Creative English Teacher

 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a classic of British Literature, and in spite of its many sub-par adaptations (I’m looking at you, Jack Black), it remains a timeless tale full of lessons for modern readers. So here are five reasons to teach Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.  Satire is a tricky art form, and its undisputed master is Jonathan Swift. I mean, he even has an adjective named for him: “swiftian” meaning "darkly humorous." Gulliver’s Travels, written in 1726, lampoons everything from religious infighting to political parties to the monarchy itself. Swift was an ordained Irish priest who did not...

What can a myth tell you about a culture? Maybe a better question would be, what can't it tell you? Social customs, traditions, beliefs, and values–they're all embedded there within the story. Myths are windows into cultures, but with such a wide variety of cultures in the world, how, within the time constraints of a high-school course, do you achieve a panoramic look at myths from all corners of the globe?  That question led me to the idea of World Myth Speed Dating. Based on information I've gleaned from sitcoms, Speed Dating is a social gathering where singles pair up time...

Alongside Dante and Shakespeare, John Milton is heralded as one of the greatest poets of all time. Not surprisingly, Paradise Lost, his greatest work, is likewise praised as one of the greatest works of English Literature. In spite of its many accolades, the poem is not widely taught in the English classroom, so here are five reasons for teaching Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost has deep themes. As he clearly states at the beginning of the poem, Milton's purpose in writing his epic poem is to justify the ways of God to man–or to explain why an all-powerful God would allow...