Inside the Classrom (and Out): How we Learn through Floklore

The 25 articles in this volume cover a variety of topics that are relevant to folklore and learning. The majority of the essays were culled from presentations made at meetings of the Texas Folklore Society, and they include interesting stories as well as good descriptions of rituals and beliefs. The essays and articles are arranged into themes that deal with folklore and primary school, the folklore of high schoolers, and college student folklore. There are also essays that provide a tribute to the master teacher Paul Patterson and a discussion of language and the study of folklore. The essays on Paul Patterson will likely appeal mainly to Texans who knew him, and the essays on folklore and language may have wider appeal to those intersted in connections between traditional knowledge and various ways of speaking. Some of the stronger essays offer interesting insights into connections between learning theory and folklore, and I especially liked what Barbara Morgan-Fleming offers in relation to connecting folklore to various learning processes. I also greatly enjoyed James Lee Ward's witty article entitled "Talking Fancy." He offers a fun description of various dialects and a clever critique of pretentious rhetoric. But many of the essays in this volume lack in-depth analysis and interpretation, and, as a whole, the entire volume only marginally addresses how we do learn through folklore.