A high school teacher in Thornton, Jessica Keigan, explains why she will continue to have her students read books that are often challenged – if not outright banned – by some schools or parents.
Early in my teaching career, a parent responded negatively to Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo, a WWI novel read by my class.
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While I own that not all of my teaching strategies with this book were spectacular, I learned a great deal from this process about how to teach the book differently and alleviate the concerns that were raised. I knew I had room for growth. Unfortunately, neither the student nor the mother ever read the whole book, which meant that there was no opportunity for shared reflection and change.
I am now in my 10th year of teaching and I have learned that books like Johnny get challenged all the time. Books like Beloved, Kite Runner, Native Son, Speak, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and countless others have sparked debates in my building and other high schools similar to mine. Even our excerpted readings from the Bible in our classical studies classes have been questioned.
As I have heard the grumblings on all sides of the rumor mill about book challenges, I am left with questions: Where is the balance? How can I as a teacher ensure that I am providing students with a rigorous, compelling curriculum that is also acceptable to a diverse community?
The Common Core State Standards require texts with higher complexity for language arts classrooms. We are being asked to help students learn how to analyze and apply information in a variety of ways. As we select books of appropriate difficulty that are both engaging and applicable, we will be reading fiction with mature themes, which often also include controversial scenes.
When I teach Johnny, I ask the students to consider the perspective of the author – a man who lived through two world wars and questioned what is worth fighting for. I want my students to think about those things because someday they may be called upon to answer similar questions themselves. Growing up is a challenging thing to do – it is our job as educators to provide opportunities for students to learn ways to navigate this process.
To me this makes the question of balance seem miniscule compared to the question of value. What is the value of teaching literature in the high school classroom? And can we afford not to?
The truth is that I can’t be both parent and teacher to my students and that isn’t my desire. My students desperately need their parents to engage with their educational experiences. Students need to be able to consider the difficult themes and dialogues that begin in the classroom, discussing these ideas with their families through the lens and filters of the home. It is important to teach students values and it is inappropriate for me to teach them mine. My job is to offer a rich assortment of texts and ideas to interact with so that students can decide what they will believe and how they will act when they are no longer in my classroom. Additionally, I am teaching them analytical and critical thinking skills so that they can make and support their own decisions and beliefs.
I wish I had asked the parent who challenged Johnny to read the entire book so we could have an authentic conversation about the text as a whole. I know I could have learned something from her perspective and I hope she could have learned something from mine. Most importantly, though, her daughter would have learned much more by observing our interactions than any classroom novel could ever teach. By watching her teacher and parent work in partnership, we could have created a model for her to mimic in future interactions with others.
That missed opportunity is not one I will soon forget. I will continue to put challenging books and ideas into the hands of my students; I will also work to continue to forge partnerships with their parents as we all seek what’s best for each student’s future.
The potential for shared reflection, growth and learning will always be a reality in my classroom. And I hope I will always have willing partners to take advantage of those realities.
About the author
Jessica Keigan teaches English at Horizon High School in Thornton. A teacher leader with the Center for Teaching Quality, she is passionate about exploring and creating teacher leadership models to improve Colorado’s schools. Keigan is also a member of District 12’s Educator’s Association.
I think most teens are better prepared for mature and controversial content than their parents give them credit for. Unfortunately, the parents who are most resistant may be raising the children who could learn the most from the content of those books.
Jessica,
You describe a situation that is common to many English classes. I teach an honors class for middle school students, and it is not unusual for me to be challenged by a parent on text selections. When you wrote, “I learned a great deal from this process about how to teach the book differently and alleviate the concerns that were raised. I knew I had room for growth.” Did this mean that you had originally taught the literature along with your values? I’m guessing that you were suggesting that students/parents be allowed to share their own values- whether or not they agree with the text. But, I’m not certain. Please explain what it is that you would do differently. Perhaps you should write a book and not just an article?
Thank you!
J.M.S.
Teach the classics…not Johnny get your gun junk…
I appreciate Ms. Keigan’s enthusiasm to go beyond the dribble of young adult novels and challenge students to think deeply. I,too, add challenging reading to the core curriculum in our classical school. Currently our students are reading dystopias and comparing them in reading groups. My only consideration is that these current novels, including The Help and the Book Thief should be added but the core not taken away. A former student recently told me that she was the only one in her college junior level English class who had read The Iliad. Current novels should added to but never replace classic literature. I agree and support your statement: The potential for shared reflection, growth and learning will always be a reality in my classroom. And I hope I will always have willing partners to take advantage of those realities.
I hope that for all of us who teach literature.
Good for you, Jessica! I had similar issues with my chosen texts (e.g. books like Kite Runner, Madame Bovary, and Siddhartha, and movies like The Mission, Osama, and No Man’s Land) when I taught World Literature at a predominantly conservative, white, Christian high school in Utah. I found that the more I learned about the local culture, and the more I could relate the texts to the students’ lives and community values (and less my own), the more receptive the students and parents were–to the point that I started a parents’ book club that read and discussed the texts prior to me sharing them in my classes. Keep it up!
Just wanted to share a review I read recently that may be helpful to teachers facing similar situations:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-moshman/an-anticensorship-handboo_b_2594136.html
Hey Teach…
Stop worring about “diversity.” Aren’t the classics good enough? They sure beat the hell out of the crap you are subjecting these students to. If my kids were in your class, I would pull them out, but my kids would never be in your class because I would not subjec them to public education.
Between this K-12 mentality, Hollywood, video games, and “trophies for all,” no wonder the foundation of our country is collapsing. It is no coincidence that America’s problems worsen with the moral decay of society, and it emminates from within our schools. Colorado k-12 is graduating 1 in 4 students. Of those who are graduating, a majority are not proficient in basic reading, writing, and math. It is not your place, or the school’s place to teach family values, virute, and diversity.
When academic achievement equates to academic excellence, then you will have room to explore. You are a long long way off from that mark.
Jen, you are a shining example of why schools need to touch on “family values, virute, and diversity.” Please, stick to the tea party forums where you can discuss the virtue of having students read culturally irrelevant dated white books.
Jane,
When I say I had room for growth, I meant that I needed to understand what my objectives for teaching Johnny were so that I could address the inclusion of the controversial parts of the book as part of Trumbo’s larger rhetorical purpose. Just skimming over the controversial sections ultimately led to chaotic response on the part of my students making the those parts of the book even worse. Having a better sense of how to teach the book (i.e. it’s literary style, structure and rhetoric) led to richer discussions and fewer issues.
I don’t think it is possible to ever completely escape conflicting values in a public school setting. I also think that helping kids see how authors portray their beliefs through complex style and structure will help them to do the same and not be as offensive to those who might disagree with their perspectives. Having a clear focus on authorial strategy and intended message when discussing fiction and non-fiction text allows students to see how an author says something without having to agree or disagree with what he or she is saying. That focus, coupled with a student-centric classroom community, has been a much more successful formula for my later teaching years.
I hope this answers your question–and thanks for your thoughtful response =) Jessica
Hey Jen,
As a teacher, I have to tell you that I am so glad that you would never subject your kids to public education, because I would rather not subject myself to a parent like you for nine months that would seem like an eternity.
Works out well for both of us, I guess.
Teach
I have to admit, after reading the above comments this response is directed to the above persons that seem to think that the ‘classics’ are the only appropriate choices in a literature class? I find this thought process absurd. Are we to behave like the proverbial ostrich with its head stuck in the sand; ignoring anything that does not fit into a narrow definition of what is comfortable and acceptable? The only written words you find acceptable are the same works of literature that your parents and grandparents read? What a very sad life and boring life you must lead.
I agree that the classics must be taught, because they have passed the test of time and are still regarded as some of the greatest works of literature. However, eliminating all other books that have been written in the last 100 years is a travesty. We do not live in a vacuum. We live in a world where you can literally connect with people all around the globe instantly. I admittedly have not read Johnny Got His Gun, however I have read all of the other books referenced in the article. I personally believe that all of the books listed are valid and interesting choices for a high school literature class.
If I had only been encouraged to read the ‘classics,’ I doubt very much that I would have turned into the avid reader that I am today. In high school, many of the classics seemed to be out of touch with my reality. I am grateful that my high school and college literature teaches made certain that my literature choices contained a mixture of many of the classics and current literature.
We should encourage everyone to read more. Read books that aren’t in their comfort zone. Read about every conceivable subject that they can get their hands on. I don’t believe that reading The Kite Runner is going to somehow add to the moral decay of society. On the contrary, I believe that if more people read that particular book it might instill an appreciation for all the luxuries that we take for granted in our country. It might in fact, make our country a BETTER place to live.
Encouraging our children to live in ignorance will not bring back some sort of ‘glory period’ for America. What we need is more involved parents and more involved and invested teachers. It will take people who genuinely care about these kids taking an interest in them and making an investment of time and love and energy to mold them into better adults. It seems to me that Ms. Keigan is one of these people. We should be celebrating her efforts, not mindlessly rejecting everything that she stated because she is using current and relevant literature in her classrooms.
Jessica – thanks for your explanation. It’s great when authors use the comment section to further explain their points and respond thoughtfully to questions that pop up in the comments section. And I agree the more thoroughly a controversial text is explored, the more thoughtful and nuanced any criticisms of the text become and students are made better readers for it.
Albert and Mary – I agree with both of you completely, but don’t feed the trolls.
Adam, you’re right–I fed a troll. Ha ha–I’ll stop doing that.
The thought that really strikes me while reading this (and as an English teacher, this topic interests me) is how different it is in my district. Our parents care; don’t get me wrong. It’s just that a lot don’t speak English, or work a couple of jobs or are not very well-educated themselves, certainly not well-read.
So when I read about texts being challenged, I always smile. I’m in my eleventh year in this district and have yet to be challenged even once about what we’re reading and I do tend to push the line a bit. I swear to you that I could read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with these kids and it’s unlikely that even one parent would question me, or even realize what we were reading.
Anyway, I think that as English teachers, it’s our job to get kids to think and to take learners outside their comfort zone, and we do that with books. An impoverished district has the weight of impending reforms upon them, undeserved criticism instead of help, but at least my parents aren’t breathing down my neck about what their kid is reading. I am pretty free, at this point anyway, to just read with the kids.
We read what we want to , and we talk about EVERYTHING.
I like to teach challenging texts. A lot depends on what people think controversy is in various communities and school districts. Many defer to great writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Hawthorne, but in one district where I worked, these were the major authors in Junior Honors English. All of the novels dealt with unwed motherhood. One of my students asked if this was a hint. Unwed motherhood is a controversial issue, but no one seemed to care because they were perennial faves by great American luminaries. Cather metioned it too and even fed a married couple to a pack of wolves. Hideous violence. But no on e complained. Steinbeck had a character who shot his friend in the head. Despite the vicissitudes of controversy, I agree with Ms. Keigan who also alludes to Gardner who says that we must find multiple points of entry in all literature for all students. In a world as saturated with wickedness as ours, it is our duty to teach our students the discretion and wisdom to winnow chaff from wheat. Students should be exposed to an array of writing that we judge to be within their ability to read. In other words, I[‘d never promote the 8th grade production of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF.
Keep up the great work. A child needs to see reality in these books and create through those realities the inter controls to critically think and manage the passions that inevitably develop through scholarship. I’m grateful for teachers like you!
I’ve worked in both public and school libraries. I’ve always had a “reconsideration of materials” policy. The process starts with the person who complains, filling out a form. The first question on the form is, “Have your read the entire book or viewed the entire film? If not, please do so before you continue this process. We will not reconsider materials on the basis of a partial reading or viewing.”
That usually puts a damper on the complaint. If it doesn’t, we can at least have an intelligent conversation about the book or film.