In a teacher-centered classroom, teachers lead students step-by-step through the key concepts and necessary skills for a particular field of study. In a literature course, this includes the selection of material to be read, which is usually based on a teacher’s own preference and expertise. Teachers ask questions about the text designed to illicit specific answers from the students as part of the learning process, as well as offer their own insights into the texts selected. While students may learn from this approach, they are seldom engaged, subjected to the teacher’s interests as opposed to their own.
In their 2024 book Fandoms in the Classroom: A Social Justice Approach to Transforming Literacy Learning, Karis Jones and Scott Storm argue for a student-centered model of teaching instead of the teacher-centered, one that uses “Comic Cons” as inspiration. Although originally geared towards fans of comic books, Comic Cons have since evolved into a gathering space for a wide variety of other popular culture fandoms as well. As opposed to teacher-centered classrooms where students are passive learners with little knowledge of the topic being taught, Comic Con attendees are reactive participants knowledgeable in their respective fandoms and ask questions – as well as offer opinions – at panels that reflect their interests.
“A teacher in a fandom version of the student-centered model is a fellow fan with a special role of facilitating connections and engagements across the class,” Jones and Storm write. “Teachers assume that not all participants in the community like – or even need to like – the same texts. As such, the teacher designs activities and protocols to structure conversation and engagement across texts while also strategically designing activities that engage youth in developing practices and learning skills aligned to state and district standards. Students in these spaces may create projects for their shared fandom community both in the classroom and in online fandom networks beyond the classroom wall.”
That’s not to suggest that older methods should be discarded. “We are not arguing for the complete jettisoning of Shakespeare or other classic literary works from schools,” the pair clarify. “What we are saying is that because fandoms are a powerful force within youth cultures, they are a powerful and necessary addition to the work of schools.”
So how exactly does this student-centered model operate? The first example in Fandoms in the Classroom is a class taught by Scott Storm – co-designed with Karis Jones – called Fandom Kingdom, an English language arts course comprised of twelfth grade students and divided into three parts. At the start of the semester, students pitch various fandoms for the class to study as a whole and then vote on the suggestions. In the specific example cited in Fandoms in the Classroom, the television medical drama Grey’s Anatomy was selected. Afterwards, students read peer-reviewed academic articles about fandoms, then use literary analysis skills to examine memes, clips from the show, and fanfiction based on Grey’s Anatomy.
During the second phase of Fandom Kingdom, Scott Storm picked twelve novels and plays that already have existing fandoms and asked the class to vote on which one to discuss, with Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Huston selected in the example. The class first read the novel and then a series of peer-reviewed articles by literary scholars analyzing the book, as well as contemporary fanfiction based on it. This last assignment allowed students to understand the different ways fandoms function by comparing the Their Eyes Were Watching God fandom with the Grey’s Anatomy version. Students then wrote and presented a literary analysis of Zora Neale Huston’s novel.
In the third stage of the course, students are tasked with finding ways to make fandom spaces more inclusive and safer environments, from fighting against toxic masculinity in the comment sections of online forums, to writing fanfiction that explored flawed characters in a different light, to creating original artwork and memes that challenged stereotypical archetypes.
While the main gist of a Fandom Kingdom centers on one main text selected by the entire class, each students is also given the opportunity to share a more personal fandom in weekly Fandom Kingdom “seminars.” Each Friday, the class is handed over to a specific student who shares a text from their selected fandom and then asks their fellow classmates questions about the text.
“Though teachers may feel anxious about having the class analyze texts that they themselves are not very familiar with, it’s okay to let youth be the expert here while teachers bring expertise around ways of analyzing texts more generally,” Karis Jones and Scott Storm write. “Positioning youth as experts on content they select is part of using the Fandom model in the classroom instead of the teacher-centered model.”
In Scott Storm’s Fandom Kingdom class, his primary role during these seminars is connecting patterns in the texts with their proper literary terms – the use of exaggerated language, for instance, is known as hyperbole. Sometimes, though, students connect the dots themselves. When someone noticed that the narratives of the anime television show Hunter x Hunter and novel Their Eyes Were Watching God involved quests, another student mentioned that he recently read about the hero’s journey popularized by comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell. This in turn led to a class discussion on the hero’s journey in both texts and how they related and differed.
Fandom Transformation Projects are another way to incorporate fandoms into the classroom. Students first select a favorite fandom and then conduct a literary analysis of that fandom. Examples of questions for students to consider include, “What are the major themes of the fandom? What narratives are they drawing on? What images do they construct? What kinds of repetition and archetypes are valued?”
Students next analyze the fandom using a critical theory – such as feminism, critical race theory, queer theory, and postcolonialism – to identify aspects of the fandom that might be sexist, racist, homophobic, or oppressive. Afterwards, students create an “artifact” that helps move the fandom past those negative aspects. It could be writing an essay for an online message board, creating a piece of fanfiction, or filming themselves conducting a TED Talk.
Lastly, students write a “reflection statement” on why they chose their fandom, the critical theory selected for analyzation, and their chosen artifact. They then make a short four-six minute presentation to the class.
In the introduction to Fandoms in the Classroom, Karis Jones and Scott Storm explain that the idea for the book came to them while flying home from a teachers’ conference. “We were abuzz with excitement from spending a few days talking and thinking in community about how to make literacy learning transformational for students,” they write. “Too often we have read about or experienced schools as being places that deaden learning. We wanted to strive toward making schools places of vibrant learning intensities. And while we cared about engaging students through fun and intellectual pursuits, we wanted school to do more. We wanted schools to be places that moved the world towards social justice.”
With Fandoms in the Classroom: A Social Justice Approach to Transforming Literacy Learning, Karis Jones and Scott Storm have taken a huge step in making those goals reality.
Anthony Letizia