I teach an Advanced Government class in Loganville, Ga., and we are currently in the Civil Liberties and Civil Rights unit. When Retro Report released theย video “Book Bans, Student Rights and a Fractured Supreme Court Ruling“, I thought it would be perfect for my class. We had just covered the First Amendment, and it was Banned Books Week.

We were all impressed with the video and the message. Students realized that they have a bigger voice than they had previously believed. That has been a theme in the Retro Report videos that I have shown them during this unit. 

I also accessed the resources created by teacher Ryan Werenka and decided to use the entire lesson. It is not often that I can use an entire lesson that goes along with the video that we have chosen for that particular day. This one worked perfectly. It provoked some of the best discussion points that we have had all year in class. 

After watching Retro Report’s short doc on book bans, students completed the activity created by teacher Ryan Werenka. (Credit: David Kendrick)

The opening assignment brought back up the argument posed by the concept of Federalism, as the students had a great discussion on who should have more power over their education. Since this class is all juniors and one senior, they are about to embark on the world. It will be their decision to make, so this lesson was perfect for them. 

After the video and discussion about the case and the sharing of personal experiences in classes, we moved to the Somerset County Board of Education’s policy on curriculum. Again, we had a fantastic discussion about the items contained within the document and the students noticed it had been recently modified. They also had a great discussion about the difference between the terms “objective” and “subjective.” 

The students overwhelmingly liked the lesson and voiced that to me when we finished the class. Thanks to Retro Report and Mr. Werenka for providing such a great lesson that was timely and, dare I say it, fun!

David Kendrick is a social studies teacher in Loganville, Ga., the vice president of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and a member of Retro Report’s Council of Educators.

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