Teacher Speech and the New Divide: Katie Rinderle

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In the eighth and final episode of our series on Teacher Speech and the New Divide, we talk with Katie Rinderle, a 10 year veteran educator from Cobb County, Georgia. Katie is the first teacher in Georgia to be terminated for violating the state's divisive concept laws. What did Katie do? She went to a school book fair, sponsored by her school, and bought the best selling picture book, My Shadow is Purple, which touches on gender identity. Her 5th grade students selected the book for a read aloud, and Katie read the book and invited her students to do a reflection poem. Then, a parent complained, and Katie was fired. Katie's case has garnered national attention as a test of what public school teachers can and can't teach in the classroom. We’re joined in our conversation with Katie by her attorney, Michael Tafalski, from Southern Poverty Law Center. Special thanks to our friends at Learning for Justice, and the Justice in Schools team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for their collaboration on this work. Resources and LinksGeorgia Teacher Fired for Reading Children’s Book About Acceptance - SPLC ArticleKatie Rindele’s Opinion piece on MSNBCSouthern Poverty Law Center’s latest Press Release on Katie’s CaseLearn more about My Shadow Is Purple and Author Scott StuartPre-Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/teacher-speech-e8/transcript CreditsHost Justin ReichProduced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Recorded and Mixed by Garrett BeazleyFollow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter