September 2002
Volume 28, Number 1
SLATE Newsletter
Support for the Learning and Teaching of English
National Council of Teachers of English
Welcome to the first e-mail version of SLATE Newsletter! You will receive this online newsletter three times a year, at the e-mail address NCTE has on file for you. We are excited to be able to use this new format to send you terrific articles and important details about issues that affect the teaching of the English language arts. You may access this issue, as well as an archive of past Newsletters, SLATE Starter Sheets, and other SLATE-related material at http://www.ncte.org/SLATE/index.
Thanks for taking a moment to read this issue. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Millie Davis, NCTE Staff Liaison, at NCTE Headquarters (mail to: ; 800-369-6283, ext. 3634). If you would like for us to use a different e-mail address for you, please fill out the online form at the NCTE Web site’s homepage--click on “update my e-mail address”.
IN THIS ISSUE:
From the Front Line
Two New Books on Censorship
Not in Front of the Children - Book Review
Censoring The Giver
ALA 's Banned Books Week
Ouachita Library in Monroe, LA , Hosts Intellectual Freedom Symposium
Court Rules Children’s Internet Protection Act Unconstitutional New York Regents Exam Controversy
Dessert and Discussion
Tattered Cover Bookstore Wins Case
Intellectual Freedom Award Winners
Grammar and Politics - Personal Opinion Paper
SLATE in Atlanta
SLATE Election Results
Call for SLATE Nominations
Call for Resolutions
Call for Personal Opinion Papers
Call for SLATE Newsletter
Summary SLATE Starter Sheets
SLATE Anti-censorship Center
From the Front Line:
Current: Good News on Books Retained; Overview: Six-Year Tally of Censorship Calls
by Charles Suhor, NCTE/SLATE Field Representative
To read the column, click here. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116488.htm
Two Books on Censorship
Charles Suhor, NCTE/SLATE Field Representative recommends Censored Books II: Critical Viewpoints, 1985-2000, edited by Nicholas Karolides, and At the Schoolhouse Gate: Lessons in Intellectual Freedom, co-authored by Gloria Pipkin and ReLeah Cossett Lent, published this year by Scarecrow Press and Heinemann, respectively. The authors are NCTE members who have long been actively engaged in fighting censorship.
Karolides' book features essays/rationales for over 60 books, many of them not included in his earlier edition or in NCTE's collection. Among the contributors are NCTE leaders Ken Donelson, Charles Duke, Elizabeth Poe, Kathy Short, and John Simmons. Several authors--among them Avi, Christopher Collier, Karen Hirsch, Minfong Ho, and Jane Smiley--wrote rationales for others authors' works. ISBN 0-8108-4147-9 http://www.scarecrowpress.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0810841479
The Pipkin and Lent volume is in two parts. The first traces Pipkin's valorous fight over some six years for the right to teach high-quality YA literature at Mowat Middle School in Bay County, Florida. The second is Lent's description of a sustained battle during the late 1990s (in the same district) for reinstatement as school newspaper sponsor at Mosley High School after being removed for fighting the principal's censorship efforts. Both Pipkin and Lent demonstrate immense dedication and superlative writing, producing a rarity in educational literature--a first-rate professional book that is also a page-turner. ISBN 0-325-00395-5/2002/256 http://www.heinemann.com/shared/products/E00395.asp
Not in Front of the Children: "Indecency,” Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth
Book Review by Michelle Tremmel.
This book gives a comprehensive, historical look at censorship. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116491.htm
Censoring The Giver
Attempts to censor books in the Strafford School District have previously been successful. In the past five years, the Board has approved the removal of two books from library circulation. Read the article by Mark E. Donovan. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116492.htm
ALA’s Banned Books Week is September 21-28
Celebrate Your Freedom to Read. http://www.ala.org/bbooks
Ouachita Library in Monroe, LA, Hosts Intellectual Freedom Symposium
Intellectual Freedom Symposium with Chris Crutcher, past winner of the NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award. The Ouachita Parish Public Library is sponsoring an open-to-the-public discussion forum on banned books and censorship, with noted YA author Chris Crutcher as featured spokesperson for the event. The forum will take place at 7:00pm September 26, 2002, at the ULM Library 7th floor conference room. For more information, contact Ronnie Donn or Holly Priestley at 318/327-1490, ext. 3024 or 3044. E-mail the OPPL Young Adult Department at .
Court Rules Children's Internet Protection Act Unconstitutional
On May 31 a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled unanimously that the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was unconstitutional. Article by Lace S. Cassidy. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116496.htm
New York Regents Exam Controversy
Read about the New York Board of Regents use of altered literary texts, click here. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116497.htm
Dessert and Discussion
"I am ashamed to admit that affecting legislative policy has not been something I have focused my attention on during my eight-year teaching career." Read about Karen Morgan Delbridge’s legislative experience. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116498.htm
Tattered Cover Bookstore Wins Case
Court Rules for Bookstore (The Denver Post, Apr. 9)
The Colorado Supreme Court refused to force the Tattered Cover Bookstore owner and 2001 NCTE /SLATE Intellectual Freedom Award winner, Joyce Meskis to turn over sales records to aid in a drug investigation, saying that both the U.S. and Colorado constitutions protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase books anonymously.
http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116499.htm
Intellectual Freedom Award Winners
The winner of the National Award is Mark Goodman., Executive Director, Student Press Law Center.
NCTE Affiliates Confer Intellectual Freedom Award Winners. For more information, http://www.ncte.org/groups/affiliates/awards/109295.htm
Grammar and Politics - Personal Opinion Paper
By Conrad Geller, Chair of the NCTE Committee on Public Doublespeak. To read this personal opinion paper, click here. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116502.htm
SLATE in Atlanta
Friday, Nov. 22 - 11:00am -12:15pm session B.45
Saturday, Nov. 23 - 2:45 - 4:00pm session J.20
Sunday, Nov. 24 - 12:15 - 1:30pm session M.30. Hear Charles Suhor’s talk on “Confessing, Bargaining, and Dreaming: The Strange Case of NCTE’s Anti-Censorship Program"
Monday, Nov. 25 - 9:00am -1:00pm SLATE workshop: Organizing for Change: Creating Alliances of Teachers and Parents
SLATE Election Results
Results of the SLATE Elections are located with the results of the other NCTE elections. Click here. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116504.htm
Call for SLATE Nominations
Nominations are needed for Regions 5 and 8. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116505.htm
Call for Resolutions
One of the most important ways you can make a difference is to submit a resolution on an issue of importance to English language arts education. Refer to the NCTE Web site under “Resolutions” http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116506.htm to see current resolutions, which are good models for resolution format, and the rules and procedures governing the submission of resolutions. Submissions for resolutions are due October 15.
Call for Personal Opinion Papers
You are invited to submit a Personal Opinion Paper (POP) for publication in the SLATE Newsletter. POPs can be on any sociopolitical issue that affects the teaching and learning of English language arts. Recent topics have included student testing and grading. Send a POP of no more than 500 words in length to Michelle Tremmel, Editor, SLATE Newsletter, 526 NE 5th St., Ankeny, IA 50021-1913; phone: 515-965-1376; fax at Iowa State University: 515-294-6814; .
Call for SLATE Newsletter
SLATE Newsletter is looking for short articles of 250-500 words on issues related to the teaching of the English language arts. Send your contribution to Michelle Tremmel, Editor, SLATE Newsletter, 526 NE 5th St., Ankeny, IA 50021-1913; phone: 515-965-1376; fax at Iowa State University: 515-294-6814; .
Summary of SLATE Starter Sheets
Access past SLATE Starter Sheets listed by topic. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116509.htm
SLATE's Anti-Censorship Center
Link directly to the anti-censorship page on the NCTE Web site. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/116510.htm
SLATE Newsletter is distributed by e-mail by the National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana IL 61801-1096; 800-369-6283.
Copyright 2002
National Council of Teachers of English
http://www.ncte.org
http://www.ncte.org/SLATE
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