Official Portraits and Unofficial Counterportraits of At Risk Students

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