![]() “I like to pick a variety of levels from second to fifth grade and some sixth to seventh grade books for all levels of reading,” Andrea said. ![]() She runs her classroom library much like a regular library, mindfully choosing books at different levels and genres. ![]() Protests and legal challenges aside, Andrea must do what she believes is right for her students’ ELA needs. “Kids are more likely to find questionable content online than they are in books.” “We shouldn’t be banning books, if we’re not blocking the internet and social media,” Andrea said. She believes a greater threat to students is internet access, which parents should focus their attention on. But you can’t tell other kids-or a whole state of kids-that they can’t read something.” “If you don’t want your children reading a book, that’s fine. “I’d like to know, what did a teacher ever do to him?”īut Andrea feels that if there is any question whether a child should read a particular title that it should be a parenting decision, not a school district or state one. “I’m not sure why he has chosen teachers as an outlet for everything,” Andrea said. “They should be able to find books that resonate with them, and that help them with whatever they may be dealing with in their lives.”Īndrea wonders why Florida’s governor is questioning teachers’ authority and expertise in choosing books for their classroom libraries and students. “It will ultimately hurt kids in middle and high school,” Andrea said. While Andrea says that removing these titles did not harm her students per se, those in the district’s upper grades won’t be so lucky. They were a former Sunshine State Young Reader Award Winner, Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and a title in the Who Was biography series: Who Was Michael Jackson?” They have since been put back on the shelves. Recently, there were two titles under scrutiny in Andrea’s grade level. In addition, the district’s media specialists are spending countless hours inventorying teachers’ classroom collections to make sure the shelves do not include books under question. Andrea (last name not listed due to safety concerns) from Northeast Florida is a fifth-grade language arts and social studies teacher in a district where teachers’ classroom libraries are under a microscope.
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