1. Science Fiction: Serious Reading, Critical Reading
- Author
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Diane Zigo and Michael Moore
- Subjects
Cultural Studies ,Literature ,Linguistics and Language ,History ,Language arts ,business.industry ,Taste (sociology) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Teaching method ,Media studies ,Genocide ,Language and Linguistics ,Anthropology ,Critical reading ,Reading (process) ,Suspect ,business ,Repatriation ,media_common - Abstract
bert's Dune with its themes of repatriation and genocide. Readers of Roger Zelazny's Amber series knew long before the Matrix films about alternate universes and the one reality. In fact, alternate-reality travel was much easier by playing card than by ringing pay phone. We could have had our most reluctant readers hooked on Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, where we could have had a field day exploring the nature of leadership and whether the ends justify the means. We think of the discussions we could have had, were we more daring, and suspect that we speak for a number of English teachers. Science fiction holds virtually untapped potential as a means for teaching students to read and think critically. Unfortunately, the modernist tradition has relegated science fiction to murky genre depths that imply it is a taste we should either leave at home or outgrow. Fortunately, we haven't outgrown it. We know students are reading science fiction voraciously and continue to read it as adults. Authors such as Orson
- Published
- 2004
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