The NCTE Annual Convention begins tomorrow and the Faces of Advocacy program includes sessions on intellectual freedom and challenges to texts. Below are two hands full of sessions you might want to check out in person or via social media
Friday, November 18, 2016
Saturday, November 19, 2016
F.02 – NCTE Awards Session – 8:00-9:15a.m. in Room A411 – Watch and listen as Matt de la Pena receives the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award and Courtney Kincaid receives Honorable Mention.
1:15-2:30pm:
4:15-5:30pm:
K.02 Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition: How a Coalition of Advocates Defended the Students’ Right to Read and Attained Unexpected Results
Room A315
Teachers, students, community members, and rights advocates discuss the powerful— and unexpected—results of a book challenge that rippled out from small-town, conservative Appalachia. Learn how an attempt to remove Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits from the classroom spurred these advocates to defend intellectual freedom.
Co-Chairs: Mary Kent Whitaker, Watauga High School, Boone, NC, “Opportunities and Challenges Related to Advocating for Students and for Thoughtful Literature” Hannah Whitaker, Denver School of Science and Technology, CO, “Obtaining Administrative Support for Highly Challenged Books and Rippling Benefits of Teaching Diverse Books for Students of All Backgrounds”
Presenters: Chris Brook, ACLU of North Carolina, “What Fighting for Intellectual Freedom Means on a Bigger Scale—State and National: How Each Fight Continues to Influence Civil Rights” Craig Fischer, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, “Coalition Building and Public Intellectualism” Nathaniel Fischer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “As a Student: Effects of Speaking at an ASU Teach-In, Being Interviewed by NPR, Participating in a Read-In and Board of Education Meetings, and Being Interviewed by FOX News at an ACLU Rally” Kauner Michael, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “As a Student: Effects of Leadership in Student/Faculty Petition Presented to the Board of Education and the Ripple Effect of Father Running in Next BOE Election” Max Schlenker, Yale University, New Haven, CT, “As a Student: Effects of Being a Deciding Student Representative Vote on the School Committee during the Challenge, Speaking at an ACLU Rally prior to Final BOE Meeting, and Writing College Entrance Essays about the Challenge”
4:00-5:30pm:
K.13 How Teachers, Parents, and Communities Can Keep Students Reading
Room A403
How can teachers keep students reading in the face of challenges to books they have assigned or recommended? This panel will discuss how teachers can address these challenges, by understanding the challengers, creating workable policies, and engaging parents and community members to support them.
Chair: Millie Davis, National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL
Presenters: Lynn Dickinson, HP Kids Read
Emily Knox, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lu Ann McNabb, National Council of Teachers of English, Washington, DC
Sunday, November 20, 2016
10:30-11:45am:
12:00-1:15pm:
A weekend’s worth of intellectual freedom stories and lessons!