Working With Living Texts: Building an Argument for Play in Secondary English Language Arts Instruction

• In Event: Play and Role-Play: Pleasure, Affect, and Living Texts

Abstract

As standardized assessments narrow the English language arts (ELA) curriculum’s focus, this research illustrates how fan-based literacies offer rigorous and playful means of supporting teachers who are grappling with the competing demands shaping ELA instruction. The authors designed a week-long professional learning (PL) opportunity for teachers to explore fandoms, critically reflect on fanfiction research, and design unit plans for future ELA instruction. This collective case study traced three teachers through the academic year following the PL to investigate its impact. Analysis reveals how fanfiction practices broadened teachers’ ideas and opened new possibilities for their students, including playfully assessing reading, scaffolding composition, and participating in ELA instruction.

Authors

• Jayne C. Lammers, University of Rochester

• Alecia Marie Magnifico, University of New Hampshire