Revolutionary Love and Critical Whiteness: Examining Young Children’s Writing in Elementary Education

In early childhood classrooms shaped by curricular surveillance and racialized accountability, children’s writing is often narrowed to correctness and conformity. This qualitative study examines how young children engage in writing as a collective practice through which identity, relational care, and leadership are authored. Drawing on data from two early-elementary classrooms serving predominantly Black and Latine children, this study analyzes everyday writing within constrained instructional contexts. Findings show how children used writing to negotiate surveillance through racial and cultural knowledge, disrupting white-dominant norms of writing instruction. The study argues for justice-oriented approaches affirming young children as writers and co-authors of their learning environments.