Fairy Tales in the College Classroom

Educators aspire to teach skills that will expand the way their students think and act, not just in the classroom but throughout their lives. Centered on fairy tales, this pedagogical resource contains educational theories and classroom techniques contributed by scholars from around the world. Each teaching technique provided uses the familiarity of fairy tales as a non-threatening base to explore complex concepts and practices while encouraging students to examine the origins and assumptions of their own society, to expand their worldviews along with their critical thinking, reading, writing, creative, and expressive skills.
This collection of essays is primarily designed for use in post-secondary classes, but it is an invaluable resource for any educator. The book is organized into five parts with two to three essays in each section, each presenting detailed theories and learning goals behind the classroom activities. Practical advice for adapting lessons for various education levels, class lengths, and subjects of coursework is also included. These practices for teaching fairy tales provide a firm foundation for creating lessons that will give students and instructors a greater understanding of our world and the promise of a better future.

Heather Powers is a professor emerita of English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has taught writing classes for more than 30 years. Her research focuses on transformative works about Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Sherlock Holmes.

Edited by Heather Powers
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 225
Bibliographic Info: 9 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8952-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5231-3
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction
Heather Powers 1
Part I. Tell Me a Story: The Craft of Writing
“Fires that blaze brightly”: The Language of the Tale
Michael Jones 13
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Paper: Teaching Fairy Tales in the Composition Classroom
Theodora Goss and Amy Bennett-Zendzian 31
The Use of Fairy Tales in Second Language Learning: From Grammar Acquisition to Intercultural Competence
Catalina Millán-Scheiding 48
Part II. More Than Words Can Say: The Importance of Visual Literacy
Picture This: The Pedagogical Value of Picture Books
Gabrielle Stecher 65
Tales for Today: A Fairy-Tale Collaboration Between English and Art
Daniel J. Weinstein and Nathan Heuer 80
Part III. Decolonizing the Narrative: Going Beyond Students’ Expectations
The Value of the African Dilemma Tales as a Pedagogical Resource
Ayub Sheik, Martha Khosa, Nicholus Nyika, and Bheki Mthembu 97
Empowerment Through Language: ­Code-Mixing in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Sarah Victor 114
Part IV. And They Lived Happily Ever After: Challenging Patriarchal Norms
Teaching “Little Red Riding Hood” Through a Feminist Lens
Jade Dillon Craig 127
Mystery, Magic, and Enchantment: The Uses of Fairy Tale in Teaching Women’s Literature
Tanya Heflin 144
Disenchanting the Romantic Ideal: Workshop Activities for Feminist ­Fairy-Tale Restorying
Ka Yan Lam 164
Part V. Weaving Yarns: A Big Ball of Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey … Stuff
“Tale[s] as old as time”: Teaching Adaptation Criticism Using Fairy Tales
Melodie Roschman 181
Old and New Magic: The Grimm Brothers and Cornelia Funke’s Mirrorworld
Susanne Even 196
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