Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Harry Potter Ponderism
In today's culture, children are using online sources to expand their imaginations in ways never seen or done before. When I was young, I would imagine in my mind what kids today write on blogs or pages like Heather Lawver's. The one similarity with children of yesterday and today is the lack of imagination being used in the classroom. Children today have to wait until they get home from school to let their minds run wild. They go home and get online so that they may begin to write their stories. The fan fiction that they create is how they express themselves. On page 183, Sweeney Agonistes claims that fan fiction is a useful resource for surviving high school. I agree with this notion. What better way for teens to understand the complexities of high school than to write about it in a way that no one will criticize. There are no teachers to put a stop to whatever is being written because it goes too far into someone's imagination. Of course there has to be someone to make sure that no one is writing violent scenes that could occur in a high school hallway, but that is the great thing about writing online. Everyone can read these stories and most young writers just want to show their talents and their minds through their stories. Technology has brought about a new revolution for children-- education. Children can use these fan fiction sites to learn about themselves and expand as writers more than any classroom could do for them.
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2 comments:
I agree. I think fan fiction is a very good way for kids to express themselves since there are so many restrictions stunting their creativity at school. Exploring the bounds of their imaginations is essential for keeping helping them escape from reality when they need to. I like the idea of fan fic. I think it also helps people (not just kids) connect more personally with the entertainment they enjoy in an active way.
Interesting to me is the revival of such creative methods as fan fiction resulting from students looking for their own avenue of expression. There has been an on- going debate in the academic world concerning language pedagogy that would encourage students, classrooms, and teachers to focus more on student composition and self/peer analysis in place of, or along side of, the traditional study of canonized literature. When students are able to create and then analyze, defend, discuss, and then recreate (or revise) their own compositions they are able to learn both creative skills and analytic skills. Fan fiction seems to have given an outlet for such creative energies and it would be a brilliant turn for teachers to use such a resource in their classrooms!
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