Critical Thinking Skills for Teens: The Grimms' “Seven Ravens” Illustrated

If you are a college-bound teen, you should be working every day to sharpen your critical thinking skills. These are the skills you will need in each of your college classes to be able to...
1) read & prepare for class
2) listen to class lectures
3) make insightful contributions to class discussions
4) complete written assignments, including response papers, research papers, and interpretations

As a former college professor, I know just where you're heading and can guide you expertly as you prepare yourself for your next step in the academic world. Come join me in this class and the others in the "Critical Thinking for Teens" series!

In each of the classes, we use a three-step method for academic inquiry:
STEP 1 = observe
STEP 2 = categorize
STEP 3 = analyze

These are the steps I coach my writing students through as they prepare to choose a paper topic, write a thesis statement, assemble their evidence, and draft their conclusions. 

-----

In this particular class, we will base our investigations on the lesser-known fairy tale "The Seven Ravens.” “The Seven Ravens,” categorized by folklorists as Type 451 in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index, features an appealingly gutsy female liberator who sets out to find and rescue her brothers-turned-birds. The sacrifices she makes, paired with the penalties the family must inevitably pay, challenge the notion of the typical happy ending.
 
In this class, we will learn a little bit about the creation of the ATU fairy tale index and read the story of “The Seven Ravens” in its English translation.

Focusing on two illustrated versions of “The Seven Ravens,” by German illustrator Gerhard Schröder and Austrian illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger, we will use our critical thinking skills of observation, categorization, and analysis to explore what these two artists might be saying about the nature of tragedy and redemption, about what can be reversed and what cannot.