In the seventh episode of Teacher Speech and the New Divide, we dive back into our exploration of book bans and challenges throughout the United States. We sit down with Jen Varney and Barb Fecteau of the Massachusetts School Library Association, to hear about how the current climate is impacting the lives of school librarians, and their strategies for navigating these times. And, we talk to Sabrina Baêta, Program Consultant from the Freedom to Read Program at PEN America to better understand the current state of book bans, how they’re increasing throughout the United States, and what concerned citizens can do. 

Special thanks to our friends at Learning for Justice, and the Justice in Schools team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for their collaboration on this work.

Resources and Links

Learn more about PEN America’s important work on Book Bans

Find great resources from the Massachusetts School Library Association 

Take our course on supporting youth activism at www.youthinfront.org

Pre-Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/teacher-speech-e7/transcript

Credits

Host Justin Reich

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley 

Recorded and Mixed by Garrett Beazley

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