RESEARCH DIRECTIONS: The Pine Cone Wars: Studying Writing in a Community of Children

Welcome to the Pine Cone Wars, as enacted by Mrs. Kay’;s children in her urban first grade. The children brought these wars from the playground to the classroom, reformulating them within the possibilities and constraints of the daily writing time. The Pine Cone Wars thus illustrate the inevitable interplay between the official world we shape as teachers and the unofficial one governed by children. This interplay can reveal children’;s everyday lives, their symbolic resources, and the sources of their worries and pleasures. And, when exploited, this interplay can become a means for expanding and enriching the official curriculum for the benefit of all.