developing writers
Anna Smith, educational researcher & teacher educator blogging about composition in the digital age, contexts for learning, theories of development, and global youth.
Why FanFiction?
Author: Nadia Khan
You can see Nadia’s #teachread FanFiction at: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3283171/
Categories: YA Lit, Social Media, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Tags: Fanfiction, Adolescence, Teen Connectivity, Creativity
Why FanFiction?
Students Crave Connection
Studying The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, through the lens of fanfiction, has enlightenend my interpretation of what it means to be an adolescent.
A most important factor of adolescence that is crucial to consider when attempting to teach is the fact that teens crave connection. The students are in a defining period of their lives where they are attempting to figure out themselves and their place in the world. They solidify their identities through connections. What they choose to cling to informs and determines the next paths in their lives.
Using this insatiable quest for connection, we as English Language Arts teachers can use methods and texts that further enable the creation of such connectivity.
Why fanfiction?
Using fanfction to have students explore a theme, topic, or their own writing is an extremely accessible way to help them grow as individuals.
Immediate Feedback
Literally at their fingertips is an immediate community of feedback providers who can critique their writing and ideas. The students can get specific answers about direct questions they pose to the community when trying to improve their writing pieces.
Constantly Growing Network
More and more people of various backgrounds, qualifications, and opinions are joining the site and reading and sharing pieces with one another. This rich learning environment is one that could only be provided in an internet space like fanfiction.
Easily Managed
Using the setup of the website, students can manage and edit their stories quickly and easily. They can upload what they wish, when they wish, and choose what to share and when.
Community / Forum
Joining groups called “community” students can choose to follow and write about the same stories, characters, or blends as others and have a positive place to compare ideas and notes.
My Own Experience
On my on site, I chose to write letters back to the protagonist of Perks as a young Muslim girl, ten years later. She writes letters to Charlie on the dates he initially wrote and she details her life as a new ninth grade student at Stuyvesant High school in Manhattan, starting in August of 2001.
In her sixth letter, Zara laments her seemingly deteriorating friendships and struggle with herself and identity in light of 9/11. A comment received on this story was:
Excellent point of view, I really feel like I’m reading the letters of a high school girl. Keep up the good story.
This comment was made by my sister, who is a sixteen year old girl. This comment received by her was the most positive feedback she provided on the story. This enthusiasm shows how much more connected to the character she felt and thus, had a stronger reaction to the text.
Conclusion: Students can feel more connected to texts through the use of fanfiction to explore them. They have multiple aspects of the forum to use to help them create higher meaning and solidify their opinions on he text, based on real world experiences.
Check out the book!
Check Out the Book!
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