Patch of Silver: Zombies!

For my High Tech Learning class, I've created a blog called "When Zombies Attack". I plan on adding to it pretty regularly with zombie-related topics that could be integrated into a classroom unit on zombies.

Any doubts about integrating horror into the classroom or library?

Let me quote myself (and myself quoting Darren Shan) on the "About Silver Lisa and Her Love of Zombies"* of the When Zombies Attack blog:

Horror author, Darren Shan, in his article entitled, Giving Rein to Horror, describes himself as a young boy who loved to write gory stories and once decided to show his story to a teacher who he trusted. This brave move resulted in Shan being expelled from school and scarred for a very long time. Shan was able to eventually overcome his distrust of sharing his stories with others, and has become a very successful author.

In Giving Rein to Horror, Shan provides his observations on the value of the horror genre when it comes to encouraging young adults to learn:

We don’t live in an ideal world. I know teaching’s a hard job, that it’s easier to mark essays on conventional subjects than give a free rein to surly teenagers who want to write about zombies chowing down on fresh brains. But creativity isn’t a smooth ride. Sometimes it demands detours down grimy alleys of the mind, places no adult might want to visit, but which developing teens feel drawn to. As a teacher, you can choose to block such trends in your classroom and demand your students tread the straight and narrow line, forcing them to give up on writing or labour on by themselves, alone in the dark.

Or you can encourage imagination wherever you find it, explore the quirkier corners of writing with those who truly do ‘think outside the box’, and try to help even the most creatively wayward students find their true direction. If you do, you might help the next Poe, Mary Shelley or Stephen King to blossom.

Of course, you might inadvertently create the next Charles Manson too — but, hey, them’s the breaks!