Banned Books Council - Free Classroom Simulation

ELA / Civics Grades 6-10 6 roles 55 min 1 class period

A public reconsideration hearing at Fairmont Unified School District. Six committee seats apply Policy 6161.3 to a challenged novel, The Quiet at Marrow Creek, while each seat holds a different excerpt, a hidden personal stake, and the cards that change what the evidence means.

A district book-review committee holds a public hearing on a challenged middle-grade novel and must rule REMOVE, RESTRICT, or RETAIN by applying a written standard - not their gut.

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Class Time

55 minutes

Designed For

1 class period

Roles

6 roles

Class Sizes

Core (5 groups), Standard (6 groups)

Learning Objectives

5 objectives

Standards

14 standards aligned

Where This Fits in Your Curriculum

This lands in two places: a civics unit on local government and how institutions decide things, or an ELA unit on argument and evidence, right when students are learning claim plus warrant plus textual evidence. Students need to be able to read a short passage closely and quote from it. They do not need any background on book challenges, the First Amendment, or Board of Education v. Pico - the written standard they apply is on screen for the whole hearing, and the Pico layer is an optional extension for high school sections. What it is teaching is the discipline of applying a written standard instead of a gut reaction, and the difference between saying a book is unsuitable for eleven-year-olds and saying you disagree with what it argues. ELA teachers get the evidence work. Civics teachers get a functioning deliberative body.

What Students Will Learn

Separate a personal objection ('I disliked it') from a finding that a challenged work meets an established standard for removal.
Classify each piece of evidence against named criteria - is it about suitability or about disagreeing with an idea (viewpoint)?
Cite specific textual evidence from a passage and tie it to a criterion to support a written argument.
Evaluate how hidden personal interest and missing information shape a public civic decision.
Understand the role and decision procedure of a local civic institution (a school board reconsideration committee), including tiebreak and default rules.

Cases Included

RL.6.1, RL.7.1, RL.8.1 - Cite the specific textual evidence each objection rests on (the evidence walk and the closing 'quote the passage' debrief).
RI.6.8, RI.7.8, RI.8.8 - Evaluate whether each claim meets a criterion; distinguish a supported suitability concern from an unsupported viewpoint objection (the warrant grid and vote validator).
W.6.1, W.7.1, W.8.1 - Write an argument: claim plus warrant (a named criterion) plus textual evidence, in the warrant grid and the validated vote rationale.
SL.7.1 - Engage effectively in a collaborative discussion that drives a collective decision (the hearing and votes).
SL.8.1 - Engage effectively in a collaborative discussion that drives a collective decision (the hearing and votes).
SL.6.3, SL.7.3, SL.8.3 - Evaluate a speaker's reasoning and recognize when a stated 'reason' is really a viewpoint disagreement (the Criterion-4 collapse during cross-examination).
SL.9-10.1 - Initiate and participate in a collaborative civic discussion (high-school sections).
SL.9-10.3 - Evaluate a speaker's reasoning, identifying fallacious or unsupported grounds (high-school sections).
D2.Civ.1.6-8 - Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, interest groups and the media in a nongovernmental context (the parent, faith member, librarian and teacher before a school board committee).
D2.Civ.10.6-8 - Explain the relevance of personal interests and perspectives when people address a public issue (hidden stakes vs. public votes, unmasked at the reveal).
D4.8.6-8 - Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions and take action in their classrooms, schools, and out-of-school civic contexts (the staged straw-then-binding vote, and the Chair tiebreak and least-restrictive default rules).
D4.8.9-12 - Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions and take action in their classrooms, schools, and out-of-school civic contexts (high-school sections: the staged vote plus the Chair tiebreak and default rules).
RI.11-12.8 - Optional Pico layer: delineate and evaluate the legal reasoning in a Supreme Court opinion (Board of Education v. Pico).
D2.Civ.5.9-12 - Optional Pico layer: evaluate how effectively a local institution (a school board committee) handles a book challenge (library vs. curriculum).

Social & Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Aligned to the CASEL framework's core competencies. These are the SEL skills students actively practice while playing.

Responsible Decision-Making The whole hearing turns on applying Policy 6161.3's four criteria to reach a defensible REMOVE, RESTRICT, or RETAIN verdict rather than ratifying a gut reaction.
Self-Awareness Each seat must separate a hidden personal stake - the parent's frightened 5th grader, the librarian's budget fear - from what the standard allows, arguing the criterion instead of the feeling.
Social Awareness Six seats each hold a different excerpt, viewpoint, and reframing card, forcing students to weigh the parent's, librarian's, teacher's, faith member's, and student's competing readings of the same novel.
Relationship Skills The warrant grid, cross-examination strikes, and staged straw-then-binding vote drive a collective ruling the board defends together, with the Chair moderating and casting a public tiebreak.

Flexible Class Sizes

Core (5 groups)

Chair, Challenging Parent, School Librarian, Classroom Teacher, and Faith-Community Member. The Student Representative's two cards (The Promise and FACT-REQUIRED) and closing statement fold into the Chair group, which reads Jordan's statement and plays those when prompted. Minimum playable set for the information economy to work. Use for classes of 10-20.

Standard (6 groups)

All six seats separate, including a dedicated non-voting Student Representative who holds The Promise and FACT-REQUIRED and speaks last before the binding vote. The fullest version of the information economy. Use for classes of 12-24.

How the Game Plays Out

Turn 1: First Readings

The evidence, read cold

"What is the evidence, read cold, before anyone reframes it?"

Turn 2: Map to Standard + Straw Poll

Classify, do not emote

"Does each objection actually MEET a criterion, or is it just a reaction?"

Turn 3: Cross-Examination, Facts, and Binding Vote

Strip out what is not a valid ground

"Strip out everything that is not a valid ground, surface what is hidden - what is left?"

Roles Your Students Will Play

Click any role to see their background and what they are trying to accomplish.

Dana Okafor

Dana Okafor presides over the Fairmont Unified reconsideration committee. The Chair runs the hearing, keeps the room on the standard, confirms when an objection has been agreed to reduce to viewpoint, and casts a public tiebreak only if the voting members tie.

You hold the gavel and Policy 6161.3 - you do not hold an excerpt or a card. You moderate every phase and call the strike out loud when the room agrees an objection is viewpoint-only - your teacher records it on the board. You vote ONLY to break a tie, and that tiebreak is public and must cite criteria (40-word floor). If one outcome gets two votes and the others get one each, that outcome wins and you do NOT vote.

Goals

Run a fair hearing and keep the room applying the standard rather than their feelings.
Reach a verdict the board can defend in writing by citing the criteria.
Break a tied vote with a public, rationale-bearing tiebreak vote.

Marcus Bell

Marcus Bell filed the formal challenge against the book. He sits on the committee as the challenging parent and argues that the novel should be removed, or at minimum restricted behind a permission slip.

You hold passage P5 ('Wren stops pretending') and the Context Card 'The Author's Note.' You are a voting member. You filed this challenge. The Author's Note card actually cuts AGAINST your position - it reframes P5's 'no moral' into a strength - and the hearing record is shared, so anything you play, everyone sees.

Goals

Win a REMOVE verdict, or at minimum a RESTRICT with a permission slip.
Make the case that the book teaches kids to dismiss authority figures and leaves them with no guidance.
Decide whether to ever surface a card that would help the other side.

Priya Raman

Priya Raman is the school librarian. She believes in the freedom to read and thinks this book has real value. She wants it retained with no restriction.

You hold passage P3 ('The thin place') and the private fact card FACT-OPTOUT. You are a voting member. FACT-OPTOUT is hidden until you reveal it: 'An opt-out policy already exists - any parent may request an alternate assignment.' If you reveal it, REMOVE becomes largely unnecessary and the room pulls toward RETAIN.

Goals

Win a clean RETAIN with no restriction.
Get the room to see this book has genuine value and is being judged by its worst sentence.
Decide when, or whether, to reveal that an opt-out policy already exists.

Tom Castellano

Tom Castellano is the classroom teacher who assigns the book. It anchored the best teaching unit he has run in years, and he wants to keep teaching it - RETAIN, or a restriction mild enough that he can still assign it.

You hold passage P4 ('The morning Gran went') and the Context Card 'The Read-Aloud Data.' You are a voting member. The Read-Aloud Data supports the book's value AND its fitness for the intended reader - but it is double-edged: the data is about 7th-8th graders who chose engagement, not about the younger end of a required class.

Goals

Keep teaching the book: win RETAIN, or a RESTRICT mild enough to still assign.
Show the room the book does real developmental work for grieving students.
Decide how far to push when you privately know a guardrail is workable.

Hannah Walsh

Hannah Walsh is the elected faith-community board member. She represents families who feel the book undermines faith and authority and wants it removed, or restricted so families can opt their children out.

You hold passage P2 ('What Gran said about after') and the Context Card 'The Apology.' You are a voting member. Important: 'The Apology' reframes the LIBRARIAN's passage P3 (the creek), not your own P2. Your P2 grounds are the kind of objection the standard's Criterion 4 most often strikes as pure viewpoint.

Goals

Win a REMOVE verdict, or a RESTRICT so families can opt their kids out.
Represent the families who elected you and feel the book undermines faith and authority.
Decide whether to play a card that helps the book you are publicly trying to remove.

Jordan Avery

Jordan Avery is the student representative, an 8th grader and a permanent non-voting voice on the committee. Jordan speaks last before the binding vote and represents the actual readers.

You hold passage P1 ('The note on the counter'), the Context Card 'The Promise' (which reframes your own P1), and the private fact card FACT-REQUIRED. You do NOT vote, but you speak last before the binding vote. You hold the two pieces of information that pull the room in opposite directions: The Promise helps the book, FACT-REQUIRED cuts against it.

Goals

Make sure the board's decision is one you could explain to your classmates without embarrassment.
Argue the standard, not your feelings, so the adults take you seriously.
Use your two cards as leverage even though you cannot vote.

Hand Each Student Their Own Sheet

One click on the teacher dashboard prints a dossier for every role - background, goals, key facts, and their confidential briefing - plus the primary-source packet and a vocabulary sheet. Print them, or save as PDF, so each student reads their role on paper instead of huddling around one screen. The app still runs the votes and the action; the paper just carries the reading.

Primary Sources

Every role includes real historical documents. Students read them because they need the information to make their case.

Fairmont Unified School District - Policy 6161.3, Standard for Reconsideration of Library and Classroom Materials

P1 - The note on the counter (held by the Student Representative)

P2 - What Gran said about after (held by the Faith-Community Member)

P3 - The thin place (held by the School Librarian)

P4 - The morning Gran went (held by the Classroom Teacher)

P5 - Wren stops pretending (held by the Challenging Parent)

Context Card - The Promise (held by the Student Representative, reframes P1)

Context Card - The Apology (held by the Faith-Community Member, reframes P3)

Context Card - The Read-Aloud Data (held by the Classroom Teacher, reframes P4)

Context Card - The Author's Note (held by the Challenging Parent, reframes P5)

Fact Card - FACT-OPTOUT (held by the School Librarian)

Fact Card - FACT-REQUIRED (held by the Student Representative)

Key Terms Students Will Learn

challengereconsiderationremovalrestrictretainwarrantcriterionviewpoint discriminationdevelopmentally appropriateintended readeras a wholecensorship vs. selectionlibrary vs. curriculumstraw pollopt-outcompelled readingpluralitytiebreak

After the Game: Debrief Questions

Was any objection in your hearing really about viewpoint (Criterion 4)? Pick one, struck or not. Why did it feel persuasive even though viewpoint is not a valid ground?
Did your binding vote differ from your straw poll? What specifically changed your mind - a person, a card that got played, or the standard?
The Parent's hidden reason was his 5th grader's nightmares. Under the standard, why could that reason not win? Is the standard right to exclude it?
FACT-REQUIRED says the book is now required and families were not told about an opt-out. FACT-OPTOUT says an opt-out already exists. Which came out in your hearing: one, both, or neither? If different cards had come out, would the hearing have ended differently?
Cite the single passage you found strongest as evidence FOR your final position. Quote it and tie it to a named criterion.

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