The Scarlet Letter: Creating Fanfiction to Analyze the Final Scaffold Scene

Objectives:

After this lesson students will be able to:

1. Produce an intentional and coherent narrative through from the point of view of an established
character.
2. Act as a Beta Reader for a partner, honing in on specific aspects of a piece of writing.
3. Transfer skills gained during the creation of fanficiton to a formal AP style essay.

Rationale:
The use of fanfiction in the classroom provides a natural scaffolding method. According to Jessop (2010),
There is a certain security in being able to take an established, familiar character or setting and create
something new and original around it. It is a kind of scaffolding, a framework that allows writers to
experiment with craft and technique with the support of
familiar characters and settings (p. 30). Additionally, by thoroughly exploring the climatic scene through
the eyes of a specific character, students are bound to gain a greater depth of understanding of the text
through characterization and analysis.

Common Core Standards Met:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of
where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its
overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.B
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to
develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.D
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the
experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing
products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

Interest Grabbers:
1. Fan Fiction definition
2. Daybook Writing: Is the concept of fan fiction appealing to you? Why?

Example Responses:

Sarah -
I enjoy reading fan fiction because it's like any ordinary story that anyone can write, but it's
inclusive to the fandom or community that person is writing about, which also brings them closer
to the author and others reading. It's more personable to the audience and it's easier to imagine
while reading. Because you know the characters, their traits, appearances, and their background
it's easy to picture in your head, like a movie where whoever you're writing about is casted as the
lead.

Alysa
Here's a quote from myself (an avid fan fiction reader for 9 years):
Fanfiction, to me, is like a release. It is a release of emotion, of pent up feelings, of anger, of
sadness, of love about a fandom integral to me and many others. It can move author and reader to
tears be it in laughter or shared pain. It connects people who each love a fandom so much that
they can't leave it with just the books, the TV Series, the movies, the comics. They need more
and want more, it is an expression of love for what has become a large part of their life. I love
reading fanfiction and being part of the community surrounding Harry Potter fanfiction because I
can connect with people who share my passion and who can relate to my dissatisfaction or
elation with the Harry Potter series as JK Rowling wrote them. The characters you love so much
are put in different situations, maybe have vastly different lives but in the core of it all they are
still the characters you love. The impact of fanfiction on my life has been astronomical, it makes
me think, it makes me criticize what I once held as flawless while also showing me that not all
the flaws I thought I saw were there. It constantly and consistently helps me develop
intellectually as I interact with the range of authors on the internet. As I help them correct
grammar or get into a debate on whether or not Dumbledore actually saw Ariana in the Mirror of
Erised, I feel closer and closer to the community I love.

Tasks Rationale

Individually complete character maps for
assigned character.
Move with others who were assigned the same
character. Share and discuss taking note of
different aspects of the character that each
student noted.
Rewrite the final scaffold scene in first person
point of view from your assigned character.
Henry Jenkins (2008) asserts, fans generally
focus on characters and their relationships as
their point of entry. My students need an
access point with a text as complex as The
Scarlet Letter. This is one reason I chose to
focus on characters for this fanfiction activity.
There are three partner or group tasks in this
activity. I have seen evidence in my
classroom that, cooperative learning
produces higher achievement, more positive
relationships among students, and healthier
psychological adjustment than do competitive
or individualistic experiences (Johnson et al
1991).
This allows students an opportunity to grow
their writing abilities and well as practice the
tools of characterization while analyzing the
text.
Presentation:
What is a Beta Reader?
According to fanfiction.net, A beta reader or betareader, or beta is a person who reads a work of
fiction with a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and
general style of a story prior to its release to the general public.

Tasks:
Move with your parters. As a Beta Reader, you are looking for character authenticity and voice.
Did your partner accurately represent the character? Is it obvious that the characters motivations
and values were considered when authorial choices were made? The fan fiction should capture
the essence of the character.

Assessment:
Move with your four-person learning groups. Using the text and your fan fiction rewrites,
complete the following group essay in a google document:

In the third scaffold scene, it is said that Dimmesdale regains his soul, Pearl gains her humanity,
Chillingworth loses his victim, and Hester loses her dreams. Explain what this means for each of
the characters.

Reference List
Beta Readers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fanfiction.net/betareaders/

Jenkins, H. (2008, August 17). How fan fiction can teach us a new way to read Moby-Dick
(Part Two). Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2008/08/
how_fan_fiction_can_teach_us_a_1.html

Jessop, F. (2010). Exploring Fandom: Teaching narrative writing through fanfiction. English
Drama Media, (18), 29. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.gardner-
webb.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=4ba39635-
c5bf-4fc1-8116-9b4bb6865260%40sessionmgr4009

Johnson, D. W., Association for the Study of Higher, E., ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher
Education, W. D., George Washington Univ., W. D., & And, O. (1991). Cooperative
learning: Increasing college faculty instructional productivity. ASHE-ERIC Higher
Education Report No. 4, 1991.