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English Language and Literature

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Education

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk Jul 2016

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Why Tolkien? Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?


Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk Jul 2016

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Why Tolkien? Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?


Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk Jul 2016

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Why Tolkien? Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?