ABSTRACT
Anzaldúa’s passion for a space to create, a location in which she could compose something new, suggests some of the potential I felt as I read the sixth grader’s pieces in the last chapter. Policies rooted in the official portrait of Mesa Vista Elementary School articulate and put borders around writing spaces in which teachers and students must dwell, particularly because MVE is a school that has consistently performed poorly on high-stakes tests. Such articulation presents itself as scripted programs that leave little room for teacher input or writing that grows from students’ lives. Writing activity is severely limited because reading and mathematics take center stage. Pressures to perform on tests shape the writing activity within the classroom by influencing the time available for writing and the specific qualities of instruction: genres, conventions, vocabulary, topics, length, format, use of technology, and more. Adopted curriculum and state standards lead to a compressed and limited writing space-a direct result of the official portrait. In counterportraiture, those within the compressed spaces push back to expand writing spaces; they may do so intuitively, consciously, or by following the lead of someone they trust and with whom they can think. They resist deferring to that which is imposed. Resisting the pressures from the outside means making decisions about: how time is used, relationships, taking risks, and truth telling. Space, then, is a political location and awareness of what articulates the space and how it is used will influence decisions by teachers and students about what is written, how it is written, for whom it is written, and who will have access to written pieces.
