Reading Fairy Tales in the
Classroom
A Teacher’s Guide to Understanding the Importance
of Using Fairy Tales in the Classroom
By
John Brannan
EDU 291 Section 1979
Genre of Children’s Literature
Fairy Tales
What about fairy tales?
Let’s look at
• misconceptions concerning fairy tales
• three primary examples of fairy tales: Snow
White, Cinderella, and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
• misconceptions concerning fairy tales
• examples of fairy tales to use in the classroom
• alignment of fairy tales with the state standards
Childhood Memories
Think about a Fairy Tale that you
remember most vividly from your
childhood.
– Why do you think you remember it?
– Did the characters teach you anything?
– Did you want to be like a character from
the Fairy Tale?
– Did the Fairy Tale become part of a
daydream for you?
Reasons to use Fairy
Tales in the classroom
Fairy tales
– help children gain a feeling of selfworth
– foster a sense of succeeding when
choosing good over evil
• suggest images that help
children to direct their
daydreams
• allow children the opportunity to
master life’s difficulties and to
succeed
The Misconceptions
Concerning Fairy Tales
• Fairy Tales introduce children to
images and themes that are dark and
scary.
• Fairy Tales are too difficult for
children to understand.
• Fairy Tales impose morality upon
children too young to understand.
1. Fairy Tales help
Children to gain a feeling
of Self-Worth
• Fairy Tales offer children a
choice to identify with a
character.
• This choice is not based on who is
right or who is wrong.
• The choice is based on who
arouses the child’s sympathy.
Examples of Choices From
the Fairy Tale Snow White
• The Queen is evil and powerful but
her power is temporary.
• Snow White is good and sweet.
• Snow White usurps the Queen’s
power.
• Snow White becomes the hero of the
story.
• Children identify with the hero.
Good and Evil in
Cinderella
• The Wicked Step-Mother and StepSisters are powerful in the beginning
of the story.
• Cinderella’s goodness of character is
demonstrated throughout the story.
• Cinderella becomes the powerful hero
in the end.
• Children identify with the hero of
the story.
Fairy Tales present the
polarities of character,
such as good and evil, and
this allows the child to
comprehend easily the
differences between the
two.
Learning Self-Worth
from Fairy Tales
• Children learn to identify with a hero
and to emulate that hero’s goodness.
• Children learn from the hero’s
conflicts and dilemmas.
• Children encounter their own needs
to be loved and their fear of being
thought worthless.
2. Choosing Good over
Evil
• Fairy Tales are not moral tales but
rather tales of succeeding in life.
• Children learn to meet life with a
belief in the possibility that they can
succeed.
• Fairy Tales present the triumph of
good over evil.
Examples from Snow
White
• Snow White is isolated and lonely due
to the evil queen.
• Snow White goes out into the world
and becomes surrounded by friends.
• Snow White is loved and, in the end,
succeeds by gaining a life partner.
Examples from Cinderella
• Cinderella is lonely and isolated in the
beginning of the story.
• The evil step-mother and stepsisters are powerful.
• Cinderella is surrounded by friends
and has a fairy god-mother to help
her succeed over evil.
Examples from Mufaro’s
Beautiful Daughters
• Nyasha has an evil sister who wishes
to make Nyasha a servant.
• Nyasha remains true to her sense of
goodness and is confident in herself.
• Nyasha’s goodness overcomes her
sister’s evil ways.
• Nyasha marries the Prince.
3. Fairy Tales Guide and
Shape Children’s Daydreams
• Fairy Tales express feelings of
loneliness, isolation, and fear.
• Fairy Tales give children an example
of a hero who overcomes these
feelings.
• Fairy Tales shape children’s
daydreams by helping children to
sympathize with the hero.
Examples From Fairy
Tales
• Children see that in the beginning of
the story the evil character has
power.
• However, the good character is able
to overcome the trickery and bad
treatment in order to succeed.
4. From Daydreaming to
Success
• Fairy Tales allow the imagination
to deal with and overcome fears.
• Fairy Tales show the evolution of
an ordinary person.
• From isolation and loneliness to
happiness and belonging in the
world.
• The Fairy Tale hero is successful
out in the world.
Examples From Fairy
Tales
• Snow White, Cinderella, and Mufaro’s
Beautiful Daughters show how
characters overcome isolation and
loneliness.
• Each character succeeds and
becomes an example to the reader
that goodness can triumph over evil.
Dispelling Misconceptions
of Fairy Tales
• Fairy Tales help children to deal with
fear and anxieties by offering
compelling stories of success.
• Fairy Tales offer characters who are
clearly drawn as either good or evil.
• Fairy Tales are not moral tales, but
rather tales that assure the reader
that they can succeed in life.
Using Fairy Tales in the
Classroom
• Fairy Tales are excellent stories to
share with children.
• Fairy Tales help teach children how
to overcome their own fears and
anxieties.
• Fairy Tales can be used in lesson
plans to reinforce the State
Standards.
Listing of Fairy Tales to
read in the classroom
•
•
•
•
•
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Cinderella
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
Little Red Riding Hood
Lon Po Po
Aligning Fairy Tales with
State Standards
• Fairy Tales help students understand
plot, setting, and character.
• Fairy Tales help students understand
beginning, middle and ending in
stories.
• Fairy Tales can be used to develop
critical thinking skills.
Conclusion:
• Fairy Tales are excellent stories to
read to students.
• Fairy Tales are easily used in lesson
plans and can teach state standards.
• Fairy Tales help children to learn
about themselves.
Works Cited
• Gruppen, Egmont. Snow White.
Danbury: Grolier Enterprises, 1995.
• Gruppen, Egmont. Cinderella.
Danbury: Grolier Enterprises, 1995.
• Steptoe, John. Mufaro’s Beautiful
Daughters: An African Tale. New
York: Scholastic, 1987.
Web Sites and Teacher
Resources about Fairy Tales
• http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/i
ndex.html
• http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/
explore/myths.htm
• http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtal
es.html
• http://www.bsu.edu/classes/vancamp
/genres.html