Fanfiction as a Support for Writing Engagement and Development

Leslie Haas and Jill T. Tussey

Fanfiction as a Support for Writing Engagement and Development

There are a variety of academic literacy levels within individual classrooms (Bippert, 2017). This diversity offers opportunities to support students by understanding and incorporating individual schema, interests, and motivation into literacy instruction, allowing engagement to be the catalyst for learning (Bippert, 2017; Haas & Tussey, 2021; Posey 2019). Student “goals for reading and writing may not be directly connected with school achievement, so educators need to tap into these existing skills in order to make literacy meaningful to the students” (Bippert, 2017, p.19-20). Therefore, it becomes crucial for educators to think outside the box when considering how to engage and develop students as writers.

Fanfiction

Popular culture offers opportunities to support academic literacy through student interest (Bahoric & Swaggerty, 2015; Jennings et al, 2021). Fandoms based on popular culture and their embedded literacies, often consist of shared interests and/or activities such as comics, movies, television, and video games. When teachers capitalize on these fandom narratives as a model or inspiration for writing, students have opportunities to create fanfiction.

According to Jamison (2013), “today we largely understand fanfiction as writing that continues, interrupts, reimages, or just riffs on stories and characters other people have already written about” (p. 17). It allows students to explore an original work and then alter it by changing one or more aspects such as characters, conflict, plot, point of view, and/or setting (Jamison, 2013). Examples of fanfiction across through the ages include the following: ● Paradise Lost by John Milton ○ based on the Bible ○ creates a whole new perspective on an existing story ○ turns Satan into a tragic hero ● The Aeneid by Virgil ○ based on The Odyssey and The Iliad ○ new epic based on Aeneas, a minor character from The Illiad ● A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain ○ based on Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory ○ changed to a comedy about time travel ● Wicked by Gregory Maguire ○ based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum ○ creates a whole new perspective ○ offers a more sympathetic portrait of an iconic villain Other fanfiction examples include Clueless based on Jane Austen’s Emma, 10 Things I Hate About You based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, and the Fifty Shades of Grey series based on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.

As a pedagogical tool, fanfiction has become an important aspect of teaching literacy (Hellekson & Brusse, 2014; Jenkins, 2008). By focusing on a specific aspect to alter in fanfiction writing, educators can target instruction to develop specific writing skills including those associated with comprehension and language acquisition (Black, 2008; Larsen & Zubernis, 2012). Additionally, fanfiction can offer literacy support by acting as mentor texts. According to Haas & Tussey (2021b),

Mentor texts take the full cognitive load of creation off students and allow for focused attention on one particular aspect of writing. For example, when a popular comic book is chosen as a mentor text, students can focus on developing the point of view of a less developed or minor character without also needing to focus on setting and plot. This type of support can be particularly advantageous for English Language Learners because mentor texts can offer quality examples of dialog, imagery, sentence structure, etc. . . . within the context of the chosen genre (para.4).

Writing skill development begins during a student’s elementary career. Joanna Polisena (n.d.) shared that “introducing and practicing writing with engaging activities in elementary school, can foster confidence and a lifelong love of writing” (para. 1). Therefore, it is important for educators to embed engaging activities into lessons supported by quality writing strategies. Fanfiction can be both an engaging activity and a quality writing strategy, as it allows student interest to drive the selection of mentor texts used for writing support. Additionally, fanfiction can increase engagement so students can feel more supported during the brainstorming and writing processes.

Writing Development

Writing instruction is often reflective of a teacher's comfort level. Graham (2019) highlights that “teachers devote more time and attention to teaching writing if they are better prepared to teach it, feel more confident in their capabilities to teach it, derive greater pleasure from teaching it, and consider it an important skill” (para. 15). It may be beneficial for teachers to familiarize themselves with the concept of fanfiction prior to embedding this concept into writing lessons and activities. Additionally, educators may share their personal interests with students through fanfiction writing activities to increase engagement and strengthen the studentteacher relationship. When educators develop lesson plans and curricular units, writing activities can be naturally embedded to provide students with a variety of opportunities to practice and strengthen their skills. However, as with most academic areas, students need writing skills modeled and supported. According to Graham (2012), before expecting students to become independent writers, “teachers should ensure that students have the background knowledge and skills they need to understand and use a writing strategy. Then, teachers should describe the strategy and model its use” (para. 7). As students become stronger writers, the level of support reduces allowing opportunities to demonstrate skills and knowledge.

Shanahan (2020) offers that “reading and writing draw upon the same body of knowledge and skills” (para. 7). This supports fanfiction activities which require students to engage with reading prior to starting writing activities. Furthermore, “research has found that when children read extensively, they become better writers. Reading a variety of genres helps children learn text structures and language that they can then transfer to their own writing (K12 Reader, n.d.,

para. 2). Therefore, by allowing students to write fanfiction based on their choices, prior knowledge already exists.

As teachers develop writing projects, they should consider how to best support struggling writers. Examples of support include writing warm-ups, providing pre-writing, using graphic organizers, and allowing for student choice. Ebert (2017) shares the importance of choice by providing that “even a little choice goes a long way with student writing. When students feel invested in a topic they will have more to say, thus more to write” (para. 17). Furthermore, consistent feedback helps writers, especially those who are struggling, and is a valuable classroom practice. Alrubail (2015) highlights that consistent student feedback, “ensures that they'll stay on track in terms of completion and motivation” (para. 8). Scheduling time to provide feedback can be challenging; however, peer feedback can provide valuable guidance and support in a timely manner.

Formative and summative assessments are often embedded into daily instruction and unit plans. According to the University of Reading (n.d.), “well-designed assessment can encourage active learning especially when the assessment delivery is innovative and engaging” (para. 4). Rubrics for writing can be developed by educators for most writing activities and utilized by students before, during, and after writing activities. Brookhart (2013) shares that rubrics “show students how they will know to what extent their performance passes muster on each criterion of importance, and if used formatively can also show students what their next steps should be to enhance the quality of their performance” (para. 26). Educators can adapt narrative writing rubrics which assess skills such as focus, conventions, organization, plot, sentence fluency, and voice to fit the specific components of the fanfiction assignment.

Activities for Engagement and Development

There are a variety of ways to use fanfiction to support student writing. Modeling fanfiction lessons for students can provide needed support. During the modeling portion of the writing process, Cutler (2019) shares he takes 25 minutes to compose his own response and “encourages students to call me out on whatever mistakes I might make, from content-related issues to writing style” (para. 8). Students benefit from the write aloud process as steps of the writing process become more clear. Prior to assigning students independent writing activities, teachers should plan to model the process. Educators can select a different fandom or fan-based narrative to model their thinking and writing process. Two examples at different grade levels have been provided. Fandoms within these examples can be substituted for fandoms of interest to students participating in fanfiction creation.

First and Second Grade Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.3 - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3 Fandom: “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”

Purpose: Students will create a narrative focused on a sequence of events which will include a beginning, middle, and end. “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” will provide students with developed characters and settings to support narrative development.

Activity: Develop a fanfiction narrative using the following steps:

● Students will watch an episode of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” on PBS Kids (https://pbskids.org/daniel/videos).

● The teacher and students will discuss the show and what aspects of the show they enjoyed and/or could connect to their own lives. ● The teacher and students will retell the beginning, middle, and end of the episode. ● The teacher and students can create a list of the main characters in “Daniel Tiger’s

Neighborhood” to use for their fanfiction writing. ● Students will select their favorite character to write a new adventure where the story has a distinct beginning, middle, and end. ● Students may include other characters from the television show and add digital or drawn illustrations to their writing. ● Students will read their adventures to partners once their story is complete.

Assessment: A rubric can be utilized to assess students writing pieces over three events, signal words, and a closure. This rubric may also include the inclusion of actions, thoughts, and feelings for second grade. The rubric will be reviewed prior to the start of the project.

Third and Fourth Grade Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.B - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.B Fandom: SuperHero Comics

Purpose: Students will create a narrative focused on dialog and descriptions to show the response of a character to a new situation. A superhero comic chosen from a preselected grouping of Marvel and DC comics will provide students with developed characters and mentor dialog to support dialog development for a new situation.

Activity: Develop a fanfiction narrative using the following steps:

● Students will bring to school an approved comic book or choose from preselected teacher offerings. ● Students will read their individual comic books. ● The teacher and students will discuss the dialog embedded within the comic books and share examples. ● The teacher and students will discuss and review writing conventions related to dialog. ● Students will discuss with a partner how they might alter a situation and how their superhero might react before beginning their writing. ● Students will develop and write dialog related to how their superhero reacts to a new situation. ● Students will work with a partner to read aloud their dialog in a Reader’s Theater performance.

Assessment: A rubric will assess the quality and quantity of dialog as well as character development included in the narrative. Writing conventions are a required part of the rubric. The final component of the rubric will be connected to the Reader’s Theater performance with a focus on expression and fluency rate. The rubric will be reviewed prior to the start of the project.

Conclusion

Fanfiction offers engaging and meaningful opportunities to develop writing skills. Additionally, it offers teachers the opportunity to bridge the literacy gap between home, school,

and community. This integration frames literacy as more than its individual components; instead, it becomes a set of cultural practices (Gavelek et al, 2000; Haas & Tussey, 2021a, 2021b).

Dr. Leslie Haas is an assistant professor of education and curriculum director at Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa. A former publicschool teacher, she now focuses on preparing preservice teachers. She is particularly interested in underrepresented students who can be reached through popular culture literacies. She can be contacted at HaasL@bvu.edu.

Dr. Jill Tussey is an assistant professor of education in literacy/early childhood at Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa. She has over ten years’ experience teaching at the elementary level. As division chair of Literacy, Early Childhood, and TESL, she works with preservice teachers, focusing on student engagement, motivation, digital literacy, and poverty. She can be reached at tussey@bvu.edu.

References

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Haas, L., & Tussey, J. (2021a). Equity and engagement through digital storytelling and gamebased learning. In Haas, L., & Tussey, J. (Ed.), Connecting disciplinary literacy and digital storytelling in K-12 education (257-277). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-17998-5770-9.ch013 Haas, L., & Tussey, J. (2021b). Enhancing language experience through digital literacy and popular culture. World Literacy Summit Blog. https://www.worldliteracysummit.org/enhancing-language-experience-through-digitalliteracy-and-popular-culture/ Hellekson, K., & Busse, K. (2014). The fan fictions studies reader. University of Iowa Press. Jamison, A. (2013). Fic: Why fanfiction is taking over the world. Smart Pop. Jenkins, H. (2008). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press. Jennings, L., Moran, R. M., & Pierce, B. (2021). Using fan fiction to bridge students' understanding of science. In Haas, L., & Tussey, J. (Ed.), Disciplinary literacy connections to popular culture in K-12 settings (142-161). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-4721-2.ch007 K12 Reader. (n.d.). The relationship between reading and writing. https://www.k12reader.com/the-relationship-between-reading-andwriting/#:~:text=Research%20has%20found%20that%20when,can%20use%20in%20thei r%20stories. Larsen, K., & Zubernis (2012). Fan culture: Theory/practice. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Polisena, H. (n.d.). Importance of writing in elementary schools. http://www.communicationacademy.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/VR_Importance_of_Writing_Global_Post.pdf Posey A. (2019). Engage the brain: How to design for learning that taps into the power of emotion. ASCD. Shanahan, T. (2020). How can we take advantage of reading-writing relationships? Shanahan on Literacy. https://shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/how-can-we-take-advantage-of-readingwriting-relationships University of Reading. (n.d.). Why is assessment important? https://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/why-is-assessment-important/eia-why-isassessmentimportant.aspx#:~:text=Well%2Ddesigned%20assessment%20can%20encourage,insight %20into%20the%20assessment%20process.

Photo credit: Santi Vedri

Fanfiction can be both an engaging activity and a quality writing strategy, as it allows student interest to drive the selection of mentor texts used for writing support.