Creative Ideas for Teaching Fairytales in High School

 

Fairytales are for children, right? Yes, small children do enjoy fairytales. Parents and teachers can use them to teach young children about friendship, values, and morals. However, it doesn’t have to stop there. Fairytales can be used with older children. In fact, high school English teachers can use fairytales in their classrooms. The following are great ways to turn fairytales into learning instruments.

Identify story elements

A secondary English teacher can use fairytales in order to teach their students to identify story elements.  I like to have my students do this using a graph organizer. With the graphic organizer, I have them list the different story elements from the fairytale.

Complete plot lines

High school students can find it difficult to identify the climax of many stories or novels. It order to help make this easier, I like to have my students practice identifying the plot sequence using fairytales and plot lines. Once the students have read the fairytale, I have them write a brief summary of the fairytale. The students can then take that summary and identify the different parts of the plot and place them on the plot line.

Creative writing

Fairytales are fun and comforting. Most high school students will have heard the fairytales before and be familiar with them. Many fairytales have several different versions. I use fairytales to help their students think creatively. The students can take those old, familiar fairytales and changing them around or creating alternative endings.

Vocabulary

Fairytales can even be used to teach students vocabulary. How?  Have the students replace some of the simple words in the fairytale with more complex words. This forces the student to locate and correctly use synonyms.

Comparison and contrast

Students can be taught comparison and contrast using fairytales. I assign my students to take two different fairytales or two different fairytale authors and compare and contrast them. The students can do this in an informative essay or on a graphic organizer.  

Journal writing

Everything can be turned into a writing project, and fairytales definitely can. Have the students to reflect on the fairytale and how it relates to real-life events in the news or in their own lives. The students can also discuss any lessons or morals that they have learned from the fairytales.

Problem solving

Fairytales can also be used to teach problem-solving. I can assign their students a fairytale, have them identify the problem or conflict in the story, and then brainstorm alternative ways to resolve the conflict in the story.

Yes, high school English teachers can use fairytales in their classroom. They can use them to teach their students creative writing, problem solving, story elements, and vocabulary skills.