In this presentation, I will discuss effective teaching strategies that engage students in conversations on controversial and potentially polarizing issues by using various classic fairy tales as starting points. Drawing on classroom and group discussions as well as innovative assignments from my themed fairy tale composition course, I explore critical ways in which students question shifting perceptions of gender, identity, stereotypes, transformations, and politics within contemporary society. To do so, I invite students to connect fairy tales to visual platforms such as music videos, social media, YouTube clips, political advertisements, and so forth. A few examples include: the evaluation of current politics and the examination of “facts” within Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the proliferation of electronic communication and social networks in viewing a short feature entitled “How Would Social Media Handle the Case of the Three Little Pigs,” and the commercialization of beauty in Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” and Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White” as seen in Beyoncé’s song “Pretty Hurts.” With so many news making headlines today, I find students are at times reluctant to engage in discussing the elephants in the room, especially with current political and social tensions. By reading classic tales, it creates a bridge for student to see how many of the themes within these tales play out around them, in which we update fairy tale characters to contemporary standards. Important and sometimes difficult topics such as school shootings, social movements (such as the #MeToo movement), and a figurative loss of voice (both personal and political), are challenging issues that evolve into learning opportunities for students to have spirited, and engaging discussions through the mode of classic fairy tales.
About the presenterSavena Budhu Barajas
I am an Assistant Professor of English at Broward College, located in South Florida. I teach writing and literature classes, including Caribbean Literature, Introduction to Short Stories, and a thematic Fairytale Composition course. I earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Studies from Florida Atlantic University with a concentration in South Asian diaspora in the Caribbean. I work with a diverse population of students and enjoy finding ways to engage students in the writing process.