ABSTRACT
Studies of writing workshop demonstrate young children’s writing development and illustrate how the workshop structure situates writing as a meaningful process as children study texts as writers, develop strategies to compose, and build literate identities. Critics of workshop structures argue that certain children need explicit instruction in the discourse of school and ultimately the discourses of power necessary to excel in academic settings (Gibbons, 2002). We agree that children who speak languages in addition to English may need supports that English-dominant children may not need. But too often, students identified as newcomers to English do not have opportunities to write in school because teachers believe students must first speak English before they can write (Samway, 2006). Once English language learners (ELLs) begin speaking English, they are often left with a writing diet of teacher- or program-directed prompts, fill in the blank worksheets, and grammar exercises to the exclusion of writing for authentic purposes and audiences (Flint & Laman, 2012). Such scripted curriculum provides limited words, language, and ideas and dismisses children’s linguistic, social, and cultural lives as viable resources for writing. In this chapter, we share how access to popular culture within a writing workshop facilitated ELLs to reclaim language.
