When School Literacy and School Discipline Practices Intersect: Why Schools Punish Student Writing

This article provides an exposé of the ironic fact that students both learn to write and are punished for writing in schools. It explores and considers what type of student writing may precipitate a discipline event. These infractions consist primarily of unauthorized writing, such as text messages and writing on clothes, bodies, and walls, whose literacy aspects are often invisible when viewed through the lens of predominant normative perspectives on literacy found in schools. A sociocultural approach, on the other hand, makes the literacy aspects of unauthorized student writing visible. The implication is that problematizing views of what counts as literacy in schools is an important step toward countering the unjust practices on which this article focuses. Key words: school-based literacy practices, student writing, sociocultural, discipline gap