“I’ve been last man standing twice!”
“That’s nothing! I’ve done it five times!”
I walk over to a table of fifth graders and they fall silent upon my arrival. By their behavior, it is clear that the students expect me to admonish them for their “off topic” conversation. To the students, I am just another teacher here to tell them how they can and cannot write.
What these students don’t realize, however, is that I’m no ordinary teacher — I’m a summer intern for the Indiana Writers Center (IWC), and limiting their writing is the last thing that I intend to do.
They, like many others their age and older, have downloaded the popular game jointly developed by Epic Games & People Can Fly, Fortnite. For those unfamiliar with the game, it is a third-person shooter most know for its “Battle Royale” mode, in which players compete with 99 others to be the last person standing. The game’s popularity has only grown since its original release in September.
Age clearly is not a factor when it comes to those who play the game. Adults, college, high-school, middle school, and (evidently) elementary school students alike all cannot get enough Fortnite.
So, why were these students expecting to be scolded?
The answer, unsurprisingly, is a reflection on their previous experiences with teachers and adults in supervisory-positions over them. The education system fails students when they do not have the opportunity to be creative.
Yet, in 2018, our students are still given an abundance of tests that are intended to “assess” their writing ability. More frequently, however, what these tests actually assess is whether or not a student can produce a piece of writing the way the grader wants to see it. This encourages teachers to “teach to the test” as well as specific forms, when they should be encouraging students to write in creative and innovative ways.
So, when students are continuously told they can’t talk about a certain subject or are repeatedly instructed to follow specific guidelines, it’s no wonder they so often go silent when an adult approaches.
After a brief moment of silence from the students and myself, I made the connection between Fortnite and our writing for the day (we were writing poems about our favorite places). I’d been fortunate enough to see game-play of Fortnite on a few different occasions and I knew that one of the defining characteristics of the game was its expansive, colorful map. This, I told the students, was a unique location to write about and one that they should feel free to explore.
Even if I hadn’t had an understanding of the game, I know engaging the students in a conversation about it for a brief moment would have been the better alternative to telling them to focus on the task at hand. This is what the IWC is about — encouraging students to be creative and take risks in their writing and let them know that there isn’t a right or a wrong way to write. While the IWC prides itself on the students telling stories of their own lives, there are many ways to do so.
In some ways, a song about Fortnite, written by Jalen (one of the students sitting at the table I talked to), does just that. Take a look for yourself. NOTE: Jalen even made it a point to say that his song should be sung to the tune of “God’s Plan” by Drake, what more could he have done?
Often times when people play video games, they immerse themselves in the world, becoming the character they play as. A poem about Fortnite may give you more insight on the poet than you may think. At the very least, it lets us know they like themselves a good Battle Royale.
Building A Rainbow 