Texas Library Association and South by Southwest teacher conferences promote leftist agenda
March 16, 2023 | by Bonnie Lyons, MCRP Legislative Committee Chair
Commentary
The Texas Library Association (TLA) holds an annual conference. This year it will be held April 19-22 at the Austin Convention Center.
On the agenda is a program entitled, “How Teachers, Authors and Librarians Can Fight Book Bans and Protect Inclusive Curricula.” Description of workshop: “This session offers practical information about how to prevent, prepare for, and resist book challenges and censorship initiatives. A librarian, teacher, and award-winning authors whose books have been challenged will all come together to share tips to support intellectual freedom.”
Another workshop on the agenda is entitled, “Public Library Support for Youth Mental Health.” Description of workshop: “Libraries can play a role in supporting the mental health of children and youth. Two Texas public libraries are currently working in this space. Learn how to embed mental health support into library services and discover ways to justify these efforts.”
On its face, that would seem a worthy goal, but consider the brief bio for one of the panel members for this topic:
“DL is a Teen Services Librarian with the San Antonio Public Library, whose work focuses on young people ages 13-18. DL draws on a decade’s worth of experience in professional social service work and personal community organizing and activism to help create a space with teens that is welcoming and supportive. Sometimes this looks like working with the Teen Pride workgroup to create buttons for Pronoun Day, or encouraging teens to make rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches.”
Are our tax dollars supporting this? Are the “mental health support” staff actually mental health professionals?
Other concerning workshops to be presented at the TLA conference:
Exploring Agency in Children’s Literature - Librarians will analyze demonstrations of agency in children’s literature and gain insight into how children develop agency. The session will be organized around child-selected, diverse children’s literature from school libraries. Themes of self-determination, inspiring change in the community, and individual freedom will be discussed.
What is “agency?” Is this a new term being used to justify allowing children to make life-altering decisions?
Read more about “agency” here.
Also concerning is a Toddler Storytime seminar that incorporates Social Emotional Learning.
Toddler Storytime - An opportunity to create a multilingual community, expose little ones to Social Emotional Learning, pre-reading, pre-writing, and numeracy concepts that will better equip them to begin school. Easy to implement ideas, with corresponding developing skills, will be shared to enrich the experiences your library offers toddlers and their families.
Parents have a right to know what their kids are learning when they are entrusted to our education professionals.
South by Southwest Teachers Conference
Like most professionals, educators attend conferences to learn the latest and greatest in their fields. One of those conferences is the South by Southwest (SXSW EDU) Conference, which was held March 6-9 in Austin.
This conference is nothing if not thorough. See below for a few of the workshops that were on the program for this year. There also were many sessions that dealt with “cultural humility,” “racial disparities,” and how to fight back against parents who are trying to get porn out of school libraries.
While we gather as outraged individuals to speak out against this shocking trend, make no mistake - they are highly organized and well-funded.
A few of the workshops presented at the SXSW conference:
Why Porn Literacy Belongs in Sex Education - With the lack of comprehensive sex ed in schools, porn has become the new sex education. The Porn Conversation believes in education through continued conversation - beginning with the topic of porn literacy. By shedding light on the highly controversial debate on free online porn and today’s online sex culture, we are campaigning for a more educated and alert generation, who are prepared and ready to make better choices about their sexual health; driven by knowledge and not by fear or shame.
Featured Session: Drag Story Hour: Fight for Queer Herstories - Non-profit programs like ours are under attack. Drag Story Hour uses drag as a traditional art form to promote literacy, teach about LGBTQ lives, and activate children's imaginations. This session demonstrates and shares the importance of LGBTQAI+ family programming and spreads our vision for a world in which every child can be safe fully expressing who they are.
Kitchen Convos: Creating Trans Inclusive Spaces - Explore how to support transgender students in and outside of school via interactive groups with the Transgender Education Network of Texas. Educators have the opportunity to be that accepting adult and create an inclusive and supportive environment for all students, especially LGBTQ+ youth. Let us dive deep into how to have an open conversation about pronouns, the importance of autonomy for youth in their coming out process, and how to advocate for an inclusive environment in the classroom.
Pronouns & LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Classroom - The topic of “pronouns” has gained significant traction in the last decade. But why are pronouns important? How do you get into the habit of gender-neutral language? How are LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, etc) youth spearheading the evolution of pronouns, neopronouns, and gender creativity? And, how do we acknowledge gender diversity in the classroom? Join It Gets Better’s Education Coordinator for a conversation all about pronouns, featuring stories from LGBTQ+ youth!
Take Action
Contact YOUR local school board and find out if they sent teachers to the Texas Library Association conference or the SXSW EDU conference. Share the content of concerning workshops and find out if your tax dollars are paying for children to be taught these concepts.