I Am the Gatekeeper - and I Am Tired

I was reading a book for adults this weekend and came across a part where the main character was having a party. Her party planner invited a medium to do a seance at the party. The following thoughts went through my mind:
- Dang it! Now I can't put the book in the library!
- Wait! This is a book for grown ups. It doesn't matter. I don't have to screen this one.
- *sigh* I think the "gatekeeper" role is starting to get to me....

I feel like I have to be the gatekeeper for the library at my school. It is best practice for my job that I read widely and often. I can't connect students to books if I don't know my students and I don't know the books that are out right now that are written for elementary-aged students.

The fact that I teach at a Christian school adds a layer on top of those general responsibilities, though. My feeling is that parents and the administration/board expect that the books we put in the library (and to some extent what we sell at the book fair) are going to fit with (or at least not go against) their beliefs - and those beliefs are as varied as you can imagine. While we include materials from Christian publishers, we also have a reading program that doesn't always cover those materials. And more and more, secularly published books are including language, romantic situations, magic/fantasy/paranormal creatures and monsters, and alternate lifestyles even in books for younger readers.

So, I am the gatekeeper. When reading a book that I might want to put in the library, I can't just be swept away by the story. I have to be watchful of language or characters or themes that could raise flags in a Christian context. If there is any element of fantasy or "magic," I have to decide if it could be perceived as witchcraft or evil in any way. If there are a couple swear words in the story, I take it to my principal to make my case for putting the book in the library because I feel there is more merit in using it than "danger" with the language. I've never been told I have to take these issues to my principal. I think I'm just worried about creating a situation that prompts a challenge and I want someone in authority to have given me the okay for choosing to value the content as more important than the drawbacks.

At our recent book fair, a colleague asked if I was going to put a particular book out for sale. The secondary school had chosen not to sell the book in their fair. I had read the book and had been talking it up with all of my older students. Several were eager to buy it or read it. I felt it was more of a super hero/super power story than a magic story. A few days later I received a Christian newsletter about children's lit and this book was highlighted as a fun adventure story for kids. I felt vindicated - it was "okay" that I was okay with this book. But I still had a parent say "absolutely not" for her child when I described the story line to her.

I think I am more aware of my gatekeeping fatigue right now because I read for the library intensely this summer and that intensity has kept up through the first 4 months of school. I'm tired from the pressure. And I'm starting to wonder if the pressure is really there from parents and the school, or if I am letting my fear of failure - which in my mind would be a challenge of material I read and chose to put in the library that someone else wants removed - drive me to a higher standard than was intended when I was hired for my job. Besides, it's a LOT of work to put a new book in the library. I'd rather not do all that work for a book that won't stand up to scrutiny.

So far, I have had individual students return materials they borrowed from the library because a parent didn't care for the content. Two cases I remember specifically - one was a book from the Chronicles of Narnia that used the d--- word and the other book referenced magic in a fairly mild way (in comparison to a book like Harry Potter) and the family said the student shouldn't read anything with magic. A student reminded me recently of another book a student returned because a character took the Lord's name in vain. I don't remember that instance, but it felt familiar when she mentioned it. In all of those cases, the student returned the book and I helped them find something else that was a better fit. There was no challenge of the material for the school at large - just a parental preference for their own child. On the other side of the issue, if a student wants a book I don't have in the library - for whatever reason, be it limited resources or content, I readily refer the student to the public library. We have a fantastic one!

I really wrestle with all this gatekeeping.... A friend called it censorship. And he is right in a way. I don't black out swear words in our books, but I won't put Harry Potter in the library, either, because it is a fight that isn't worth starting. I've had families touring the school say, "You don't have Harry Potter in the library, do you?" I've had two discussions about Harry already this school year, and the folks who raised objections about the books in the conversations were vehement in their disapproval of the series. Is it censorship not to have the series in the library? No. It is a choice. My students can access the books at home, on e-readers, and at the library. And my students who read Harry know that I have read the series and I'll talk to them about the books. But I also cringe inside every time I read Wild About Books out loud to a class because she buys "waterproof books for the otter who never went swimming without Harry Potter." I wait a heartbeat before continuing, always wondering if I'm going to get a negative comment from a student about even mentioning the series. Even at school yesterday, when talking with a colleague about some books her kids are reading I paused, wondering if I should warn her about some controversial content in an upcoming book. I decided that she wasn't asking for my professional input so I kept my thoughts to myself. Their family can enjoy the series and encounter the material as they choose.

There are times I envy public school and public library employees. They just provide the materials and let the children and the families make their own choices about content. Patrons or students check out what they want and deal with the content if it comes up. I guess this was the approach I tried with the colleague yesterday. This is not the first time I have wrestled with this issue of censorship on this blog, but I feel no closer to answers than I was back then.

I guess if the alternative to all of this is not putting new books in the library or only being able to talk to students about books and then send them to Amazon or to the public library to get what they want, I wouldn't be happy with that alternative either. It may be time to process all this with my principal and find out what the expectations truly are.

What are your thoughts? What is "censorship?" When is gatekeeping an okay thing and when is it bad? What responsibility do Christian teachers have when it comes to students and literature?

Lesson Plans

Many (many) years ago, when my husband and I taught upper elementary and middle school Sunday school, I enjoyed lesson planning. I had a theme or plan for the year (Women in the Bible or Children in the Bible) and I had theme verses I wanted students to focus on. I loved plotting out the lessons, writing out my thoughts and observations on the scripture passages. I loved teaching the material and interacting with my students over it.

I am typing this post after over 2.5 hours of lesson planning for school. I am not yet experiencing the same joy I used to feel.

I teach 17 classes a week to kids in 7 grades. So I am "only" planning 7 lessons a week - far fewer than my dear colleagues who teach that many lessons in one day. And my lessons have to be short enough to fit in a 40 minute period where I need to check in returned books and check out new books for anywhere from 10 to 25 students in a group as well as teach the lesson. Right now, I am just trying to plot out all of the library orientation material I need to cover depending on the age and skill level of the group. I'm having a hard time even remembering what all I taught last year.

My main challenges are

• My preference to plan a full week at a time. My first day of teaching classes was a Thursday. I have 4 classes on Thursday and 4 on Friday, so about half of my load. But in those two days, I taught two of my fifth grade classes. I didn't see the other one until Wednesday of the following week. So, during the first full week of classes, I spent three days (nine classes) covering our orientation material and two days (eight classes) covering Week 2 material (the always thrilling discussion of shelf markers!). After two full weeks of classes, we have a Monday off for Labor Day. It will take me about a month of classes to arrange the material so that the three fourth grade classes (which meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday) are all on the same lesson in the same calendar week. This problem continues throughout the year thanks to breaks and school events and book fair, etc. I've already plotted out the dates of meetings through December so I can see where my partial weeks are and try to plan around them.
• Planning developmentally appropriate lessons. I am still learning what books and what concepts work with which ages. Two years in a row now, I have read Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? to my kindergarten students and both times it has completely bombed. I finally got smart and started keeping a file of books I am using, what lessons I do with them, and when they work and don't work.
• Planning lessons that prepare kids for more than just finding a book in the non-fiction section of any library. Library usage skills are important to me. Not only do they minimize the cyclone-like appearance of the library when a class leaves, but I believe they are skills necessary for life-long learning. But I want my students to leave with so much more - a love of reading, an appreciation for the impact a well-written story or well-developed character can have on your heart and mind, an understanding of the world that can come from digging into a well-written non-fiction book, a new depth of understanding of Scripture that can come when you know how to read for understanding.
• The overabundance of material available to me. I almost have too many choices as far as lesson material. I have the things I did last year (some of which worked and some didn't). I have fun things I have found online from other teachers. I have a file cabinet full of material from my predecessor that I haven't even had time to open. I have shelves of library magazines full of lesson ideas. 
• The pressure of having to develop a scope and sequence by October. I knew this time last year that I had to put together a scope and sequence of lessons for each grade level by this October. I had every intention of doing it this summer, but it didn't happen. In part, that is because of the other library projects I was doing instead. But honestly, part of it is because I hate having to commit to a scope and sequence this early in my librarian/teacher journey. I have so much to learn. I have so much material (see previous bullet point). I'm afraid the minute I submit this curriculum plan I'm going to hate it and want to do something completely different (or I'm going to try to implement it and find it's a complete flop)!

What's sad is that I realize this 150 minutes I just spent was really just for formatting an outline of what I'm going to do on certain days - and I haven't even finished all of September yet - not even planning the exact lessons.

*Sigh*

I am expecting to feel a lot better about the manageability of my teaching life by October. I haven't lost the hope of someday being able to leave school at 3:15 again!

Censorship

As a teacher and a blogger, I feel a lot of responsibility when I recommend books, especially to kids and parents. Lately I have been looking at books I'd like to add to my son's elementary school library. It's a big responsibility.
Ultimately I believe it is the parents' responsibility to know what their child is reading. But no one can read everything, so parents count on resources like librarians, Amazon review, friends, etc. to help them.
Recently I read a new middle grade novel by a favorite and popular author. The sort of author whose books many parents - and schools - would buy without reading first. The book had a swear word in it several times. Because of that, I have found myself wrestling with questions of censorship.
*Can I recommend the book to family, friends and, more importantly, students in elementary school with that language?
I think I can recommend it to adults, but with the caveat that there is one swearword in the book a few times - let the parents decide if they are okay with that or not.
*While our small school library can't possibly house every book, is it okay to exclude a book because the language doesn't fit the school's Christian foundation?
Yes, because the language does not honor the school's mission. 
*If the book comes with our materials for book fair this fall, will I put it out on display?
This is a much trickier question. If I didn't know about the language, I would definitely have put it out. But I do know. I will yield to the wisdom of my building principal, but my instinct is to hold the book out, but sell it to families who request it and acknowledge that they are aware of the language and are choosing to buy it.

The bigger question I wrestle with, as a professional, is where my line of responsibility falls when it comes to making age-appropriate material available to students in a Christian school context, realizing that the parents are ultimately responsible for setting the boundaries for their own household about what is appropriate reading material?

Any thoughts? How do you define "censorship?"