I fought 15 years to allow any child (PreK-5 School) to check out any
book ( not the unabridged dictionary ), magazines, videos, stuffed animals,
sound recording etc. I finally limited the videos to grade 3-5. The
younger ones were not as careful with them. Parents never complained about
what the children checked out ( except for a monster drawing book) but the
teachers wanted strict control of each childs reading : for level, and
whether the books were fiction or informational ( under 3nd grade they did
not want them to check out anything but Easy or Fiction) and number of
materials.
I am now a High School Librarian and heaven help the person who stands
in the way of my students reading. We have books that I do not approve of
the language. We have biographies of people who I do not consider role
models, some of the magazine covers make my eyes pop out - but the teens are
reading and maturity will come if they learn the skill through practice. I
read my share of Dr Seuss ( my family did not approve of him), Comic Books (
my cousin snuck me his) and every scary book that the library had. I came
out OK.
Cynthia Whisennand, MLS
MacArthur High School
3700 N MacArthur Blvd
Irving ISD
Irving Texas
H: 214-827-8786
cwhisennand@irvingisd.net
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: 9/24/2004 10:41 AM
Subject: Target: Freedom to Read question
I am currently an MLS graduate student but I hope to
be in a media center by next year. I have become
aware that some elementary schools place restrictions
on what their students have access to. For instance,
my daughter's school (no AR program) limits children's
access by grade level. K-1 may only check out picture
books and easy readers. Midway through second grade,
students may begin checking out transitional readers
(i.e Magic Tree House). Once they are in 3rd grade,
students have access to all materials in the media
center. I have heard that other schools limit by AR
reading level. I find this to be very limiting
especially for children who read above grade level.
Do most elementary schools have limited access to
materials based on the child's grade level or reading
level? It seems that this violates the ALA's Freedom
to Read policy but maybe it's not practical to allow
full access in an elementary school library. I would
love to hear your opinions on this and any ideas on
the best ways to handle limiting access to materials.
Thanks.
Jennifer Yow
East Carolina University Graduate Student
Wake Forest, NC
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