This year, when you go back to school, take a lesson from Penny Kittle. Don鈥檛 stop at selecting the texts you鈥檒l teach, go on to tell the adults in your students鈥� lives why you鈥檝e selected those texts and why you have an open classroom library selection policy. Send home a letter like .
In her letter, Penny notes that reading is a great adventure, that it matters:
鈥淭he best books challenge our beliefs by helping us see through different eyes鈥攖o live a different life. For example, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult was wildly popular last year, but it is about a school shooting and I think we鈥檇 all rather believe that couldn鈥檛 happen here and don鈥檛 want to live the details. Yet reading allows us to confront our worst fears and live through them. Students love this book and I recommend it to them.鈥�
Straight up, she tells parents, 鈥淚 will not place a tight filter on what is read in this class and I鈥檓 asking for your support in this. I hope you will talk to your child about what he/she is reading this semester.鈥�
She ends with
鈥淚f you sign this, it means you understand books won鈥檛 be banned in my classroom and your child will be allowed to choose what he/she reads.鈥�
You sign, too.