Time transcripts of Sarah [00:00:00.01] [ Interviewer: Alright ] My name is Sarah Zappitelli [00:00:04.01] Downey, and my literacy story is about [00:00:08.02] um, how important that I think... how important I think it for kids [00:00:12.03] to have access to books and [00:00:16.06] the knowledge they can acquire through reading about the world around them, [00:00:20.07] and my personal experiences in my youth, [00:00:24.10] and my experiences now as an English teacher. [00:00:28.11] Um, for me, it started back when I was child [00:00:32.14] and just getting into the love of reading with my mom [00:00:36.16] who also is an avid reader, and our mutual love for [00:00:40.16] the author Judy Blume. Um, my mom has [00:00:44.16] her entire collection, Judy Blume's collection of novels [00:00:48.18] at her house and, uh [00:00:52.19] shared those with me and my siblings when we were younger, and [00:00:56.21] you know, allowed us to read the stories, um [00:01:00.22] as we grew through the years, the ones that were most appropriate for us. [00:01:04.24] And if anyone is aware of who Judy Blume is, they know that [00:01:08.28] she is a fantastic author, but she ranges from [00:01:12.32] young, young children, for third and fourth graders, to [00:01:16.34] very adult, graphic novels. And my mom had the whole [00:01:20.36] spectrum. And, as a child, my mom [00:01:24.36] would gradually let me read certain stories [00:01:28.37] but would keep certain ones back from be, which naturally [00:01:32.38] made me overly curious about why I wasn't allowed to read certain books. [00:01:36.40] And I can remember, specifically, uh, [00:01:40.41] being in junior high and my mom letting me read the novel [00:01:44.45] Deenie, which is written for a junior high [00:01:48.47] student. And I thought it was fantastic, and I read it in three days [00:01:52.48] And I thought, you know, the protagonists really spoke to me [00:01:56.50] and this is when I really, really, you know, got [00:02:00.52] into reading for that purpose of connecting with a character. [00:02:04.57] But, my mom specifically told me, and verbalized, that was not allowed [00:02:08.60] to read the novel, Forever, until I graduated eighth [00:02:12.64] grade, which, when you think about it, when you tell a [00:02:16.66] seventh grader they're not allowed to read this book for another year and a half [00:02:20.67] It's now going to fly. [ Interviewer laughs ]. So as soon as her back was turned, [00:02:24.73] what did I do? I went and I snuck [ Interviewer: Yeah ] the novel and I read it [00:02:28.73] and, you know, truth be told, it was a little bit more graphic than [00:02:32.76] what I should have been exposed to, but at the same time [00:02:36.77] there was a lot of relevant pieces to that book as well, and when I told my mom that I had [00:02:40.78] read it, she kind of just nodded her head and then asked me if I [00:02:44.82] had questions and walked me through it, and you know, [00:02:48.86] essentially, no harm done, other than, maybe I heard the term [00:02:52.87] a couple terms that I wasn't familiar with through a novel. [00:02:56.88] Point being, is that, now, [00:03:00.89] as an educator and someone who really appreciates literature [00:03:04.90] and really appreciates specifically, young adult literature [00:03:08.94] because... you get this unique [00:03:12.96] experience every time you read a book where you are reading through somebody else's [00:03:16.97] eyes, through somebody else's story, and you get to [00:03:20.97] kind of make sense of what is going on in the world around [00:03:25.02] you. And, um, [00:03:29.03] knowing that you can be exposed to things that you might not [00:03:33.08] necessarily, um, [00:03:37.11] ...What am I looking for? [ Interviewer: Like, understand... ] [00:03:41.12] [ Interviewer: Foreign to you? ] Might be a little bit foreign to you in the beginning. But you might, then [00:03:45.13] encounter something like that in your real life, and you can relate back [00:03:49.18] to the book and remember how a character dealt with it. And I just think that's, [00:03:53.19] you know, something, you know people do that thorugh movies, they do that through talking [00:03:57.20] things out with their friends. But some people, what they have is novels. [ Interviewer: Yeah] [00:04:01.23] And I think that that's [ Interviewer: Powerful]. It's very powerful. [00:04:05.23] And I think that's part of learning to love to read is all about. [00:04:09.24] And, um, I'm [00:04:13.29] ...was, for the last couple years, employed as a [00:04:17.29] junior high English teacher, which is really just my dream job [00:04:21.30] of working with kids right around the age of where I was reading the book Deenie [00:04:25.30] and Forever, and you know, learning about the world [00:04:29.32] around you, and you are just getting exposed to all kinds of things [00:04:33.32] and one avenue of understanding this world is [00:04:37.32] reading about it, and you know, seeing characters [00:04:41.33] or reading about characters dealing with the same things that you are dealing with. [00:04:45.34] Um, and I was employed in a Catholic school. [00:04:49.38] And, uh, working with kids and sharing with [00:04:53.42] them my love of reading and getting them excited about certain books for [00:04:57.44] The purpose, for no other purpose than just learning to love to read. [00:05:01.44] And, um, something that really bothered me [00:05:05.45] was, uh, [00:05:09.49] there were, um, [00:05:13.54] uh, Dominican Nuns [00:05:17.57] that were new to the school [00:05:21.60] and, uh, new to the administration and decided to change [00:05:25.62] or bend some of the rules that had been emplo... not employed... [00:05:29.64] [ Interviewer: In place? ] In place, um, in this [00:05:33.67] Catholic school system already. And they felt that they had the [00:05:37.72] authority to go through and kind of change the rules at their whim. [00:05:41.72] One of this, one of them being... trying very hard to [00:05:45.73] uh, censor the amount of books that students [00:05:49.77] or the type of books that students were allowed to read. [00:05:53.78] Now, when I look back, and I remember my mom trying to do the very same thing [00:05:57.79] I don't think it's wrong to censor [00:06:01.79] or at least be aware of what's in the books that the kids are [00:06:05.81] reading. But I do think it's wrong [00:06:09.82] to, um, hide certain topics [00:06:13.86] or certain things from kids and pretend like they don't exists, because [00:06:17.89] that takes away the purpose of them learning about life through reading. [00:06:21.89] And, um, one thing that sticks out to me in particular [00:06:25.91] is one these nuns would walk through the library [00:06:29.92] and stop every once and a while, pick up a [00:06:33.97] random book off the shelf, thumb through it, and if she saw any hint [00:06:37.97] of the word "sex" or had any swear words or anything [00:06:42.01] that she deemed slightly vulgar, she claimed that this book could [00:06:46.02] no longer be on the shelves, and she would pull it and she'd hide it from the kids. [00:06:50.02] And these are books that had been approved, and had been, um.. [00:06:54.04] approved by the entire Diocese, and that kids were supposed to be allowed [00:06:58.04] to have access to. And I very much think that this is [00:07:02.07] wrong. And I think that my role as a teacher [00:07:06.10] and as an adult, and as a, uh [00:07:10.11] person who is a lifelong reader [00:07:14.15] is to, when kids encounter books that might have things that are not necessarily [00:07:18.16] the most appropriate, you don't want to hide it [00:07:22.18] from them, you want to help them understand it and work their way through it [00:07:26.21] and, what, Ashley? [ questioning Interviewer ] that... [00:07:30.21] [ Interviewer: Yeah... be a guide ]. [00:07:34.22] You're role as a teacher is to be a guide, not to be a brick a wall. [00:07:38.22] And I think being an English teacher is [00:07:42.26] such a unique role because you have the ability to do that with kids. [00:07:46.27] In a very roundabout way....[ laughter ] [00:07:50.28] [ Interviewer: That's your story ] That's my story.... [00:07:54.33] ...is the nuns flipping through the books on the shelves at... [00:07:58.33] at my school library. [ Interviewer: Alright, thank you! ] The End! [00:08:02.35]