Resources for teachers

In this section:

Quesitonnaire Request

I write to ask your help in an important professional project that will allow you to share your experience teaching Tolkien's works with other colleagues. As you may already know, the Modern Language Association's Publications Committee has approved a new volume in the MLA Approaches to Teaching World Literature Series, titled Approaches to Teaching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Other Works.

I very much hope you will be willing to participate in this project by first filling out a questionnaire about your experiences teaching Tolkien or his works in college level courses. This questionnaire is now available on the MLA Web site at http://www.mla.org/approaches. Responses to this questionnaire will form the basis of the sourcebook portion of this volume and all respondents to the questionnaire will be acknowledged by name in the published volume.

In addition, if you now teach or have previously taught Tolkien or his works in any college course, I ask that you consider submitting a proposal for an essay to the volume. Along with a discussion of the most important and useful materials available to the teacher of The Lord of the Rings and other works by Tolkien, this book (like the others in the same series) will contain a selection of essays written by instructors who describe their approaches to teaching Tolkien's works, especially The Lord of the Rings. All volumes in the series are intended to be broadly representative in the range of their contributors, in the critical orientations presented, and in the types of schools, students, and courses considered.

Since the chief purpose of books in the series is to aid teachers, essays must not be simply critical interpretations of the work but should discuss actual classroom experiences, including student contributions and reactions, and consider the implications and consequences of teaching The Lord of the Rings using a particular methodology or theoretical perspective. While the volume will focus primarily on methods for teaching The Lord of the Rings, essays that discuss teaching any subject related to Tolkien or his works will be considered. Proposals for essays to be considered for inclusion in this volume must be submitted as part of the last item on the questionnaire.

The questionnaire will be available on the MLA Web site until 15 December 2008. All responses will be transmitted directly to me as the volume's editor. Proposals for essays may not be submitted after this date.

Please feel free to pass this message along to any other colleagues who might also be interested in completing the questionnaire and perhaps submitting an essay proposal for consideration.

Leslie A. Donovan
Associate Professor
University Honors Program
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

ldonovan@unm.edu

Conference Notice

International Medieval Congress 2005 - J. R. R. Tolkien as a Medievalist

July 11, 2005 14.15-15.45

Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds
Further details on the papers to be delivered

Is Tolkien worth Teaching?

If you love Tolkien, then your enthusiasm is going to make learning with Tolkien a pleasure for your students. Tolkien has a wide appeal. Students who would not normally read for pleasure are reading The Lord of the Rings. We are putting together a page to help with special needs.

Putting on a performance

Creating and staging a play or musical based on one of Tolkien's stories can be a great way to involve children in Tolkien's work. Do remember that all of J R R Tolkien's works are still in copyright and that adapting works, and performing or staging adaptations requires permission under copyright law (in the UK there is a small exception to this for educational establishments if there are no public performances NB parents count as the public!). In the UK see sections 21, 34 and 76 of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Schools or amateur groups that want to seek permission should contact permissions@harpercollins.co.uk, posted to the Permissions Department, HarperCollins Publishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB, or faxed to 020 8307 4753. If you are in the USA or Canada you should first contact Houghton Mifflin, if you are adapting a translation of one of Tolkien's works you should first contact the publisher of that translation.

Resources for students

We have a page for students which you may wish to give to students.

Resources for teachers

Our current resources are mainly aimed at teachers of the English National Curriculum. If you can adapt them to other systems, please let us know!

Personal Development

Tolkien's books (like anyone else's) can be used as a means of exploring. For example, one can ask questions such as 'who is my favourite character?' and reflect on the answer. Maria Gonzalez of Granada University (Spain) has made a comparative study of Spanish and British reactions, which may be helpful ("The Lord of the Rings: A Myth for Englishmen?" Mallorn 36, 1998).

A Catholic priest has told me that he finds The Lord of the Rings particularly useful when working with young people, because the situations and characters are simultaneously removed from and connected to their lives. The removal gives the reader space in which he or she can make judgements with more comfort. But the facilitator can draw out the links which exist between the book and the current situation.

Tolkien's "smaller work" is a rich source, and is likely to be new to readers. I have personally found that Leaf by Niggle is a particularly deep well.

Note: I don't facilitate personal development myself, although I am a reflective learner - these are notes I've made after talking to people who are using Tolkien as part of their practice.

Pat Reynolds
1998