{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109624"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109624","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Negotiating spaces: Student agency in writer’s workshop","abstract":"Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate how student agency is conceptualized and enacted in writer’s workshop classrooms. Context. This study was conducted in a diverse middle school in a small urban area. The two sixth grade classrooms were taught by a teacher with five years of experience. These classrooms implemented writer’s workshop and writing conferences on a daily basis. Design. This qualitative study explored the daily interactions amongst the teacher and students in a writing classroom. This descriptive and interpretive study captured the perspectives and practices of the teachers and students as they enacted writer’s workshop. I observed in the setting of the teacher’s school, classrooms, and writing conferences. Data Collection. The data collected includes 82 class observations over 4 months. Fifty-one interviews in total were conducted of the teacher and focal students. Twenty-two interviews were done with the teacher, while 3-5 interviews were conducted with each of the focal students. Individual conferences between the students and teacher were audio-recorded and analyzed. Findings. While the teacher created some spaces for student agency in the classroom and in the writing conferences, she also limited students’ agency by functioning as a gatekeeper. The focus on the district-designed rubric by both the teacher and students constrained spaces for agency. When students asserted their agency, it was often through resistance to specific tasks or directions. Significance. This study provides examples of how a teacher opened spaces for and limited student agency within the writing conference. The research also details times when students exercised agency within the writing classroom. A close examination of teacher and student interactions can inform how curriculum is enacted and how students can be agentive in classroom spaces. By providing both teachers’ and students’ perspectives on writing classrooms, a more complete picture was created about agency in the writing classroom. This study sheds light on the influence of district-mandated curriculum and accompanying rubrics that may constrain agency in classroom interactions.","abstract_html":"Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate how student agency is conceptualized and enacted in writer’s workshop classrooms. Context. This study was conducted in a diverse middle school in a small urban area. The two sixth grade classrooms were taught by a teacher with five years of experience. These classrooms implemented writer’s workshop and writing conferences on a daily basis. Design. This qualitative study explored the daily interactions amongst the teacher and students in a writing classroom. This descriptive and interpretive study captured the perspectives and practices of the teachers and students as they enacted writer’s workshop. I observed in the setting of the teacher’s school, classrooms, and writing conferences. Data Collection. The data collected includes 82 class observations over 4 months. Fifty-one interviews in total were conducted of the teacher and focal students. Twenty-two interviews were done with the teacher, while 3-5 interviews were conducted with each of the focal students. Individual conferences between the students and teacher were audio-recorded and analyzed. Findings. While the teacher created some spaces for student agency in the classroom and in the writing conferences, she also limited students’ agency by functioning as a gatekeeper. The focus on the district-designed rubric by both the teacher and students constrained spaces for agency. When students asserted their agency, it was often through resistance to specific tasks or directions. Significance. This study provides examples of how a teacher opened spaces for and limited student agency within the writing conference. The research also details times when students exercised agency within the writing classroom. A close examination of teacher and student interactions can inform how curriculum is enacted and how students can be agentive in classroom spaces. By providing both teachers’ and students’ perspectives on writing classrooms, a more complete picture was created about agency in the writing classroom. This study sheds light on the influence of district-mandated curriculum and accompanying rubrics that may constrain agency in classroom interactions.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gutzmer, Cara Knox"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Curriculum and Instruction","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["McCarthey, Sarah","Monda-Amaya, Lisa","Guitierrez, Rochelle","Davila, Liv T"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-03-05T21:47:29Z","date_published":"2021-03-05T21:47:29Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:50Z","subjects":["student agency","Writer's Workshop","Conferring"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Cara Gutzmer"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109624","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["McCarthey, Sarah","Monda-Amaya, Lisa","Guitierrez, Rochelle","Davila, Liv T"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gutzmer, Cara Knox"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-03-05T21:47:29Z","2023-03-05T21:47:41Z","2020-12-04","2020-12"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Curriculum and Instruction"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["student agency","Writer's Workshop","Conferring"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Cara Gutzmer"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109624"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate how student agency is conceptualized and enacted in writer’s workshop classrooms. Context. This study was conducted in a diverse middle school in a small urban area. The two sixth grade classrooms were taught by a teacher with five years of experience. These classrooms implemented writer’s workshop and writing conferences on a daily basis. Design. This qualitative study explored the daily interactions amongst the teacher and students in a writing classroom. This descriptive and interpretive study captured the perspectives and practices of the teachers and students as they enacted writer’s workshop. I observed in the setting of the teacher’s school, classrooms, and writing conferences. Data Collection. The data collected includes 82 class observations over 4 months. Fifty-one interviews in total were conducted of the teacher and focal students. Twenty-two interviews were done with the teacher, while 3-5 interviews were conducted with each of the focal students. Individual conferences between the students and teacher were audio-recorded and analyzed. Findings. While the teacher created some spaces for student agency in the classroom and in the writing conferences, she also limited students’ agency by functioning as a gatekeeper. The focus on the district-designed rubric by both the teacher and students constrained spaces for agency. When students asserted their agency, it was often through resistance to specific tasks or directions. Significance. This study provides examples of how a teacher opened spaces for and limited student agency within the writing conference. The research also details times when students exercised agency within the writing classroom. A close examination of teacher and student interactions can inform how curriculum is enacted and how students can be agentive in classroom spaces. By providing both teachers’ and students’ perspectives on writing classrooms, a more complete picture was created about agency in the writing classroom. This study sheds light on the influence of district-mandated curriculum and accompanying rubrics that may constrain agency in classroom interactions.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2022-12-01","The student, Cara Gutzmer, accepted the attached license on 2020-12-02 at 15:37.","The student, Cara Gutzmer, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-12-02 at 15:47.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-12-04 at 10:12.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16042 on 2021-03-04 at 16:33:22","Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-05T21:47:29Z (GMT). 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The purpose of this study was to investigate how student agency is conceptualized and enacted in writer’s workshop classrooms. Context. This study was conducted in a diverse middle school in a small urban area. The two sixth grade classrooms were taught by a teacher with five years of experience. These classrooms implemented writer’s workshop and writing conferences on a daily basis. Design. This qualitative study explored the daily interactions amongst the teacher and students in a writing classroom. This descriptive and interpretive study captured the perspectives and practices of the teachers and students as they enacted writer’s workshop. I observed in the setting of the teacher’s school, classrooms, and writing conferences. Data Collection. The data collected includes 82 class observations over 4 months. Fifty-one interviews in total were conducted of the teacher and focal students. Twenty-two interviews were done with the teacher, while 3-5 interviews were conducted with each of the focal students. Individual conferences between the students and teacher were audio-recorded and analyzed. Findings. While the teacher created some spaces for student agency in the classroom and in the writing conferences, she also limited students’ agency by functioning as a gatekeeper. The focus on the district-designed rubric by both the teacher and students constrained spaces for agency. When students asserted their agency, it was often through resistance to specific tasks or directions. Significance. This study provides examples of how a teacher opened spaces for and limited student agency within the writing conference. The research also details times when students exercised agency within the writing classroom. A close examination of teacher and student interactions can inform how curriculum is enacted and how students can be agentive in classroom spaces. By providing both teachers’ and students’ perspectives on writing classrooms, a more complete picture was created about agency in the writing classroom. This study sheds light on the influence of district-mandated curriculum and accompanying rubrics that may constrain agency in classroom interactions.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2022-12-01","The student, Cara Gutzmer, accepted the attached license on 2020-12-02 at 15:37.","The student, Cara Gutzmer, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-12-02 at 15:47.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-12-04 at 10:12.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16042 on 2021-03-04 at 16:33:22","Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-05T21:47:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 GUTZMER-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf: 2040791 bytes, checksum: 975c73dddcf59ecbd0606f39752aeab9 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4209 bytes, checksum: b72beb241a2ea7f9b3dceae832885c56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-12-04","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 117330 Lift date: 2023-03-05T21:47:41Z Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Limited"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109624"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2020 Cara Gutzmer"],"dc:subject":["student agency","Writer's Workshop","Conferring"],"dc:title":["Negotiating spaces: Student agency in writer’s workshop"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Curriculum and Instruction"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:50Z"}