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| Posted By : crystalwizard - 12/23/2007 4:47 AM | 12.12.2007
Science Fiction Gathering Gathers Teachers
After twenty-five years, the Science Fiction Research Association will meet in Lawrence, Kansas, again-this time in conjunction with the University of Kansas Campbell Conference. Faculty members, teachers, and librarians in the six-state region will have an unusual opportunity July 10-13 to participate in the latest scholarship about a category of fiction that has become increasingly meaningful in the last quarter century.
Primary and secondary school teachers and librarians in the region will have a Campbell Conference program on teaching science fiction prepared especially for them. The SFRA annual meeting features the presentation of scholarly papers but is enlivened more than most academic meetings not only by the nature of their subjects-which include popular films, comic books, and games-but by interactions with the writers who create what the academics are discussing.
Full article:
www.sfra.org/
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| Posted By : Steven the Git - 12/23/2007 8:52 PM | Never sure about trying to force stuff on kids myself. I mean everything I read at school was unpleasant simply because we had to read through it as a class, which never worked.
Also you can guarantee the books will be boring. I did read a scifi book at school, as part of the curiculum, and has to be said, it was very dull. Never herad of the book at any other time either.
I got into SF and fantasy because of my dad. That's the thing. Get people excited about it, and it will go to the kids. WHat you love you want others to love too. It is simple nature. |
| Posted By : H.P. Lovesauce - 12/24/2007 10:20 AM | | Pearls before swine, really--the swine in this case being the teachers. |
| Posted By : BethS - 12/24/2007 11:17 AM |
crystalwizard said...12.12.2007 Science Fiction Gathering Gathers Teachers After twenty-five years, the Science Fiction Research Association will meet in Lawrence, Kansas, again-this time in conjunction with the University of Kansas Campbell Conference. Faculty members, teachers, and librarians in the six-state region will have an unusual opportunity July 10-13 to participate in the latest scholarship about a category of fiction that has become increasingly meaningful in the last quarter century. Primary and secondary school teachers and librarians in the region will have a Campbell Conference program on teaching science fiction prepared especially for them. The SFRA annual meeting features the presentation of scholarly papers but is enlivened more than most academic meetings not only by the nature of their subjects-which include popular films, comic books, and games-but by interactions with the writers who create what the academics are discussing. Full article: www.sfra.org/
Well, maybe if they teach classic sf, but otherwise, I think they're a mite too late and behind the curve on this one. There's not much good sf being produced these days.
~Beth |
| Posted By : Dragon Angel - 12/25/2007 11:15 AM | I actually took a science fiction class in high school. We read short stories, watched 2001 and other classics. It was awesome.
read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html
Part dark, part light. And gooey in the middle. |
| Posted By : RHFay - 12/26/2007 12:50 PM | My 9th grade English teacher was a science fiction fan, and taught a sci fi course in 12th grade. She was actually one of the ones that first encouraged me to write, just based on the beginning of a tale I once wrote.
"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!" Andrew of Armar.
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| Posted By : Gustavo - 12/26/2007 1:59 PM | I went to high school in Argentina (bilingual English / Spanish), and both curriculae included Speculative Fiction. The English side (standard international Cambridge stuff, so it's probably being used by millions of students in dozens of countries) included reading "The Time Machine" and a lot of Edgar Allen Poe, while the Spanish side had a bit more, with science fiction by Borges and Bioy Casares and magic realism from García Márquez. Unfortunately, I was also forced to read "The Viceroy of Ouhidah", which is not science fiction, and is about as enjoyable as an unexpected vist by the Spanish Inquisition.
By the way, my middle school years were spent in te US, and I was assigned "Animal Farm" and "The Martian Chronicles", so it seems that there are at least some places where the reading of speculative fiction is strongly encouraged in schools, even in the US!
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| Posted By : H.P. Lovesauce - 12/27/2007 9:51 AM |
Gustavo said...
I was also forced to read "The Viceroy of Ouhidah", which is not science fiction, and is about as enjoyable as an unexpected vist by the Spanish Inquisition.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!  |
| Posted By : ghostposts - 1/1/2008 6:39 AM | Thank you for that, H.P. You made my night.
Now I have to go and explain to my kids why I sat at the computer giggling for two minutes. Monty always sets me off.
http://www.sfreader.com/firebrand-20071223.asp
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