Monsters in the Classroom ─ Essays on Teaching What Scares Us

Exploring the pedagogical power of the monstrous, this collection of new essays describes innovative teaching strategies that use our cultural fascination with monsters to enhance learning in high school and college courses. The contributors discuss the implications of inviting fearsome creatures into the classroom, showing how they work to create compelling narratives and provide students a framework for analyzing history, culture, and everyday life. Essays explore ways of using the monstrous to teach literature, film, philosophy, theater, art history, religion, foreign language, and other subjects. Some sample syllabi, assignments, and class materials are provided.

Adam Golub is associate professor and director of the M.A. program in American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, where he teaches courses on literature, popular culture, childhood, and monsters. His academic writing has appeared in various journals, including Film and History, American Quarterly, Hybrid Pedagogy, and Anthropology Now.

Heather Richardson Hayton is an award-winning professor in the English Department and the Director of the Honors Program at Guilford College, and is the President of the Society for Comparative Literature and the Arts. A medievalist by training, she teaches early-period courses as well as popular culture topics.