Sixty-five students in an undergraduate reading class wrote narratives on literacy life experiences from oral history tapes collected from interviews. Students interviewed middle and high school-level reluctant readers. In classroom workshops, the college students brainstormed about how to conduct the interviews and write the narratives. In later class sessions, they edited their drafts. The teacher prepared field notes of workshops and submitted them to students for revision. It become clear that the workshop setting can help students learn to: (1) navigate personal boundaries through writing; (2) improve writing through the pressure of collaboration; (3) edit; (4) turn feelings into more effective writing; (5) overcome fears about writing; (6) deal with frustrations; (7) build bridges to the potential audience; and (8) reexamine their views of themselves as writers. Comments from several student writers serve to illustrate their growth through writing. Those interested in concepts about quality schools should consider incorporating collaborative oral-history narrative workshops into the curriculum. (Nineteen references are attached.) (SG)