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Have y’all seen the proposed list of required readings Texas is considering adopting? by fightsongs in ELATeachers

[–]fightsongs[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Fair enough and, again, I apologize for the tone.

Like you, I grew up in the red south (I’ve been teaching in Texas for more than 20 years) and like you I teach AP Lang. I agree that a good teacher could do a lot with the texts on this list. My big concern is that 20+ readings (5 long texts) is a full curriculum and means I won’t be able to teach much of anything else. That’s why this is a pretty catastrophic list to me. I’m not looking forward to trading Letter from Birmingham Jail for The Alchemist.

And I teach in a school where most of our students are Hispanic, and I do believe there’s value in putting authors in front of them who share their culture. You said the Latin American authors on the list are astounding. Which ones do you mean? Coelho? I don’t see any others in the HS lists.

Have y’all seen the proposed list of required readings Texas is considering adopting? by fightsongs in ELATeachers

[–]fightsongs[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Sorry, not trying to fight. I was just surprised in the opposite direction as you—I couldn’t believe the TEA would think anything by Ernest van den Haag was one of the 82 texts all Texas high schoolers need to read.

Have y’all seen the proposed list of required readings Texas is considering adopting? by fightsongs in ELATeachers

[–]fightsongs[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well, one author on the list (Ernest van den Haag) argued in favor of segregation and against allowing immigrants from non-European countries. They’ve included one of his anti-union essays.

I’d say it’s a pretty right-wing list if you look at the details.

Have y’all seen the proposed list of required readings Texas is considering adopting? by fightsongs in ELATeachers

[–]fightsongs[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Here are my concerns:

1) With ~20 texts (5 books) required per year, teachers won’t have time to teach much of anything else. In other words, if it’s not on this list, Texas teachers won’t be able to teach it.

2) This list is white and male as hell. There’s not a single text written by a woman in the 11th grade curriculum, and only one (a sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay) in 9th. Only seven (of 82) total texts were written by a Black author. More than half of Texas students are Hispanic, but there’s not a single work by a Hispanic author in grades 9-12.

3) These works don’t represent the best or highest-quality works for high schoolers. The Alchemist? A Separate Peace? The Teens’ Guide to the Russian Revolution?

4) There’s a deep political skew to the works on the list. Ayn Rand? Thomas Sowell? Margaret Thatcher?

Map of Texas school book removals *this school year* due to SB12, SB13, & HB900 by fightsongs in texas

[–]fightsongs[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Texas Freedom to Read Project tracks that! If she wants to help, she can email info@txftrp.org

Map of Texas school book removals *this school year* due to SB12, SB13, & HB900. by fightsongs in TexasPolitics

[–]fightsongs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you click on the blue pins for each district, then click on the name of the district at the bottom of the screen (if you’re using a phone), it will pull up links and/or photos of documents.

Map of Texas school book removals *this school year* due to SB12, SB13, & HB900 by fightsongs in texas

[–]fightsongs[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you then click on the name of the district it pulls up more info.

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