Story By Story, My Favorite Book To Teach With (Um, Part I)

[dr_pretentious]

I got so enthusiastic about my favorite teaching anthology, I had to split my post for the Black Gate blog into two sections, one for this week and one for next. The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy for Teens deserved to become an annual standard Year's Best collection, one that no library or fan would have skipped. Jane Yolen and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, the editors, did a gorgeous job of finding short fiction from all over the genre magazines that would be appealing and appropriate for younger readers, and their short introductions for all the stories could form the basis of a thorough and rollicking college course syllabus. Alas, the volume was a one-off, and eventually it will become hard to find. For a thorough and rollicking breakdown of why anybody who teaches literature or writing to teenagers ought to grab a copy, and for a glimpse of what my students and I use the book for, you can look over here.

Comments

[showingup.livejournal.com]

I read that article and found myself thinking (not for the first time), "I wish I'd had Sarah as my English teacher at secondary school, instead of Mr W."

And then I realised you can be my English teacher right now. After all, you write great articles about teaching - I just have to let myself learn.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Warm fuzzies!

I've dedicated a lot of my life's energies to being the teacher I wish I'd had. It seems to be working out pretty well for me, so I hope it's working okay for others.

Your tales of Mr. W stand out in the Annals of Bad Teaching. Somewhere in the Gaimanesque Hell of Season of Mists, he and my 5th grade nemesis Mrs. Aubuchon are subjecting one another to their hideous lesson plans.

[karen schmeelk-cone (from livejournal.com)]

Will have to track this down and put it on hold for a couple of years for my son (who will be 9 later this month)! He already likes fantasy and I'm sure he'd get into scifi pretty quickly given something age-appropriate...