I had never heard of Fanfiction until this class. It basically is an online site where school-age fans use to engage with pop culture of their interest based on a movie, book, television show, etc. The chapter points out that kids are able to use digital literacy skills to discover, discuss, solve writing and reading related problems while developing social networks and affiliate with other fans. Race, class, gender, ability, educational level is almost eliminated. Their “ascribed” identities (their role /label they typically have in a classroom or community) becomes an “achieved” identity.
The study of Nanako was
interesting. She was a 16-year-old
girl that had only spoke English for 2 ½ years before she started posting anime-based
stories on Fanfiction. She
basically created her own learning environment that met her needs and enabled
her to achieve an online identity and be a successful writer. Her readers appreciated her
multilingual nature of her writing.
What made a “good fan” did not hinge solely on grammatical
conventions. Instead it was the
appreciation for the text and engaging storylines. The writing is
collaborative.
I thought the “focused critique” type of
review is one all teachers could benefit from using with their students when
conferencing on their writing. It
includes “sweetness” (positive praise on specifics), specific suggestions, and
conclusion.
What I’ve been reading about
Fanfiction is that most Fanfiction websites have a rating and the rating could
be misleading. I wonder what kind
of language is used, how graphic is the violence, is there adult
situations? I’ve also read it’s
not as polished as a published novel and you have to keep that in mind. I had my reservations about it until I
read an article from the International Reading Association titled “Adolescent
Writing in Online Fanfiction Spaces.” The authors discuss all the benefits of
Fanfiction.net, Figment.com., and Wattpad.com
What I took away from this chapter was
that teachers are not the only teachers.
Kids can be teachers as well.
Reading the suggestions and comments between Nanako and her fans
demonstrates that. Also, we need
to teach our kids to make meaning through an “array of texts” not just
conventional print documents.
I enjoyed reading your post! I am glad you pointed out that teachers are not the only teachers. Fanfiction websites are a true indicator of that. Kids can meet their needs as a writer and receive beneficial feedback from their fan base. I am interested to know if there is a "kid friendly" version of fanfiction.net because I think that this would be a great website for our students to use during computer lab.
ReplyDeleteI was also interested in the appropriateness of these fan fiction sites. On the one hand, I feel like students should be able to express themselves freely considering that they are posting to the site as a hobby. However, this would present an issue if you were hoping to incorporate fan fiction site into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed how you pointed out that students can be teachers too! It's interesting to me how students are resistant to give feedback to each other in the classroom, but are so willing to provide suggestions on these types of websites. Great post!