Censorship in the Classroom

Do you agree/disagree that the book should be available in the classroom?

Yes, I do think the Harry Potter series has a place in the classroom. I would not make it a part of the required reading but I would certainly make it available to those children who, with their parent's persmission, enjoy those books. I don't personally believe in banning a book because of religious content or lack thereof. Let's face it, there is always going to be controversial issues that certain groups will be passionate about. There isn't anything that I can do about that. I will only strive to provide a classroom library that hopefully includes material that will be appropriate for the age level I am teaching and that appeals to many different readers. I might include a list of the titles of the books in my library to send home to parents for their information. As always, I would certainly defer to their decisions about what they would like for their child to read, even if I might not agree. It is my job as a teacher to provide great children's literature and foster a love of reading, not decide what is appropriate or inappropriate for someone else's child. That just not the point. If a parent and/or student is opposed to certain titles, I would want to have many others options for that student to choose from. There are great books out there for everyone.



Would you use it as part of your instruction? Why or why not? What problems would it present? What benefits would it offer?

No, I would not use the Potter series as part of my instruction. I think there are lots of other less controversial offerings out there that I could use. From a teaching standpoint, I would not want to take the time to plan a lesson around a Harry Potter book only to surely have a parent object to the material. I would not want to have to scap a lesson and start over on something else. That being said, the positive thing about H.P. is that so many children do love the characters and storylines. It really gets their imaginations going. Some children that might not have been too excited about reading might actually look forward to opening a book. That is an undeniably powerful thing. However, as I mentioned above, there are many exciting, adventurous books available that students would enjoy and have been approved by school systems and parents alike.

Write and post a detailed reflection about the book and the issue of censorship. Be sure to include the information your read from the web sites to support your reflection; think about how you might handle a censorship question raised in your classroom.

I just want to make clear that I have no personal objections to the Harry Potter series. My daughter never really got into the series but as a teacher assistant I certainly saw many kids toting those books around. I know that they are beloved by many and for good reason. The writing is very detailed and exciting. Children have always loved stories about magic, witches, wizards and sorcery. Disney, anyone? Anytime you have a wildly popular book, there are sure to be protestors. I have already heard rumblings about the Twilight series being allowed in classrooms. I love reading and books. I even volunteer at a library. I enjoy shelving returned books because I get to see what the public is interested in reading. I believe there is a place and an audience for all books, even those I find personally offensive. Who am I to say someone should not like a book because I don't like it for personal reasons? As an adult I have the right to read whatever books I like. However, in an elementary classroom you are not teaching adults. You are teaching other people's children. Most parents have very strong views on what they would like their children to be exposed to. As a public educator, you have to be sensitive to that. As future teachers we know that we have to be careful about holidays and how we choose to represent them in the classroom. Not every family puts up a Christmas tree or participates in Halloween. You have to provide a classroom environment that makes every student and their famililes feel comfortable. That is why I state above that I would include H.P. in my class library for those that would like to read it but would not make it a required reading. I read in the online article that one of my favorite books, Bridge to Terebithia is among those books that have been banned from classrooms. It has all the classic "censorship" alarms: mild curse words, questions about God and a young boy's crush on an his pretty teacher. All that seems pretty normal for fifth grade from what I remember. I think it would be so sad not to be able to share a story about the miracles of a great friendship with my students, so I can see why Harry Potter fans would be upset at not having the books available to children at school. In H.P. you have three great friends that battle "evil" forces together in the pursuit of peace and love. So there's a few magic spells, witches' brooms, and otherwordly characters. That doesn't change the basic message. Censorship scares me to be honest. If you start censoring, where does it end? What if a family does not think it is appropriate for a girl to wear pants and a female character wears jeans in the story? Do I ban it from my room? I think that'd be a little silly. I think as long as you use reasonable judgment about the literature in your classroom, you should be fine.