Sequence # 1

Tisha Bender, Rutgers University, Fall 2008

Assignment One (Jenkins)
Readings: Henry Jenkins, “Why Heather Can Write”

E.M. Forster once said, “How can I know what I think until I see what I write” and Jenkins tells us that “children use stories to escape from or reaffirm aspects of their real lives” (277). Examine the truth of both of these statements in terms of the reading and writing that occurs in the fan fiction websites which Jenkins discusses. If reading and writing have typically been thought of as solitary pursuits, does the collaborative “affinity space” in which reading and writing take place alter these activities, and if so, how?


Assignment Two (Tannen and Jenkins)
Reading: Deborah Tannen, "The Roots to Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue" and Henry Jenkins, "Why Heather Can Write"

Jenkins quotes editors at The Sugar Quill website as saying, "'We want this to be a place where fanfiction can be read and enjoyed, but where writers who want more than just raves can come for actual (gentle - think Lupin, not McGonagall) constructive criticism and technical editing'", and Jenkins goes on to explain that "Lupin and McGonagall are two of the teachers Rowling depicts in the novels, Lupin a gentle pedagogue, McGonagall practicing a more tough love approach" (282). How does this learning style complicate, reinforce, or contradict the approach mentioned by Tannen, when she talks of "...the culture of critique [in the West], with its inclination to regard criticism and attack as the best if not the only type of rigorous thinking..." (677)? Please explain your answer in terms of the new opportunities for participatory learning opened up by the Internet.



Assignment Three (Tannen, Jenkins, and Twenge)
Reading: Deborah Tannen, "The Roots to Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue,” Henry Jenkins, "Why Heather Can Write" and Jean Twenge, “Generation Me”

In what important ways might the discussion mode of education that Tannen advocates and Jenkins describes (albeit on the Internet) be hampered or enhanced by the sense of entitlement students have, as described by Twenge?

Back to top

Back to Sample Sequences