Conclusion: How to bring fandom into your classroom.

I might have fooled you by all of these other posts, but the intention for this blog was to discuss how fandom and it's power to motivate students to become more literate could be brought into the classroom so the following is most clearly addressed to Teachers.


Ahem.

Dear Teachers everywhere, 

Talking about the motivating power of fandom is well and good, but how can teachers bring this into the classroom? As I demonstrated in my previous post, there are many way s to respond to a text/movie/ TV show, etc, each with its own appeal depending on the strengths of the individual. Many, if not all of the examples I gave in the multiple intelligences posts, demonstrate the cross curricular power of fandom – art, music, technology, science, history…. You name it, you can incorporate fandom into it.

I remember being given the option to “rewrite a chapter” or “writer a letter from one character to another” and other “creative” prompts (like the dreaded free choice creative response option) that I never found exciting. As a proud self-identifying “creative individual” with a creative reputation to match, I hated those types of assignments and never chose them. If these options are being provided in the hopes to reaching those who struggle to find motivation in the academic classroom and end up turning them off further, what can we do?

The good news is that its not hopeless. First and foremost, you need to create a classroom community that encourages creativity and the freedom to experiment and make mistakes without that atmosphere, students wont feel comfortable to go out on a creative limb.

Second, make creative assignments common part of the class. Like establishing a Tribes classroom, some students will jump on the creative assignments and other students may require a long time before they feel comfortable to creatively “let loose.” If you, as the teacher, show that you value creativity, the children will learn from that example. As the students become more comfortable with the creative assignments, the more they will respond.

Assignment wise, fanfiction/fandom works well with books the class reads and literature circle. Adding “creative response” components can bring an extra element of fun to book discussion as students show and tell how they were inspired by the text.

Another important thing to do is allow students to publish their work, whether by cutting and pasting a hard copy or posting online to a blog or forum. While students are avid contributors to their cyber world, this enthusiasm goes away when school is bought into the pictures. Mathew and Adams, two researchers, noticed that “when the online writing was assessed, students completed only the bare minimum, if they wrote at all. However, after creating a section called “This & That” where students could discuss anything appropriate without grades, the board quickly filled with posts, writings, responses and students building communities that extended online” (1). “Young adults want to have agency over their own learning. They want less monitoring and no reductionist assessment. We find that the less monitored they feel and the less pressured they feel to create mandatory pieces online, the more they do it (1).

Be careful how you mark, or if you even choose to assess fandom pieces. They are often very sensitive works and come with personal attachment. Instead, I feel the value of fandom comes about because it is a valid way to practice skills (writing, editing, analysis, art, music etc) and helps foster the habit of creativity in your daily life – show that literacy and reading is fun!

Thank you,

An now-adult Harry Potter fan

Source
(1) Mathew & Adams, 2009, p. 390