Celebrate the Freedom to Read: Use Banned Books Week to Get Them Thinking!

Are your students’ favorite books on the list?  Celebrate the freedom to read by celebrating Banned Books Week!  Have students take a look at the top 10 challenged or banned book list for 2010 list to see if they have read any of the books.  Students will see some of their favorite series – Twilight, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter- on the list of banned and challenged books.  How do they feel about banning these books from the school library? Have them go to this great google map  (found through Richard Byrne’s Free Technology for Teachers blog) that pinpoints banned or challenged books in their state!  Tie it all together with a guided online discussion with your class using the TregoED SCAN tool and the free lesson “Book Banning and the First Amendment.”  (Free until Oct 1, 2011) Students will use the built in problem solving strategy to increase understanding, recognize point of view and develop reasoned solutions to book banning. TregoED is offering a free webinar on September 27^th to get you started. 

Extend this lesson further by discussing banned websites! There are plenty of websites that are blocked from schools.  Is this necessary?  Who should get to decide what is appropriate and what is not for our students?