Reading Fairy Tales in the Classroom

1
Reading Fairy Tales in the Classroom

• A Teachers Guide to Understanding the
  Importance
• of Using Fairy Tales in the Classroom
• By
• John Brannan
• EDU 291 Section 1979

2
Genre of Childrens Literature Fairy Tales

3
What about fairy tales?

• Lets look at
• misconceptions concerning fairy tales
• three primary examples of fairy tales Snow
  White, Cinderella, and Mufaros Beautiful
  Daughters
• misconceptions concerning fairy tales
• examples of fairy tales to use in the classroom
• alignment of fairy tales with the state standards

4
Childhood Memories

• Think about a Fairy Tale that you remember most
  vividly from your childhood.
• Why do you think you remember it?
• Did the characters teach you anything?
• Did you want to be like a character from the
  Fairy Tale?
• Did the Fairy Tale become part of a daydream for
  you?

5
Reasons to use Fairy Tales in the classroom

• Fairy tales
• help children gain a feeling of self-worth
• foster a sense of succeeding when choosing good
  over evil
• suggest images that help children to direct their
  daydreams
• allow children the opportunity to master lifes
  difficulties and to succeed

6
The Misconceptions Concerning Fairy Tales

• Fairy Tales introduce children to images and
  themes that are dark and scary.
• Fairy Tales are too difficult for children to
  understand.
• Fairy Tales impose morality upon children too
  young to understand.

7
1. Fairy Tales help Children to gain a feeling of
Self-Worth

• Fairy Tales offer children a choice to identify
  with a character.
• This choice is not based on who is right or who
  is wrong.
• The choice is based on who arouses the childs
  sympathy.

8
Examples of Choices From the Fairy Tale Snow White

• The Queen is evil and powerful but her power is
  temporary.
• Snow White is good and sweet.
• Snow White usurps the Queens power.
• Snow White becomes the hero of the story.
• Children identify with the hero.

9
Good and Evil in Cinderella

• The Wicked Step-Mother and Step-Sisters are
  powerful in the beginning of the story.
• Cinderellas goodness of character is
  demonstrated throughout the story.
• Cinderella becomes the powerful hero in the end.
• Children identify with the hero of the story.

10
Fairy Tales present the polarities of character,
such as good and evil, and this allows the child
to comprehend easily the differences between the
two.
11
Learning Self-Worth from Fairy Tales

• Children learn to identify with a hero and to
  emulate that heros goodness.
• Children learn from the heros conflicts and
  dilemmas.
• Children encounter their own needs to be loved
  and their fear of being thought worthless.

12
2. Choosing Good over Evil

• Fairy Tales are not moral tales but rather tales
  of succeeding in life.
• Children learn to meet life with a belief in the
  possibility that they can succeed.
• Fairy Tales present the triumph of good over
  evil.

13
Examples from Snow White

• Snow White is isolated and lonely due to the evil
  queen.
• Snow White goes out into the world and becomes
  surrounded by friends.
• Snow White is loved and, in the end, succeeds by
  gaining a life partner.

14
Examples from Cinderella

• Cinderella is lonely and isolated in the
  beginning of the story.
• The evil step-mother and step-sisters are
  powerful.
• Cinderella is surrounded by friends and has a
  fairy god-mother to help her succeed over evil.

15
Examples from Mufaros Beautiful Daughters

• Nyasha has an evil sister who wishes to make
  Nyasha a servant.
• Nyasha remains true to her sense of goodness and
  is confident in herself.
• Nyashas goodness overcomes her sisters evil
  ways.
• Nyasha marries the Prince.

16
3. Fairy Tales Guide and Shape Childrens
Daydreams

• Fairy Tales express feelings of loneliness,
  isolation, and fear.
• Fairy Tales give children an example of a hero
  who overcomes these feelings.
• Fairy Tales shape childrens daydreams by helping
  children to sympathize with the hero.

17
Examples From Fairy Tales

• Children see that in the beginning of the story
  the evil character has power.
• However, the good character is able to overcome
  the trickery and bad treatment in order to
  succeed.

18
4. From Daydreaming to Success

• Fairy Tales allow the imagination to deal with
  and overcome fears.
• Fairy Tales show the evolution of an ordinary
  person.
• From isolation and loneliness to happiness and
  belonging in the world.
• The Fairy Tale hero is successful out in the
  world.

19
Examples From Fairy Tales

• Snow White, Cinderella, and Mufaros Beautiful
  Daughters show how characters overcome isolation
  and loneliness.
• Each character succeeds and becomes an example to
  the reader that goodness can triumph over evil.

20
Dispelling Misconceptions of Fairy Tales

• Fairy Tales help children to deal with fear and
  anxieties by offering compelling stories of
  success.
• Fairy Tales offer characters who are clearly
  drawn as either good or evil.
• Fairy Tales are not moral tales, but rather tales
  that assure the reader that they can succeed in
  life.

21
Using Fairy Tales in the Classroom

• Fairy Tales are excellent stories to share with
  children.
• Fairy Tales help teach children how to overcome
  their own fears and anxieties.
• Fairy Tales can be used in lesson plans to
  reinforce the State Standards.

22
Listing of Fairy Tales to read in the classroom

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Cinderella
• Mufaros Beautiful Daughters
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Lon Po Po

23
Aligning Fairy Tales with State Standards

• Fairy Tales help students understand plot,
  setting, and character.
• Fairy Tales help students understand beginning,
  middle and ending in stories.
• Fairy Tales can be used to develop critical
  thinking skills.

24
Conclusion

• Fairy Tales are excellent stories to read to
  students.
• Fairy Tales are easily used in lesson plans and
  can teach state standards.
• Fairy Tales help children to learn about
  themselves.

25
Works Cited

• Gruppen, Egmont. Snow White. Danbury Grolier
  Enterprises, 1995.
• Gruppen, Egmont. Cinderella. Danbury Grolier
  Enterprises, 1995.
• Steptoe, John. Mufaros Beautiful Daughters An
  African Tale. New York Scholastic, 1987.
  

26
Web Sites and Teacher Resources about Fairy Tales

• http//www.surlalunefairytales.com/index.html
• http//homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/myths.
  htm
• http//www.pitt.edu/dash/grimmtales.html
• http//www.bsu.edu/classes/vancamp/genres.html