Richard J. Meyer is Professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies at the College of Education, University of New Mexico.

• PrefaceAcknowledgements Prologue: Writing Spaces and Hard TimesChapter 1: An Introduction to Searching for Our TruthsBefore the Work BeganPortraits and CounterportraitsMesa Vista Elementary School (MVE): The Official PortraitFinding the SchoolHomelessnessChapter 2: Writers Reveal ThemselvesBecoming More than an ObserverFirst Pieces of WritingInitiating Data AnalysisTeacher as ScreamerStrictness, Power, and MicroaggressionsStrict Schools and the Search for JoyThe Counterportrait Up to This PointChapter 3: Claiming Spaces to WriteThe Sixth Graders’ SpaceFinding the Space to WriteThe Fifth Graders’ SpaceThe Biography Assignment Begins to EvolveWriting Spaces and the View of the ChildCounterportraits So FarChapter 4: Rewriting Self and Writing About OthersSixth Graders’ Non-Biography Biography WorkMoving Towards Increased SharingFifth Graders Begin Biography WritingComposing Classmates’ BiographiesCounterportraits (so far), Context, and the Presentation of SelfChapter 5: Expanding Writing Spaces as Communities of PracticeFifth Graders Interview, Transcribe, & WriteSome Fifth Graders’ Transcriptions (Excerpts)And in the sixth grade…Communities, Boundaries, and CounterportraitsLegitimizing a Context for CounterportraitureChapter 6: Writing Changes Writers: The Impact of InertiaGood NewsSixth Graders Consider Expository BiographyFeatured Fifth Grade WriterWorking for HoursCounterportraiture, Working in the Plural Form, & InertiaChapter 7: Heroes, Dark Secrets, Otter Pops, & StrugglesIn the Fifth GradeFeatured Fifth Grade AuthorsChuck, the HumoristEstevan’s HeroSixth Grade Poets’ Dark PoetrySixth Graders’ Brief BiographiesThings Fall ApartThe Classroom as a "Site of Struggle"Struggle and the Use of TimeWriting as CarnivalCarnivals Breed StruggleCounterportraits, Struggles, Legitimacy, and PossibilitiesChapter 8: Writing Places as Hybrid SpacesSixth Graders Get SeriousPoetry in the Biography GenreHybridized Texts and ContextsHybridized Spaces and CounterportraitsChapter 9: Products, Presentations, and Power Our First Public VenueReading Their Work in Small GroupsSlam PoetryFor FamiliesCounterportraits and Spheres of InfluenceWhen Small Spheres Align…Chapter 10: Suffering, Struggles, and the CommunityHome VisitsBringing the Community to the Sixth GradeWriters’ Reflections on the YearReflections on self-as-writer and CounterportraitsReflections on Writing and CounterportraitsWhat else, what next, and CounterportraitsThank You Notes, Relationships, and CounterportraitsCritical Literacy, Hope and CounterportraitsChapter 11: Writing Spaces for Better TimesThe Purposes of School, the Search for Joy, & the Spirit of the ChildInner StrugglesLanguage & Identity StrugglesSchool as a Site of StruggleKnowledge/Power StruggleAgency: Responding to StrugglesAgency and Responsibilities in Composing CounterportraitsAgency and Responsibility, the Bigger PictureAgency and Responsibility in SchoolsAgency and Responsibility in PartnershipsChanging the Course of HistoryEpilogue: Microeducational EconomiesAppendix 1: Counterportraiture as Method/Method as Political WorkAppendix 2: Full Text of Some Biographies Appendix 3: Storyboard Appendix 4: Editorial ChecklistReferencesIndex of Children’s WorkSubject Index

Richard J. Meyer is Professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies at the College of Education, University of New Mexico.

• PrefaceAcknowledgements Prologue: Writing Spaces and Hard TimesChapter 1: An Introduction to Searching for Our TruthsBefore the Work BeganPortraits and CounterportraitsMesa Vista Elementary School (MVE): The Official PortraitFinding the SchoolHomelessnessChapter 2: Writers Reveal ThemselvesBecoming More than an ObserverFirst Pieces of WritingInitiating Data AnalysisTeacher as ScreamerStrictness, Power, and MicroaggressionsStrict Schools and the Search for JoyThe Counterportrait Up to This PointChapter 3: Claiming Spaces to WriteThe Sixth Graders’ SpaceFinding the Space to WriteThe Fifth Graders’ SpaceThe Biography Assignment Begins to EvolveWriting Spaces and the View of the ChildCounterportraits So FarChapter 4: Rewriting Self and Writing About OthersSixth Graders’ Non-Biography Biography WorkMoving Towards Increased SharingFifth Graders Begin Biography WritingComposing Classmates’ BiographiesCounterportraits (so far), Context, and the Presentation of SelfChapter 5: Expanding Writing Spaces as Communities of PracticeFifth Graders Interview, Transcribe, & WriteSome Fifth Graders’ Transcriptions (Excerpts)And in the sixth grade…Communities, Boundaries, and CounterportraitsLegitimizing a Context for CounterportraitureChapter 6: Writing Changes Writers: The Impact of InertiaGood NewsSixth Graders Consider Expository BiographyFeatured Fifth Grade WriterWorking for HoursCounterportraiture, Working in the Plural Form, & InertiaChapter 7: Heroes, Dark Secrets, Otter Pops, & StrugglesIn the Fifth GradeFeatured Fifth Grade AuthorsChuck, the HumoristEstevan’s HeroSixth Grade Poets’ Dark PoetrySixth Graders’ Brief BiographiesThings Fall ApartThe Classroom as a "Site of Struggle"Struggle and the Use of TimeWriting as CarnivalCarnivals Breed StruggleCounterportraits, Struggles, Legitimacy, and PossibilitiesChapter 8: Writing Places as Hybrid SpacesSixth Graders Get SeriousPoetry in the Biography GenreHybridized Texts and ContextsHybridized Spaces and CounterportraitsChapter 9: Products, Presentations, and Power Our First Public VenueReading Their Work in Small GroupsSlam PoetryFor FamiliesCounterportraits and Spheres of InfluenceWhen Small Spheres Align…Chapter 10: Suffering, Struggles, and the CommunityHome VisitsBringing the Community to the Sixth GradeWriters’ Reflections on the YearReflections on self-as-writer and CounterportraitsReflections on Writing and CounterportraitsWhat else, what next, and CounterportraitsThank You Notes, Relationships, and CounterportraitsCritical Literacy, Hope and CounterportraitsChapter 11: Writing Spaces for Better TimesThe Purposes of School, the Search for Joy, & the Spirit of the ChildInner StrugglesLanguage & Identity StrugglesSchool as a Site of StruggleKnowledge/Power StruggleAgency: Responding to StrugglesAgency and Responsibilities in Composing CounterportraitsAgency and Responsibility, the Bigger PictureAgency and Responsibility in SchoolsAgency and Responsibility in PartnershipsChanging the Course of HistoryEpilogue: Microeducational EconomiesAppendix 1: Counterportraiture as Method/Method as Political WorkAppendix 2: Full Text of Some Biographies Appendix 3: Storyboard Appendix 4: Editorial ChecklistReferencesIndex of Children’s WorkSubject Index

Richard J. Meyer is Professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies at the College of Education, University of New Mexico.

• PrefaceAcknowledgements Prologue: Writing Spaces and Hard TimesChapter 1: An Introduction to Searching for Our TruthsBefore the Work BeganPortraits and CounterportraitsMesa Vista Elementary School (MVE): The Official PortraitFinding the SchoolHomelessnessChapter 2: Writers Reveal ThemselvesBecoming More than an ObserverFirst Pieces of WritingInitiating Data AnalysisTeacher as ScreamerStrictness, Power, and MicroaggressionsStrict Schools and the Search for JoyThe Counterportrait Up to This PointChapter 3: Claiming Spaces to WriteThe Sixth Graders’ SpaceFinding the Space to WriteThe Fifth Graders’ SpaceThe Biography Assignment Begins to EvolveWriting Spaces and the View of the ChildCounterportraits So FarChapter 4: Rewriting Self and Writing About OthersSixth Graders’ Non-Biography Biography WorkMoving Towards Increased SharingFifth Graders Begin Biography WritingComposing Classmates’ BiographiesCounterportraits (so far), Context, and the Presentation of SelfChapter 5: Expanding Writing Spaces as Communities of PracticeFifth Graders Interview, Transcribe, & WriteSome Fifth Graders’ Transcriptions (Excerpts)And in the sixth grade…Communities, Boundaries, and CounterportraitsLegitimizing a Context for CounterportraitureChapter 6: Writing Changes Writers: The Impact of InertiaGood NewsSixth Graders Consider Expository BiographyFeatured Fifth Grade WriterWorking for HoursCounterportraiture, Working in the Plural Form, & InertiaChapter 7: Heroes, Dark Secrets, Otter Pops, & StrugglesIn the Fifth GradeFeatured Fifth Grade AuthorsChuck, the HumoristEstevan’s HeroSixth Grade Poets’ Dark PoetrySixth Graders’ Brief BiographiesThings Fall ApartThe Classroom as a "Site of Struggle"Struggle and the Use of TimeWriting as CarnivalCarnivals Breed StruggleCounterportraits, Struggles, Legitimacy, and PossibilitiesChapter 8: Writing Places as Hybrid SpacesSixth Graders Get SeriousPoetry in the Biography GenreHybridized Texts and ContextsHybridized Spaces and CounterportraitsChapter 9: Products, Presentations, and Power Our First Public VenueReading Their Work in Small GroupsSlam PoetryFor FamiliesCounterportraits and Spheres of InfluenceWhen Small Spheres Align…Chapter 10: Suffering, Struggles, and the CommunityHome VisitsBringing the Community to the Sixth GradeWriters’ Reflections on the YearReflections on self-as-writer and CounterportraitsReflections on Writing and CounterportraitsWhat else, what next, and CounterportraitsThank You Notes, Relationships, and CounterportraitsCritical Literacy, Hope and CounterportraitsChapter 11: Writing Spaces for Better TimesThe Purposes of School, the Search for Joy, & the Spirit of the ChildInner StrugglesLanguage & Identity StrugglesSchool as a Site of StruggleKnowledge/Power StruggleAgency: Responding to StrugglesAgency and Responsibilities in Composing CounterportraitsAgency and Responsibility, the Bigger PictureAgency and Responsibility in SchoolsAgency and Responsibility in PartnershipsChanging the Course of HistoryEpilogue: Microeducational EconomiesAppendix 1: Counterportraiture as Method/Method as Political WorkAppendix 2: Full Text of Some Biographies Appendix 3: Storyboard Appendix 4: Editorial ChecklistReferencesIndex of Children’s WorkSubject Index