My mind keeps going back to Aaron Polson's blog from last week about using the stories of Poe (in various medium) to grab the attention of teenage students. He also had a second idea of using horror stories as a way of getting non-reading teens interested.
I think both or these ideas have a lot of merit. Do you want to know what I remember about english class in school? Precsious little...the things that stick in my memory the most are reading something from"The Martian Chronicals" by Ray Bradbury, "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck and "Dracula", by Bram Stoker. Another thing that stays with me today is having watched the horror movie "Reflections of Murder" starring a young Sam Waterston. A tale about the murder of a private school headmaster (set on an island off of Seattle). That scared the crap out of me and surely shaped how I look at horror. I also went on to read a number of Poe's stories (my personal fav is "The Cask of Amontillado"). I appreciate all teachers (Lord knows that I couldn't step up there to face the kids) but I think that there are a few that go above and beyond with their trend setting ideas.
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7 comments:
When we had essays to do in English class, I'd re-write stories I'd read from old SF&F anthologies I got out of the public library.
I'd badly recount some story about double-crossing in the depths of a dungeon, and the teacher would be all "That's very interesting, Gully, but what does it have to do with 'What you did last Summer'?"
LOL...too much imagination for your own good. Probably got a strapping for good measure...
Only class I remember is when we had to pick a non-western author, read their book/stories and then write one in their style. That was fun!
Thank you for the link! Very depressing, but fascinating on a psychological/social level.
Hey, like the new picture!
Yeah, I took a class on horror in college, and it was fabulous. I think doing that kind of thing with high schoolers is sheer genius.
Of course, no one really asked me, but I like to volunteer unsolicited opinions. :)
Natalie-- You're welcome...
Anton-- Thanks!
Carrie-- I like to offer unsoliced opinions too.
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