In June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.
Newsela is an app that provides news for students at their reading level. There are 5 different reading levels, from 2nd – 12th grade, and features a variety of content. The news sources are reputable and include the Guardian and The Associated Press, among others. Educators are able to track reading progress and each article comes with a quiz for comprehension.
Cost: Free Level: Upper Elementary, Middle and High School Platforms: iOS
This article from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute describes how Newsela can be very helpful in providing reading text that fulfills the Common Core State Standards.
Watch this video that details how to use Newsela in the classroom:
This is always a difficult count to make, because what gets challenged and/or banned may not get mentioned in the media or reported to the ALA for inclusion. Libraries may be embarrassed at getting a book challenge, or uncertain of a procedure they could follow to respond in a professional way. Ideally, this is a time to connect with community members, to talk about intellectual freedom, and supporting a parent’s right to individual choice – not choice for all. Tomorrow we will talk about strategies for writing your policy to handle challenges; today we will look at some of the most challenged material, to start thinking about conversations to have both within the library with our colleagues and also with the communities we serve.
Over this recent past decade, 5,099* challenges were reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom.
1,577 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material;
1,291 challenges due to “offensive language”;
989 challenges due to materials deemed “unsuited to age group”;
619 challenged due to “violence”‘ and
361 challenges due to “homosexuality.”
Further, 274 materials were challenged due to “occult” or “Satanic” themes, an additional 291 were challenged due to their “religious viewpoint,” and 119 because they were “anti-family.”
Please note that the number of challenges and the number of reasons for those challenges do not match, because works are often challenged on more than one ground.
1,639 of these challenges were in school libraries; 1,811 were in classrooms; 1,217 took place in public libraries. There were 114 challenges to materials used in college classes; and 30 to academic libraries. There are isolated cases of challenges to library materials made available in or by prisons, special libraries, community groups, and students. The vast majority of challenges were initiated by parents (2,535), with patrons and administrators to follow (516 and 489 respectively).
From the OIF’s page for Banned Book Week, here is a list of the ten most frequently challenged books of 2015: (links go to GoodReads, for more information about the book itself; go the the OIF page for specifics of the challenges for each title)
Thinking through your own strategies for responding to challenges, or in thinking about material that might be challenged, can be difficult. Know that there are resources available to help you as you write your library’s policy, and in handling challenges and collection development complexities. The ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom is available to help you with challenges. CMLE is available to help you with policy creation and strategies for working through your ideas for challenges and effective collection development.
Banned Books Week 2016 is next week! Beginning September 25th – October 1st, celebrate your freedom to read and tune into CMLE’s website for more ways to participate in this important event!
ALA explains the significance of Banned Books Week: “It highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”
You can check out ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom for more information on the dangers of censorship.
CMLE is excited to help celebrate this special week, and we have been gathering information to share with you, some of which include ways to get involved and what to do if a book at your library gets challenged. Make sure to check back with us next week!
In the meantime, get into the Banned Books Week spirit and watch this video below on the Top Ten Banned Books of 2015:
Wondering if Round Robin and Popcorn styles are really the best practice when it comes to working on reading in the classroom? This article from Edutopia takes a look at the traditional Round Robin style of reading out loud and offers some alternative practices.
Round Robin reading is defined in the same article as students reading “orally from a common text, one child after another, while the rest of the class follows along in their copies of the text.” Popcorn style is a type of Round Robin reading, where one student is reading aloud, then says “Popcorn” before choosing another student to continue reading.
Author Todd Finley makes the argument that when it comes to improving literacy and encouraging kids to read, the Round Robin style may not be the best approach. He shares several studies and their findings that Round Robin may have a negative effect on students and their reading progress.
Happily, the article includes 11 better approaches for you to try instead! A few of them include:
Choral reading: The teacher and class read passages or paragraphs out loud together, which reduces potential embarassment for struggling readers
Teacher read-aloud: The teacher shows how proper pronunciation and inflection are used while reading
Buddy reading: Students read out loud to prepare for reading to children in a younger grade
Do you use Round Robin or Popcorn style reading? How about any of the 11 alternatives? What have you found works the best in your library or classroom?
In June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.
The app Epic! features thousands of ebooks and audiobooks, with a huge variety of genres, such as nonfiction, mysteries, and even picture books. The app also features educational videos. Teachers are able to setup individual profiles for their students to track reading logs and book preferences.
Cost: Educators are eligible for free accounts so students can view content on their devices; families pay a low monthly fee. Level: Elementary Platforms: iOS and Android
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In June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.
