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In this article, Schnieder shares interviews with teachers that offer insight into how teachers respond to potentially controversial writing topics.
Writing is often viewed as the ideal classroom activity within which students may take risks and think freely. Through their writing, students are expected to develop strong writing voices (Atwell, 1987; Calkins, 1994). Calkins (1994) states that teachers should "invite children to bring their lives into the classroom" (p. 17) in order to "nurture the intangible spirit" (p. 21). However, when students actually bring their lives into writing, they are often met with resistance. For example, Mamchur (1994) describes a writing experience in which a classroom teacher scolded a hesitant writer for sharing his most embarrassing moment with a university professor. In front of other students, he was criticized for writing the word "fart."
In another writing workshop example, McCarthey (1994) recounts the experience of Anita, a sixth-grade girl whose teacher wanted her to bring her life, thoughts, and "voice" into her writing. During a writing conference, Anita stated that she was planning to write about a camping experience. However, after examining Anita's writing notebook, her teacher found a more "emotional" and "personally meaningful" topic; she strongly encouraged Anita to write about her father. Unfortunately, the teacher did not realize that Anita's father was abusive.
These two incidents are examples of the ways in which some classroom teachers limit or direct children's voices. However, there are other teachers who accept children's written ideas and encourage them to write about topics of their choice without question. Dyson (1995) studied the writing behaviors of Sammy, a second-grade child. During a classroom activity called "writers' theater," in which children asked their classmates to act out their stories for the whole class, Sammy used his written texts to change his social position in the classroom. First, he wrote stories that were similar to those written by other boys in the class in that they were based on a popular cartoon series. Second, he invited only the high-status boys to act out the roles of his central characters, and he sought their approval for his storylines. Finally, he also asked one particularly high-status girl to play the love interest of one of the cartoon heroes-a role that actually embarrassed...