Teachers can use fanfiction -- fiction pieces written by the fans of a work from books, movies or video games -- to build their students' writing skills, college professor and author Christopher Shamburg writes in this guest blog post. Shamburg offers examples why teachers should allow students to write about their interests outside of the material they cover in class. "It validates where they are developmentally, but it demands that they take different perspectives on familiar situations and stories," Shamburg writes.