What was this chapter about/What does it tell us about teaching students?
In this chapter, Angela Thomas discusses two girls who met online to create fan fiction. The girls balance one another out because one is a better writer and one had better viewpoints. The use a range of literary techniques and reference the media, other print sources, and personal experiences. The girls not only use narrative writing, but they include multimodal texts including avatars, visual signatures, icons, mood music, mini movie trailers, etc. The girls, like other fan fiction writers, use their background experiences in creating their characters. They include poetry and create identities for themselves. Jandalf explains, "roleplaying brings a whole different depth, especially when you’re playing a character that directly reflects yourself. Besides which, getting into character can lessen your limitations and emotional defenses that you usually have over your own self. If I was talking to someone about my hopes and dreams, I probably wouldn’t reveal much more than what I’d like to see in the next year of my life" (p. 158). The girls become more free through writing and dialoging on fan fiction sites. This site helps us to learn to incorporate pop culture, somehow, into our curriculum. Students learn how to role-play and express themselves in an entirely new way. Students can collaborate and build off one another's skills! They can also work through problems/emotions through a fan fiction character.
Does this apply to all content areas?
In some ways, yes. I feel as if allowing students to take on the role of another character is extremely important. Learning how to empathize and share emotions is an extremely important lesson to learn. I am not sure that students in the elementary grades are mature enough to do this through something like fan fiction, but giving them a situation where they must place themselves in someone else's shoes could be very beneficial.
Erin i completely agreed with everything you said. Wouldn't this be such a great resource to use in the classroom. We all know that it is hard to find activities that are able to be creative and educational in the technology area. Great post Erin!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it can be very useful to have students become emotionally involved with characters or stories...it adds depth. I wish we could use this more frequently.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure all elementary students would be somewhat excited to write about things, characters, and shows that they are into when they are home, even if they did not share these stories in a fan fiction website setting. That's one of the big things I take from this chapter: the power of choice and interest. Coupled with the ability to work collaboratively, I think there is much we can learn from these online writing communities.
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