Can I Teach That?

Negotiating Taboo Language and Controversial Topics in the Language Arts Classroom

Suzanne Linder, Elizabeth Majerus

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2016
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781475814781
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Can I Teach That? Negotiating Taboo Language and Controversial Topics in the Language Arts Classroom is a collection of stories, strategies, advice, and documents collected for teachers who are using or plan to use materials or implement policies they know may be controversial. It is for any teacher dedicated to engaging their students in the complex, challenging, and rewarding activities of reading and writing, for any teacher committed to speaking honestly with students. For any teacher, period. Because when we decide to work with young people, when we commit to sharing books and ideas that engage their hearts and minds, when we strive to get adolescents to think critically and write honestly, we open ourselves up to suspicion and critique from someone, somewhere, no matter how above reproach we feel our materials and strategies are.

Few language arts teachers will experience a full-blown challenge to the content of their curriculum, but many may self-censor or suffer through awkward and challenging conversations with colleagues, administrators, parents, and other members of their community. This book is for those times when teachers are called on to defend and legitimize their use of controversial material in their classroom––material that they know reflects students' reality, even as it makes adults uncomfortable and fearful about their inability to protect children from that very reality.

Table of contents

• Preface
• 1 Don’t Shy Away from Books about Tough Issues
• 2 Teaching the Banned Books Project
• 3 A True War Story: Addressing the Real Obscenities
• 4 Creative Profanity: Strong Language in Student Work
• 5 Defending Arnold’s Spirit: Battling a Big Book Challenge in a Small Town
• 6 Challenging Homophobic and Heteronormative Language: Queering The Merchant of Venice
• 7 From Canon to “Pornography”: Common Core and the Backlash Against Multicultural Literature
• 8 The Fine Art of Defusing an N-Bomb: The Challenges of Navigating Racially Charged Language in the (Majority White) African American Literature Classroom
• 9 Too Close to Dead: Addressing Racist Language Head-On in the African American ELA Classroom
• 10 Libraries Unfiltered: Increase Access, Grow the Whole Child
• Appendix A: Telling Your Own True War Story Assignment
• Appendix B: Materials Selection Policy: University Laboratory High School English Department, Urbana, Illinois
• Appendix C: A List of Resources and Case Law for Book Challenges
• Appendix D: Sample Discussion Questions to Begin Queer Examinations of The Merchant of Venice
• Appendix E: Poetry Reading Assignment
• About the Authors