Fan+Fiction

=Fan Fiction=


 * TASKS:**


 * 1) Read through the article provided. What are some of the key points made about the value of fan fiction in the classroom?
 * 2) Read through some fanfiction: *[| fanfiction.net]
 * 3) Find a new fan fiction site that you would be happy to use in your classroom. Add that site to the list below and provide a brief annotation so we know why you like it!
 * 4) Look through the blog of Henry Jenkins (see navigation bar for link). Find one post you think is worth sharing, and add that link below. Again, annotate the link so we know what point struck you as significant for an educational context.


 * VALUE OF FAN FICTION**

Fan fiction allows students to focus on their writing skills rather than inventing a new story. They can engage with texts in different and exciting ways through role playing and discussion. They are able to reflect on their work as well as the work of others and grow in sophistication through this "self-reflexive critical practice about their reading, their choices and their different forms."

__**Key points include:**__


 * Pop culture and Fan fiction can provide a rich scaffold for sparking students' imagination and developing their writing in authentic and engaging ways.
 * Members of the fan fiction community are able to read and edit each other's responses
 * They are able to share their ideas through discussion
 * They are able to "engage in online dramatic role-play", recreating such as aspects as the lives of characters, events in the story and so on.
 * They are able to post and track developments in their stories.
 * Fan fiction frees students to engage in "random insane stuff"
 * Fan fiction allows moderators and Site comment where "administrators of the community get together to discuss any problems with members
 * Blend of popular culture and new technology enabling native and non-native speakers globally to meet and collaborate online - critiquing and intervening in each others' narratives.
 * Borrowing narrative elements from existing works responders and composers can create new texts that challenge literary and pop culture canons.
 * Valuable for the development of students' writing - as active designers and transformers of (canonical) content students can manipulate texts and integrate their own resources, knowledges, backgrounds and identities to construct new texts that are relevant to them.
 * Personal perspectives - possibilities of Fan Fiction to engage students, develop their literacy skills and creativity, and provide meaningful learning experiences - an important vehicle for implementing the English curriculum (and engaging boys...)

Points taken from: Thomas, A. (2007). Blurring and breaking through the boundaries of narrative, literacy and identity in adolescent fan fiction. In Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C. (Eds.). (2007). A New Literacies Sampler. Peter Lang: New York.

Click here for a wiki page developed by a 2008 student about Fan Fiction.
 * STUDENT ASSIGNMENT**


 * FAN FICTION SITES WE LIKE**

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ts_fansites.html http://www.mediaminer.org/ http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/viewpage.php?page=rules - HARRY POTTER http://www.fantasysquare.com/fanfic/index.shtml - FINAL FANTASY http://www.fanfiction.net/movie/Edward_Scissorhands/ - EDWARD SCISSORHANDS http://www.fanfiction.net/cartoon/Simpsons/ - SIMPSONS

Great for boys... [|Donnie Darko] [|Of Mice and Men]

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/librarians/#/bio/ This introduces the series __The librarians__which is an example of Australian comedy enjoyed by Henry Jenkins discussing Australian media.
 * LINK FROM HJ BLOG WE LIKE AND WHY**

http://henryjenkins.org/2006/07/are_housewives_desperate_for_g.html This post describes a new game introduced (to target a female audience) based on the television series 'Desperate Housewives'. Some of the discussion that follows is interesting, commenting on the game style some females prefer and whether or not the game has a positive impact on females in society.