lynne Olmos

“…more celebrations of diverse cultures could benefit us all.”

For all the time I have worked in my small, rural district, there has been a sort of self-congratulatory attitude in our district. We are proud of our students of color and how successful they are in our schools. However, that success is really a tribute to their hard work more than it is to any sort of outreach or responsive programs built into the system. Latinx families make up around 35% of our community, and, though we have a migrant support program that hosts occasional events and the standard English language learner supports, we don’t do a great deal to celebrate Latinx culture. Our kids are awesome, and some of our teachers go the extra mile to embrace the diverse cultures in our classrooms. However, there is a need for a more culturally responsive system.

Every now and then, we get the opportunity to celebrate our diversity. One very cool opportunity that landed in my classroom recently was through a national project funded by the CDC and managed by the Olympia Family Theater. The project, entitled Fully Vaxxed, utilized the input of bilingual youth from our school and a few others to write plays about the impact of the Covid vaccines on Latinx communities. Three of my students participated in the program, and our Drama Club attended opening night to celebrate their work. It was awesome! 

We really do a great job supporting all students in my district, but more celebrations of diverse cultures could benefit us all. Everyone deserves to see their home language, culture, and traditions represented, respected, and honored in their school environment.

Emma-Kate Schaake

“I want students to know they have strengths in their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds…”

I am grateful to have a district and department with enough funding to have some creativity in lesson planning and curriculum. Last year, I was able to buy four class sets of contemporary young adult books for book groups and that unit was the best engagement I had online by far. The English teacher saying that books should be windows into other perspectives or mirrors into your own is almost trite by now, but still incredibly true. 

The books we read allowed students to share their own experiences and empathize with the characters. As much choice as I can offer in my curriculum, the better. I want students to know they have strengths in their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds, regardless. So often, students do not see themselves in texts (especially those written by old, dead, white men) and I try to deviate from that norm as much as I can.

So now it is your turn.

Tell us how your school responds to the culture of its students. How do you connect with your students, honor their culture, and support their academic achievement?

Just Say No To Learning Styles

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According to a survey in 2017, 93% of the public and 76% of educators believe in the theory of learning styles. It’s a pervasive idea. It’s appealing. It’s obvious.

Even though it’s wrong.

As its essence, the idea behind learning styles instruction is:

  • children who are visual learners learn best with visual instruction
  • children who are auditory learners learn best with auditory instruction
  • children who are kinesthetic learners learn best with kinesthetic instruction

However, experiments don’t bear this premise out. “If classification of students’ learning styles has practical utility, it remains to be demonstrated.”

Dr. Dylan Wiliam from the Institute of Education, University College London, argues that the whole premise of learning-styles research—that the purpose of instructional design is to make learning easy—may be incorrect. “If students do not have to work hard to make sense of what they are learning, then they are less likely to remember it in six weeks’ time.”

In other words, the learning styles movement wanted to make learning easy. But people learn best when learning is more challenging.

Especially if it’s more interesting.

Not only that, but teachers and students may have very different ideas of what each child’s “learning styles” are.

In a study published in Frontiers in Education, researchers interviewed nearly 200 fifth and sixth grade students, asking them to choose their preferred learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). Then their teachers were asked to identify each student’s preferred learning styles.

There was no significant correlation between the teachers’ judgements and the students’ own assessments. Clearly, the styles aren’t as obvious as some might expect!

If you, as a teacher, are a strong verbal or auditory learner, you should learn to incorporate extra kinesthetic activities like “vote with your feet.” However, you aren’t doing the activities to make your kinesthetic learners suddenly become better students. You are adding the activities to make your classroom experience richer for everyone. In the same way, you ought to incorporate extra visuals into your instruction: art, maps, charts, graphs, cartoons.

In my classroom, everyone learns to take 2- and 3-column notes (the third column giving space for questions or doodles). I also show everyone how to take notes in a more visually interesting way. In the end, students will choose the way that suits them best.

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Constructing Equitable Schools: One Block at a Time

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Legos for Big Kids

A few weeks ago in one of my classes, I used Lego blocks in a small group discussion. Each student was given a different color and they added to other blocks when they contributed to the discussion, asked a question, or started a new thread. 

My goal was to have every student participate and the legos as a visualization tool was meant to help them see their own contributions and monitor the flow of discussion within the group. 

I brought this up in an equity team meeting when we were planning our next staff training and the idea stuck. Though, it manifested in a more metaphorical sense for our district wide equity work. 

Constructing Knowledge

As with most schools around the state, and around the country, our building staff approaches the idea of “equity work” from very different perspectives. Some see it as essential to every part of teaching and learning while others are skeptical of equity practices. Some believe they are already meeting expectations, while others view the concepts as indoctrination or reverse racism. 

With that broad spectrum of thought, it’s a little daunting to plan a full staff equity training that everyone can find meaningfully learn from.

Let’s dig into the lego metaphor. 

As someone who is seen as “all in” on equity work, I think, sometimes, people think my beliefs, learning, and practices look a little something like this: 

Yellow could represent the podcasts and news sources I consume. Green might be how I vote. Blue could be the teacher leadership equity framework class I completed. Purple can stand for the shelf of antiracist and social history books I have read (and re-read) and red might show my work with student leaders.

Some may view my very linear lego tower as the only way to “do equity” and if so, then it’s not for them. 

But really, there are many ways to learn and construct knowledge. As educators, we know this. No two class periods are alike, even at the same grade level, with the same content. I am constantly revamping my curriculum because this years’ students need something different than previous years. 

We might all be given similar “blocks” of information, but we are going to make very different constructions, based on myriad factors like our perspectives, backgrounds, values, and experiences. 

They might consume very different or much more news than I do, so their yellow news block might actually be orange, or three times the size. Maybe they are the duck in the middle. 

Similarly, the tower with pink is different from mine, as that brain is probably bringing in entirely different experiences to their learning. I am a white, cis, straight woman, so my identity narrows and limits my lens.

My lego blocks create a tower that is incomplete, and just represents one way of learning and growing as an equitable educator. 

Widening Our Perspectives 

Often, our staff cites feeling frustrated that equity work isn’t going anywhere; “We’ve been talking about this for years.” They might be expecting a linear tower that leads somewhere like steps on a staircase. But, while we are always building on prior knowledge, this work is far from linear. 

Similarly, staff want concrete action steps to feel fulfilled and successful. They might take in the information in our training, but want action steps; “Okay, so what do I do about that?” Teachers are used to problems with solutions; lesson plans with measurable outcomes. 

But, the reality is, box checking equity or “checkquity” work isn’t lasting, effective, or substantial. 

Staff disengage when they feel like they don’t have a seat at the table, just like our students do. So our hope with introducing this lego idea is that our staff would widen their perspectives and –to add yet another metaphor here– pull up a chair. 

We want them to give themselves the grace for not having a full tower, or even a tower at all. Making a square, a triangle, or even a duck is a valid form of engagement and learning. 

There’s no one right way to do equity work. As long as we’re doing it. 

All I Ever Needed to Learn about Teaching I Learned…in the Barn?

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This blog is about the intersection of my teaching life and my relationship with horses. Not a horse person? No problem. You might have another passion – cats, science fiction, woodwork… It hardly matters. The reality is that analogies are powerful pathways to learning. When we make connections, we gain insight.

Horsemanship strategies have had a bigger impact on my teaching style than any professional development, administrator, or mentor. Most of the lessons I have learned from my four-legged friends would be labeled social/emotional learning, but they also touch on trauma-informed teaching, restorative practices, and student engagement.

Here are just a few truths I have learned from those big beasts:

Fear is not an effective tool for training or discipline.

Adult humans often assume that their status as the elder and more powerful in a relationship affords them the right to insist on hard work and good behavior. Honestly, some students (and horses) are conditioned to respond to this behavior, doing whatever the boss says and trying hard to please. On the other hand, many sensitive creatures do not operate well under these conditions. Just because you have the power does not mean you can force or threaten a kid (or a horse) to do your bidding. They may do it, but it will not be their best work, and it will not be for the best reason. If you want to truly inspire a great performance, you need a trusting relationship.

Building trust takes time.

With any creature, you cannot ask too much too soon. With a horse, you need to take time to prove that you mean no harm. You have to let the animal adjust to your presence, and you have to earn their trust through consistency and fair treatment. This is so true of students, too. Push them too hard before you have earned their trust, and you might break that trust forever. You cannot demand hard work or ask them to take risks if they don’t really know or trust you. Time. You have to invest time in your students to see the best results.

A good leader does not have to be a bully to earn respect.

Once trust is achieved, you can work on building respect for your leadership in the classroom. This is similar to working with horses. They are big and can be dangerous, so it is important that they respect and honor the space of their human leader. It is similar with kids. If they trust you, and you establish firm and fair boundaries, true respect can be earned. They will be happy to do as you ask, without any dramatic effort on your part. With horses, this is all about body language, how you move, where you stand. They are creatures who communicate in silence quite effectively. With students, physical cues are also important, but we humans mainly use words to establish boundaries and build trust. One thing you never do with a horse is block its avenue of escape when it is stressed. This is also wise with students; always give them agency and voice, and you will earn their respect.

You have to give clear cues to get good results.

When you are riding a horse and you ask it to move a particular direction, there is a specific cue for that movement. If you are inconsistent in how you ask, the response will also be inconsistent. The creature is trying to understand your language, but how can it make the correct response if you keep changing the request? Imagine how frustrating it is for any learner when the rules keep changing, or when the instructions are unclear. The only cure in these instances is clear and consistent instruction. If you want students to succeed, they need clarity, consistency and repetition, along with support they can turn to as needed.

“Drive” and “draw” are the keys to engagement.

Recently, I have dabbled in “liberty” training, where the horse is free to interact with you, no equipment, just you on the ground giving cues and trying to get the horse to respond to them. It is very challenging. You have to have a way to send or drive the horse away from you, and then an even more powerful method of “drawing” it back to you. A strong drive is putting them to work and a strong draw is getting their undivided attention. Done right, it looks like magic. In reality, it is the product of good horse and human relationships, clear cues, and rewards for good responses. I see the application to the classroom here, too. I want drive. I want kids to work hard, take risks, and struggle when I ask it of them. I want them to respect my requests and take me seriously. Beyond that, I also want draw. I want them to join up and listen when asked. I want them to be curious about what we are doing next. I want them to be looking for the benefits of our interactions.

Horses are wise teachers and they have taught me to listen carefully, and not just to words. They have taught me to be respectful to earn respect, and to leave a little wiggle room to relieve anxiety. They have humbled me and helped me to understand that I am more powerful in my connections when I am thoughtful, intentional, and kind.

You may not have the privilege of learning these lessons from big beasts like mine, but you get the idea. We become wiser when we are open to the lessons around us. What we learn from our experiences, we can bring to our classrooms to be just a bit better for the students we teach.

I am interested in the philosophies and influences that other educators bring to their work. Where did you learn “everything you needed to know”? Do you have some analogies to share? Leave some ideas in the comments and we can learn from each other.

Meanwhile, here are some related readings for you.

What Teachers Could Learn from Animal Trainers

8 Lessons Horses (Yes, Horses) Can Teach You About Business

Horses Teach Us Life Lessons (Learning Emotional Intelligence with horses)

Equine Assisted Learning: Skills Development through Experiential Learning

Encouraging Dis-Comfort

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Current Affairs, Education Policy, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Mathematics, Social Issues

At the beginning of this year, in the middle of a math lesson, one of my most advanced students, Caren,  suddenly said, “I don’t get it.”

Another student immediately spoke up to offer help. “Let me show you how to do it!”

I stopped the second student, saying, “That’s ok. Let her struggle.”

Caren’s face went bright red. She wasn’t used to struggling at anything. But I let her sit in that discomfort. I let her struggle. Eventually she said, “Oh, I see what I did wrong.” She was able to explain how she made her mistake on the problem.

After school, in the parking lot, I talked with her father and told him what I had done. He laughed and said he agreed with my strategy.

On March 14 I showed my class a SlideShow of pie charts during math for Pi Day. They were all jokes. My class had a wonderful time laughing at all the visual puns.

Toward the end I put up the following slide.

Pie Charts Are Hard

One of my students, Edgar, said, “I don’t get it.”

Kids tried to explain, but I just said, “Look at the title.”

Edgar said, “There’s no red!”

I said, “Look at the title.”

He said, “There’s no red anywhere!”

I repeated, “Look at the title.”

Finally, he said, “The title, what? The title … I don’t get it … I don’t … oh. Now I understand.”

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Gifted Parents

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Parent Involvment

I don’t watch much sports, but I’m an Olympics junkie. I love the Olympic motto: Higher—Faster—Stronger. That’s how I want to teach, helping my kids as they always reach for the next goal.

This year one detail from an interview with Nathan Chen, the American gold medal figure skater, struck me. He said that his family didn’t have money for skating lessons when he was a kid. So his mom took him to occasional lessons. While he worked with the coach, she took copious notes, and—between lessons—she was the one who coached him, using what she had learned at the last lesson.

In this column I talk a lot about gifted students, or, as Washington State says, Highly Capable (HC) students.

It’s time to talk about gifted parents.

We had neighbors with a son Rafe who dug up their back yard to install a koi pond and a Japanese tea garden. Then he decided it wasn’t right, dug it all up again, and redid the whole thing. Multiple times. In the end they had a lovely back yard, but only after years of mess and chaos.

Rafe had a gift for gardening.

I thought his parents had a gift too. They were willing to put up with years of mess and chaos in order to support their son.

By the way, by the time he was in high school, Rafe started his own landscaping company that helped pay his way through college.

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Student Equity Summit

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This fall, all of our students had the opportunity to take perception surveys in their homeroom through a program called Panorama. The results gave us invaluable data that our leadership teams have been digging into for months.

The biggest take away has been, perhaps unsurprisingly, that we need more student voice in our equity and leadership work. As I wrote last year, students joining our staff equity team was a powerful experience and we’ve seen student leadership continue to grow from that first meeting.

This fall, we hosted a Student Equity Summit with speaker, author, educator, and consultant Erin Jones at the A.S.H.H.O cultural center in Tumwater. Eating food together, being in community, and learning from each other outside of school in a nonwhite space was eye opening for students and adults.

The last thing we wanted to do was lose the momentum of that day, so we hosted a second summit in February where we gave students a chance to dig into the Panorama data and have conversations about their experiences at school. 

We asked students from the Social Equity Club, which I advise, to plan the event and they chose the data they thought were the most interesting and gave input on our student edition of Speak up at School training. They were just as excited as we were to launch and to hear from their fellow students.

The morning of, donuts at the ready, we gave students the results and asked them: What do you notice about this data? Why do you think this is occurring on campus? Does this match your experience? 

Right away, their answers were insightful. 

The first question “How fairly do students at your school treat people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?” had results that were 66% favorable and students were quick to dissect those numbers. Many wanted to disaggregate the results because as students of color, they definitely felt they didn’t fall into the 66%.

Next, we looked at the question “How often do students at your school have important conversations about race, even when they might be uncomfortable?” which was only 42% favorable. The overwhelming consensus was that students and educators alike are afraid to have these tough conversations. All teachers across the district have been trained with Speak up at School, but these students told us they haven’t seen a change. 

“People think their comfort is more important than someone’s safety,” one student wrote. “If you never talk about it or be in that uncomfortable place, you’re never going to grow or get out of your bubble.” 

Our third question had abysmally low results; only 23% favorable. “How connected do you feel to the adults at your school?” Students were clear that it’s obvious when a teacher really cares, (“when they have your heart” as one student put it) but many feel they don’t think teachers understand their experience outside the classroom, especially around issues of race or their cultural experience. 

We left the summit with piles of sticky notes, key insights, and a whole new set of questions like puzzles to solve. 

Before the summit, we adults had parsed through the data, but the morning clearly showed us that without student input, we’re probably missing the forest for the trees. Using the last question as an example, we’re now asking ourselves: What does it actually mean for students to feel connected to the adults in the building? How would they define connectedness? And, perhaps most importantly, is that even what they want? 

No one knows the student experience better than our students and while we want to solve problems for them, it’s key that we remember, they are our best problem solvers. 

On the heels of this event, the Social Equity Club is planning what they want to do next (board meetings and summit 3.0 here we come!) and they’ve been clear about the nonnegotiable changes they want to help enact. If we adults continue to ask students to show up, be vulnerable, share their experiences, and contribute their ideas, we’d better be prepared to listen, learn, and make real change.

Ready for Some Smiles?

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This week Chris Reykdal, Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, released a statement supporting removal of the mask mandate in our schools. Likewise, Governor Inslee announced upcoming changes in mask mandates statewide. With mask mandates being lifted all across the country, it seems like only a matter of time before it happens in our classrooms.

Locally, in my rural region of Southwest Washington, some conservative families have been staging protests against mask-wearing. They are still holding on to the tired old claims that masks are more harmful than COVID and that people who follow the governor’s rules are sheep.

Sigh.

My four-year old grandson, masked

Well, they are going to get what they want. The days of masks in school are numbered. And, how do I feel about that? A bit conflicted, actually.

This has been a wild ride. For two years, I have been in close contact with infected students countless times. The majority of my 139 students have been quarantined at least once, sidelining sports teams and filling up the absence list, leaving half the desks empty at times.

I have lost friends to the virus. I have heard of the suffering and near death experiences of others. I know how awful it can be.

Due to my high rate of exposure, I missed out on so much time with my family, not wanting to spread anything to vulnerable family members. I stressed out over any symptoms, took my temperature hundreds of times…

The funny thing is that I was less sick these last two years than I have been in all twenty years of teaching. Why? What was the difference?

The mask. I believe this, 100%.

Still, it’s time. The masks are coming off, and I predict that it will be like a collective sigh of relief being released in every classroom across the state. As much as we have relied on them for safety, their absence will bring back something we have truly missed- the faces of our students.

One of my favorite areas of research is trauma-informed teaching practices. Recently, everything I read about the effects of trauma on children seems to apply to all of my students these days. Collective trauma. Stress. All of us, and particularly young people with less agency in their lives, have been under a great strain. Part of that strain is the inability to read the faces around us. There is research on this aspect of mask wearing, and it is the only valid argument against masks that I have seen. It comes down to one big truth – you cannot build trusting relationships with people when you struggle to read their emotions. Masks complicate that process.

With our new focus on the emotional health of our students, we will definitely benefit from the ability to openly smile at them. And won’t we also benefit from their smiles? Meanwhile, all this time teaching in a mask has likely honed our ability to communicate more clearly with our eyes, our gestures, and our body language. I think we can look forward to some big gains in relationship building very soon!

My four-year old grandson, unmasked

So, while we may have some nervous moments when we take off those masks, let’s make the most of it and enjoy the smiles we are about to see.

As you sort through your own emotions about the possible lifting of the mask mandate, here is some suggested reading:

Reykdal’s Statement

Protests in Lewis County

Study on the Impact of Face Masks…

Do Masks Stunt Students’ Social and Emotional Development?

With Mask Restrictions Set to Lift, a Haze of Uncertainty Lingers

Doctors Warn Ending School Mask Mandates Will Lead to Rise in COVID Cases

To Acknowledge History Is to Be Radical

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In December, I taught my students about the Great Depression. Factories and stores couldn’t sell their goods, so they paid their workers less. The workers then bought fewer things, so the factories and stores sold less, leading them to pay their workers even less.

Banks failed. People lost their savings.

Clothes wore out and were patched.  There was no money to buy new.  People moved to cheaper houses and then to cheaper dwellings that didn’t qualify as houses.  They bought cheaper food and then less food.  Finally, they weren’t able to buy enough food to keep up their strength.

At that point in the lesson, one of my students Aleesha raised her hand. She said, “Mrs. Kragen, I would rather live through five years of a pandemic than live through the Great Depression.”

Teaching history provides perspective.

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The Freedom to Read

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Censorship Gone Wild 

There have been a plethora of school library censorship and banned book stories lately. Unfortunately ,there are too many to list, but here are a few highlights that may have graced your news feeds. 

A school district in Tennessee banned the graphic novel Maus by Art Speiglman over concerns of profanity and female nudity. 

Another in removed Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye from library shelves for obscenity. 

Texas, perhaps unsurprisingly, has a whole host of books their officials want to ban, an overwhelming amount of which feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes. 

Librarians have been accused of poisoning young minds, buying pornography, and indoctrinating students. 

One of my favorite frequently banned books, Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, prominently placed in our library’s Black History Month display. 

In the midst of all of this, it would be easy for Washington educators and librarians to rest on our laurels, grateful not to be working in one of these states with high profile cases. After all, Washington is liberal and progressive, right? 

But, when a colleague sent me this article on Book Riot, “LGBTQ+ Books Quietly Pulled from Washington State Middle School” I was reminded that issues of intellectual freedom and censorship in school libraries are everywhere. Stories like this one that don’t make national headlines are even more unsettling for their insidiousness.

In Our Backyard 

In Kent, The Cedar Heights Middle School librarian, Gavin Downing, was deemed to have “sexually explicit” books on his shelves. The principal pulled books from the shelves, insisted that she monitor all future purchases, and created a council at school to advise Downing on “age appropriate material.” 

It all started with Jack of Hearts by L.C Rosen about an “unapologetically queer teen” who “celebrates the freedom to be oneself, especially in the face of adversity.” If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, an award winning novel about a trans girl, and All Boys Aren’t Blue, a memoir by LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson, were also discussed at board meetings and removed. 

Kent has a board policy to “revolutionize school libraries” across the district but clearly,  censoring queer voices is out of alignment with the third phase of their plan which seeks to “reinforce equity and excellence.”

I can’t help but draw parallels to Texas where 59.95% of the 850 books on the governor’s banned list feature LGBTQ+ characters. 

In Defense of Libraries 

I am an English teacher, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that I take the freedom to read very seriously. I have also been unspoken about the fact that I think we need to update our curriculums to reflect a more accurate, diverse, and empathetic world view. 

Additionally, this year, I’ve been a librarian half the day, a move that has encouraged me to pursue my library media endorsement, with the hopes of becoming a full time school librarian.

In preparation for one of my classes, I researched Library Bill of Rights and the American Library Association makes it clear that the principles of the bill apply to school libraries. 

The American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.

The ALA has a series of interpretations of this bill and there are a few principles that stood out to me in regards to both local and national censorship. 

Intellectual Freedom: School librarians are leaders in promoting “the principles of intellectual freedom,” and must empower students with “critical thinking skills to empower them to pursue free inquiry responsibly and independently.” 

In the Cedar Heights Middle School case, the removal of books from library shelves limits free and independent inquiry. Remember, we aren’t talking curriculum here, but simply books that students have the freedom to read on their own time. 

Diverse Points of View:  Collection material should “represent diverse points of view on both current and historical issues” and “support the intellectual growth, personal development, individual interests, and recreational needs of students.” 

Representation matters. Books by and about the LGBTQ+ community can be powerful mirrors into students’ own experience or windows to foster empathy. I’d argue the titles that were removed from Cedar Heights could have played an integral role in students’ “intellectual growth” and “personal development.” 

Political Views: The resources in the library should not be constrained by “personal, political, social, or religious views” and school librarians should resist efforts of outside groups to “define what is appropriate for all students or teachers to read, view, hear, or access.” 

It’s no coincidence that the books banned in Kent were all written by and about members of the LGBTQ+ community. As long as those individuals continue to face discrimination, their existence and their stories will remain politically charged. 

Rights of Minors: “Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information through the library” and equitable library access should not be abridged by “chronological age, apparent maturity, educational level, literacy skills…”

Librarians are tasked with using their expertise in areas of literacy and adolescent development to fill their shelves. They are uniquely positioned to help their patrons explore those materials and think critically. Students are exposed to more than ever before online, and libraries are a safe place for them to explore a variety of resources with the guidance of a caring adult.

Parental Responsibility “Parents and guardians have the right and the responsibility to determine their children’s—and only their children’s—access to library resources. Parents and guardians who do not want their children to have access to specific library services, materials, or facilities should advise their own children.” 

While I can see why some content might be deemed too mature for young readers, all of the books facing removal at Cedar Heights are highly vetted, award winning, and deemed important young adult texts. As an educator who has, at times during this pandemic, felt more like a babysitter than a teacher, I very much appreciate the focus on families’ individual choices. 

What’s Next? 

I wish I had answers during these “polarizing” and “unprecedented” times. Maybe, some day, we can live in a more harmonious political climate and experience some mundane, precedented news stories, though I’m not holding out hope. 

However, as an educator, English teacher, and aspiring school librarian, it’s clear to me that the challenges we’re facing around intellectual freedom warrant our full attention. 

So, pay attention to your school library and the books filling it’s shelves. Does your librarian curate a collection that is representative of your students’ needs? 

Tune into your local school board meetings and contact the members. (The Book Riot article has contact information for Kent board members if you want to help the situation in Cedar Heights ). 

Have conversations with your principal and colleagues. Where do they stand on issues of censorship and equity? 

Our students deserve the freedom to read and we should never stop fighting for that right.