Across the Curriculum with Detective Fiction for Young People and Adults

Introduction

In my inner city high school of roughly 3,500 students who are of every ethnicity and culture, who range from the truly brilliant and pursuing an International Baccalaureate diploma to the special needs student who is hampered by autism or some other disabler, and who run the gamut from homeless or economically disadvantaged to extremely wealthy, the creative writing students in my classes are given a choice of writing a novella, a narrative poem, or a script for stage, screen, or television. Typically, this work has had to be an epic adventure and, for the most part, completing this task has been a struggle. Most of my students claim to be unfamiliar with the epic adventure when it concerns anything beyond viewing the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies. This claim is made despite the fact that The Odyssey and other epic works are a requisite part of the English curriculum. Fortunately, however, my students cannot even attempt to use this as an excuse when it comes to the detective genre. If they have not read the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys sagas, they have heard of Sherlock Holmes and been inundated with television series whose plots are steeped in the tenets of detective fiction like C.S.I., Without a Trace, Shark and the like. They have cut their eye teeth on movies such as Bad Boys, the Bourne trilogy, The Bone Collector, and The Good Shepherd, which feature the art of "detecting" as the noteworthy forte of the protagonist. Likewise to offset their tendency to avoid reading, most of their video games like the God of War series, the World of Warcraft series, the Zelda series, the Ninja Gaiden series and the Tom Clancy Splinter Cells series follow the same concept of uncovering clues and using the answers to advance to the ultimate level of the game. Therefore, it is my intent to channel these interests and the skills they have honed enjoying their chosen means of challenging entertainment into the writing of detective stories and a novella or play for their spring semester project.

The students will begin by writing segments and short stories in the various subgenres. I cannot, however, assign them these tasks without providing the formulas for this genre. Therefore, to familiarize myself with the basic tenets and formulas associated with detective fiction, I applied for admission to the 2007 "Across the Curriculum with Detective Fiction for Young People and Adults" seminar of the Yale National Initiative. The study of the materials offered in this seminar, as well as the collaboration between fellow teachers and the expertise offered by the erudite Dr. Paul Fry, provided the necessary knowledge and expertise for me to do a creditable job of creating a curriculum unit to aid in teaching this subject matter. It also offered me a means of approaching the subject in a variety of ways, through many subject areas. This is important because it has become increasingly obvious over the years that educators do not operate in a vacuum. We are, to a degree, dependent upon the efforts and cooperation of our colleagues.

It is for this reason that I propose using the study of the detective genre to cross disciplines, asking students to devote chapters or scenes of their work to specific academic areas. In this effort, I might ask the students to uncover a clue in their work, which turns out to be a chemical formula, an equation, or even an obscure historical fact. They would then be directed to consult with those of my colleagues who are best suited to answer the queries that result and to use their replies in the writing of the short story or chapter in which this clue is embedded. And given the fact that the school at which I work, like many others, requires students to complete a multi-faceted personal project, this writing can serve as a springboard to the research for that project. Even if this writing does not hold for the student the necessary appeal to be the actual project they submit, it will still be a learning experience that highlights the fact that serious learning is not limited to the knowledge of just one subject but is, rather, comprised of an array of tidbits from many that can be interrelated. It will also make clear that the key to acquiring all of these morsels is the ability to detect the details, with skills honed like the edge of a dagger, to uncover the clues that provide understanding. This, in itself, is "the basic premise of good thriller or spy fiction . . . The unobserved detail is the important detail. [Therefore,] All detail must be observed." (Winks, Modus 49). Thus, lessons geared towards students learning to pay attention to detail meet the objectives set forth by the State of Texas and the Houston Independent School District designed to foster both the development of critical thinking skills and higher order learning.