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Exploring Gender in Fairy Tales
Jacob Grimm was born in Hanua, Germany, on January 4, 1785. Celebrate the 221st birthday of this famous folklorist by exploring the underlying messages in the many fairy tales that students read and know. This collection of resources focuses on fairy tales and their
representations of women and girls.
"Cinderella Meets Ulysses" (E)
Investigate the ways that characters and gender roles in folktales and other traditional
stories influence the ways that students see the world in this Language Arts article. Adapt
the researcher's questions about heroes and heroines to ask elementary
students to think about the roles that gender plays in stories.
"If Only I Was Like Barbie" (E)
Examine how young girls in a multi-aged primary classroom constructed gendered
identities and meanings with this Language Arts article, which includes an
examination of Tatterhood, the story of a modern heroine within a traditional
tale. She’s no damsel in distress!
Once Upon a Time Rethought: Writing Fractured Fairy Tales (E)
How are gender roles part of the fairy tale genre? What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale? Students work together to craft a list of common fairy tale elements; then, they explore and analyze a variety of tales then compose their own, new tales for others to enjoy.
Promoting
Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action (M)
In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students examine the library collections and campaign
for balanced readings by creating booklists and brochures. Extend this lesson
plan to other grade levels by focusing on text sets from your own library. The
introductory session that explores three different fairy-tale princesses can
be easily modified for any grade level.
Exploring
Satire with Shrek (S-C)
Shrek, which satirizes fairy tale traditions, serves as an introduction
to the satirical techniques in this ReadWriteThink lesson plan. Adapt
this lesson for younger students by focusing on a comparison of movie scenes
to well-known fairy
tales, touching on the satirical definitions as appropriate.
"Reading as Resistance: Gendered
Messages in Literature and Media" (S-C)
Explore the social construction of gendered messages in this English Journal article. The unit described in the article includes an analysis of Disney’s
Cinderella. The activities can be easily adapted for the college classroom.
"Gender 101: Helping Students Become Aware of Stereotypes of Gender
and Language" (C)
This article from Teaching English
in the Two-Year College invites students to draw from their own knowledge
of gender to become more aware of stereotypes of gender and
language. After completing the workshops explained in this article,
ask students to apply similar analysis to well-known fairy tales and
folktales to draw conclusions on how these cultural texts shape our
beliefs about gender.
Check out the ReadWriteThink calendar entry on Jakob Grimm's birthday for additional lessons and online resources.
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 01-03-06.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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