Creative English Teacher

Although spring showers haven’t exactly pierced the drought of March to the root—in fact, winter’s coming on fast—I am inspired to write about The Canterbury Tales. Why? Because it’s a blast to teach in my British Literature class! Yes, you heard me right. An “old, moldy” classic is a blast to teach! So without further ado I give you five reasons to teach this entertaining (and sometimes raunchy) classic! The Canterbury Tales perfectly captures the emergence of the Middle Class. Many great works of literature perfectly capture a particular time period. When Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, the Middle...

Five Reasons for Teaching Egyptian Mythology and Culture Although I have taught various kinds of mythology—the typical Greek, Roman, and Norse varieties—it was not until I was encouraged by a fellow educator (thanks, Chris), that I decided to give Egyptian mythology another look. What I found is that ancient Egyptian culture is fascinating! (Why hadn’t I realized this before? No jokes about being in “de Nile” please.) Furthermore, I realized that the ancient Egyptian stories not only entertain, but also address some of the problems we still face today. Since my sophomore world literature course revolves around the theme of...

The world is a little less today:  Zorn has passed on from it. To the uninitiated, Zorn might seem like a sound effect from an old Batman fight scene, but it is a man’s name. Why should you know that name? Because Dan Zorn was the best teacher ever. No, he was never honored on national television. He never met Oprah. He never even won any local teaching awards that I’m aware of. Yet to me he will always be the greatest teacher ever. Mr. Zorn was a survivor of the Vietnam War. He came back with a few grisly...