On Teaching Fairy Stories equips teachers and school leaders to recover fairy tales as a serious, soul-shaping part of the curriculum. You'll begin by clarifying terms: what distinguishes a “fairy story” from myth, fable, or fantasy, and why that matters for planning and assessment. From there, you'll build a compelling rationale for the arts of “once upon a time”: how fairy stories awaken moral imagination, tutor desire, and train attention in ways data-driven texts rarely can. Leaders get guidance for framing this vision with parents and boards, while teachers learn practical goals and outcomes that align with standards without flattening wonder. The course then turns to method. You'll learn how to “build bridges” from students’ lived experience to the secondary worlds of the tales—using ritual openings, evocative questions, and sensory detail to make reluctant readers more at ease.
Two extended case studies model the approach in action. With The Hobbit, you'll see how to trace eucatastrophe (as Tolkien called it), vocation, and courage across episodes, plan a sequence of read-aloud, Socratic dialogue, and written narration, and assess for insight rather than trivia. With Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” you'll practice attending to sound and symbolism, guiding students through difficult themes with age-appropriate discussion protocols and composition prompts that cultivate judgment, not cynicism. You'll also receive a curated map of “fairy book” resources and anthologies, with tips for selection, scaffolding, and cross-grade alignment. You will learn to employ daily practices that kindle receptive attention such as chants, copywork, drawing, and how to shape the room, schedule, and silence to make contemplation plausible.
Lessons
Lesson 1: What Is a Fairy Story?
Lesson 2: Why Teach Fairy Stories?
Lesson 3: Building Bridges
Lesson 4: Exemplum: The Hobbit
Lesson 5: Exemplum: Christina Rosetti, "Goblin Market"
Lesson 6: Fairy Book Resources
Lesson 7: Wonder in the Classroom
Lesson 8: Rhetorical Wonder
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$50 for lifetime access
Note: you will need to sign up for a free ClassicalU account (if you don't already have one) before you can complete your purchase.
Want to dive deeper into the question of fairies? Listen to this conversation between ClassicalU's Jesse Hake and Junius Johnson!
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Dr. Johnson uniquely combines his analytic thinking with his vast theological knowledge and his love for wonder and imagination to expand our view of reality and what is possible.
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Junius’ classes have revitalized my hunger and thirst to keep growing, to be a mind awake. Junius’ experience and training is vast, but he is also gifted in articulating complexities, connections, concepts, et cetera, in a lively and warm manner that is accessible to the amateur while fully satisfying the most experienced.
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Participating in a course led by Dr. Junius Johnson is a wonderful journey of exploration, seeking hidden gems in unexpected places. It is an opportunity to learn to look deeper than the surface, both in reading and in the mundane of life. A delightful feast for the mind that lasts far beyond the actual banquet.