Inquiry Project: Banned Books Week Debate

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Olivia Gennaro

Inquiry Project: Banned Books Week Debate 

Olivia Gennaro 

DQ: “Should books, commonly approved of and taught in schools, be banned/challenged if parents think they are in inappropriate for their child?” 

This could all tie into banned books week (end of September, usually). This will incorporate many of the standards in 9-10.RN (Indiana), especially 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 3.3, and 4.1, as well as the standard for argumentative writing (9-10.W.3.1) and the standards for discussion (9-10.SL.2.1-5). The topic is especially relevant to high school students because books written for them and/or taught in high school are often targeted, including the first example in the grabber. 

 The Grabber 

First, the students will watch two videos about the incident in 2015 when New Zealand completely banned a book from their country: an overview from BBC news (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlHft0sMWGc) and an interview on CNN (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyQrPidSXWk). Students will write a short statement of their opinion on the subject in a space provided on Nearpod. 

The students will then look at and share their thoughts with their “elbow partners” on an overview of challenges in America from the ALA website, including the general statistics (http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/statistics) and the yearly top ten lists (http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10). Then, we will have a class discussion about those lists: have they read any of these books? Are the reasons listed reasonable? Would they have raised concerns about these books, or others? Is there a difference between banning a book from a school versus a public library? 

 Culminating Activity 

The students will participate in a debate that showcases their ability to form arguments. They will be split into the following groups, representing different perspectives on the issue: 

  • Teachers and librarians 

  • Young adult authors 

  • Conservative parents 

  • Students 

The students within these groups will be further divided to represent parts of the argument. This depends of course on the class size, but in general there should be at least one student for each of the following: 

  • Introduction and thesis 

  • Reasons with evidence (may be more than one student) 

  • Counterclaim 

  • Conclusion 

This division is to help balance speaking time and ensure that all students contribute, but the students will work together as a group to develop a cohesive argument for presentation using appropriate resources (often written or oral arguments made by others). I will guide the students where appropriate. These are some recommended links to get the students thinking about their positions: 

During the debate, each group will have ten minutes to give their argument (roughly 2 minutes per student). Visual aids are permitted when necessary but not required, as students are primarily giving an oral argument. This will be followed by a question and answer session where the other classmates, embodying their group’s position, will challenge the presenting group. I will guide the questions and answers where appropriate to make sure the students understand and stay focused on the subject at hand. 

Students will be assessed on their formulation of the argument, as well as their participation in the Q&A sessions. The group will be graded for the quality of their argument in its relevant components (introduction and thesis, evidence and reasons, counterclaim, and conclusion, worth 10 points each). This will be combined with an individual grade for the preparedness of each student’s speech and participating in answering during the Q&A (10 points), as well as 10 points if they posed at least two questions during the Q&A sessions. The total grade will be out of 60 points.

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