Abstract

This study explored the experiences of students in different school grades during a free writing pedagogical intervention within a community. Semi-structured interviews were used to recall memories, spontaneous stories, and interpretations of the experience with 15 students from two different schools. Intersubjective and inductive analyses of all the interviews were conducted by the researchers and the results were constructed around three themes of the experience: the individual, the social, and the situated levels. Students are highly appreciative of personal life having a place in school as the expression and experience of emotions, venting of sadness and problems, writing about topics of interest, reflection on one’s own life, and exercise of identity. Also highlighted is the view that writing in the classroom does not have to be an exercise that is fake, structured, mundane, and punitive, which is often the case, and that there should be opportunities for free writing within a benevolent environment in which peers and teachers collaborate with authenticity around topics that are valuable for the community.