This article explores ways to utilize students’ interest in fantasy literature to support critical literacy. Focusing on Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games series (2008, 2009, 2010), the author addresses how elements of the trilogy relate to violent acts in our world, helping student understand that violence and brutality toward children is not fiction, but very real, and that they can play a role in its abolishment, just like Katniss, through social action projects. Issues such as hunger, forced labor, child soldiers, and the sex trade that appear in both the fictional series and our world are discussed, encouraging students to assess their world and advocate for change. Examples of social action projects that utilize multiple literacies are suggested as a way to inspire students take action in the community and to stand up to injustice and brutality in hopes of creating a better world and a better human race.
Building off of students’ interest in popular apocalyptic/dystopian literature, this article explores how passages from Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy aided in teaching students how to successfully rebel against traditional grammar rules, looking at fragments as intentional stylistic choices. Employing the values of systemic functional linguistics, students embraced the view of grammar as a set of choices made by the author to construct meaning rather than a set of rules, as evidenced by student discussion and writing samples. This reflective practitioner piece suggests that after engaging in the learning activity, students’ use of fragments indicated an ability to control the English language and understand of the complexity and nuance of language and structure. Furthermore, the use of fragments added style and depth to students’ writing and did not detract from the clarity of their prose or the integrity of their responses to writing prompts.
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