Dylan Reinsel- Osceola District 5
1. Please share your thoughts related to the importance of the school library/media center and the role of a certified, trained librarian/media specialist in schools.
In my experience as a teacher, I have always found our librarians and media specialists to be of vital importance. I would say media specialist are very valuable across all levels, but even more so specifically at the elementary level. The reason I say this is because a good media specialist can get students interested in the learning process itself and give students an understanding on how to find information and the wealth that lives within books. A great librarian or media specialist gives the media center life and make it an interactive place where students want to be. You can’t measure the importance of that.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
I am a believer in process and opportunity. We must make sure there is an opportunity for parents to make decisions about their own child’s education, but that should extend to the extreme end of parents deciding for other people’s children what opportunities they have. Parents are going to have differing viewpoints and we need to make sure there is a process that adequately takes education the student, the interest of the student and the practicability of school staff in into consideration. I believe that our county has a program that allows parents to modify levels of access that their children can have and I support the use of such technology. This does not, however absolve us from responsibility to make sure that educational resources are developmentally appropriate for the students who will have access to them. We should be very diligent in this effort.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
Direct instruction and self-selection must be differentiated. The most basic fundamental reason for this is for us to understand that education is mostly in the hands of the learner. A motivated person to learn can learn a lot through their own efforts and a library card or in today’s world, YouTube. We have to make sure there is latitude in our education system for creativity, originality and diversity of ideas. I am a firm believer that the key to an educated mind is being able to entertain a thought without necessarily accepting it. As far as “captive classroom” and direct instruction we must be more careful in what resources and lessons are being offered as to not subject any student to lessons that may not be appropriate to their age, religion, or cultural expectation. Standard alignment is our “friend” in these situations where it might be unclear as to what should be provided in a classroom setting. So generally speaking, I view the classroom direct instruction as needing to be more structured and prudent than the self-selection opportunities for students.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
Based on the phrasing in this statute, the reader should not denied the ability to read the passage because that would force the district to discontinue the material. I would allow the reader to read, then go through the proper process for review of the book. I disagree with this law and the reason I do is because it allows for the perception of a book to be misleading based on one passage. Almost any book of consequence throughout history could be made to look bad by reading one passage including, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, The Bible etc. A book should be judged on its entirety, literary value, historical value and age appropriateness, not one passage. However, as I said, even if I disagree with a law, we must follow it. As we follow laws we can work to change them for their shortcomings.
In my experience as a teacher, I have always found our librarians and media specialists to be of vital importance. I would say media specialist are very valuable across all levels, but even more so specifically at the elementary level. The reason I say this is because a good media specialist can get students interested in the learning process itself and give students an understanding on how to find information and the wealth that lives within books. A great librarian or media specialist gives the media center life and make it an interactive place where students want to be. You can’t measure the importance of that.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
I am a believer in process and opportunity. We must make sure there is an opportunity for parents to make decisions about their own child’s education, but that should extend to the extreme end of parents deciding for other people’s children what opportunities they have. Parents are going to have differing viewpoints and we need to make sure there is a process that adequately takes education the student, the interest of the student and the practicability of school staff in into consideration. I believe that our county has a program that allows parents to modify levels of access that their children can have and I support the use of such technology. This does not, however absolve us from responsibility to make sure that educational resources are developmentally appropriate for the students who will have access to them. We should be very diligent in this effort.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
Direct instruction and self-selection must be differentiated. The most basic fundamental reason for this is for us to understand that education is mostly in the hands of the learner. A motivated person to learn can learn a lot through their own efforts and a library card or in today’s world, YouTube. We have to make sure there is latitude in our education system for creativity, originality and diversity of ideas. I am a firm believer that the key to an educated mind is being able to entertain a thought without necessarily accepting it. As far as “captive classroom” and direct instruction we must be more careful in what resources and lessons are being offered as to not subject any student to lessons that may not be appropriate to their age, religion, or cultural expectation. Standard alignment is our “friend” in these situations where it might be unclear as to what should be provided in a classroom setting. So generally speaking, I view the classroom direct instruction as needing to be more structured and prudent than the self-selection opportunities for students.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
Based on the phrasing in this statute, the reader should not denied the ability to read the passage because that would force the district to discontinue the material. I would allow the reader to read, then go through the proper process for review of the book. I disagree with this law and the reason I do is because it allows for the perception of a book to be misleading based on one passage. Almost any book of consequence throughout history could be made to look bad by reading one passage including, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, The Bible etc. A book should be judged on its entirety, literary value, historical value and age appropriateness, not one passage. However, as I said, even if I disagree with a law, we must follow it. As we follow laws we can work to change them for their shortcomings.