Culture versus writing

I've been told that because I teach math that my brain functions differently than most other people's (maybe not so different from Barb's) but when I read this week's reading what I took from it was the fact that kids are writing on their own and using techniques that they use in school - peer review, revising and editing and that it often gives students that don't write very well an outlet. Also that it is good for students who first language is not English. I didn't pick up on the cultural aspect and using it as a Social Studies unit. I guess that's why we share our thoughts

I have to be honest.  Although I had heard of Anime, I really never payed too much attention to fanfiction.  I didn't really know what it was before investigating it further after this week's readings.  I didn't realize it, but I can definitely connect fanfiction to my personal experience.  One of our unit's this past year was on Tales of the Strange and Mysterious.  At the end of the unit the culminating project was for students to write their own strange and mysterious tale, incorporating the themes that we learned about and utilizing appropriate plot structure.  Many of the girls wrote their own versions of Twilight with their own characters and twists.  I also had a boy write a story based on parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I feel like the readings this week have really caused me to think about this type of student writing in a different way.  Now that I have a greater understanding of it, I am definitely more accepting of it.  I actually think it's a great way to create interest and get students (especially those reluctant to reading and writing) to become more interested in reading and writing.   This was a great site on explaining fanfiction: What is Fanfiction?

Like Cindy,  I didn't know much about Anime.  Not many of my students are into it, but there are a few.  I never really thought about using this to teach, but it would be really useful with those students who are interested in Amine, but not in more traditional types of reading materials.  I found this site that looked interesting (for teachers).  I still have to investigate it a bit further: Anime for Teachers