DO YOU WANT TO BE IN MY STORY - COLLABORATIVE WRITING IN AN URBAN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM

Based on a year-long interpretive research project, this article descr ibes the arrangements for collaborative writing in an urban elementary classroom. In contrast to typical descriptions of collaboration, this study suggests a more complex view, one that includes a range of ways for students to participate in writing together. This study begins to answer the following questions: What happens when teachers allow stud ents to talk as they write What does a classroom look like when collab oration is conceptualized as more than a technique, but as a way to un derstand students as members of a writing community? In this classroom , collaborative writing included the following arrangements: Students wrote alone and shared their work with others; they wrote in pairs or small, consistent groups called networks; and they worked together to author a single text Briefcase studies are used to illustrate each of these types of collaboration. This study describes the ways students r esponded to opportunities for collaboration. Collaboration was more th an a technique; through interactions with peers, students developed th eir own voices and ways of writing.