When community fails to transform: the raveling and unraveling of a community of writers

This paper examines the importance of the notion of community in the practices of a remedial writing class at an urban university. Although labeled by their teacher as a ldquocommunity of writersrdquo this group did not write, and its members were judged by their university as failed writers. Their story illustrates the high value placed on the idea of community in school, its vulnerable nature and the fundamental conditions necessary to building its resilience. Implications for the role of community in remediation in higher education are noted in light of the failure of this group to form and sustain practices of community that might have supported their becoming successful writers.