Day 185 of 2024/25 but also Day 1 of SOL (Summer of Learning 2025) I think I’m seeing a way to reduce class sizes… at least in some states… sad times for #SOGI #pridemonth & #nationalindigenouspeopleshistorymonth
Well… I think I know a way to help reduce class sizes…
read aloud of two books a day – late morning and mid-afternoon. Do you think we can come up with 360 book titles? I’ll go first:
AM elementary: Calvin by JR and Vanessa Ford / Kayla Harren (book that was gifted to me by the authors and then made our SOGI committees “recommended read” without my direct influence!)
PM elementary: Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis / Suzanne DeSimone (one of the first books subtly ‘banned’ because it wasn’t on our “district approved reading list” <— of which there was/is not one thanks to our provinces powerful Teacher Autonomy guidelines.
AM secondary: Shakespeare (variety) start with Sonnet 18 since it is a popular choice for traditional weddings though it often cited as queer as it contains puns relating to homosexuality.
PM secondary: Be Yourself! Oh, not like that! by Emilia Strilchuk (www.emiliastrilchuk.com) delightful how this commentary works so well with people who are afraid of letting people be themselves…
But more seriously, this ‘permission’ is just another way that discrimination hides itself in plain sight. This is not just about the occasional ‘missed class’ but more around the ways to not have students missing class by making sure certain literatures are not read nor being exposed to. We can see it’s starting with lgbtq2ia+ but we know next will be bipoc authors/characters… soft banning by giving permission to ‘opt out’ of civil rights of including all members of our community being represented.
Judge Alito being critical about a book that “presents acceptance of same-sex marriage as a perspective that should be celebrated” and more than just something that is “an existing practice” is wild for someone who is supposed to be judicial “for all”. I suspect this is going to lead to two paths in the yellow wood (frost reference):
- lots of ‘advance notices’ going out on everything – and then debates over how much notice… and are schools responsible for the child care, or are parents? I know I would be one who would likely do a regular notice that LGBTQ2IA+ people exist, so that might come up in tomorrows class discussions… same with BIPOC people – as authors, as characters, as people in our neighbourhood.
- the banning of using any materials like this – which essentially means a further eroding of literature since SO MUCH literature has connections to what could could be in conflict with religious morality – and are we only talking about one religion? Or all…? But the pressure to forgo the LGBTQ2IA+ material will be strong… and again, it won’t be the last challenge…
- Or a third path – just ignoring it and seeing what happens… and even in Canada, we know there are some who will assume that this ruling applies to our provinces, even though it doesn’t and we remain focused on inclusion and reconciliation.
It will be interesting to see how schools and districts in the US take this on – is using an inclusive book going to be deemed excluding because families opt out <— or is opting out a choice…and not an exclusion… As I started to say above… who is responsible for keeping track of who can/cannot be ‘in a class’ and who has the duty of care… because I might plan to read Calvin at 9:30, but honestly I sometimes get distracted by good questions and teachable moments and we might not actually get to it until around 11:30…
And then…
Theatre – plays/dramatics?
Music choices?
All authors?
This is another reason why we maybe need more school librarians – just noticing a correlation (I won’t say causation yet) of the decreased time of school librarians and the rise in concern about literacy rates… and reading interest in general… and the inclusive natures that literary hubs have always provided…
Technolandy 
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