Determining the appropriate amount and type of teacher and student input is a complex curriculum and instructional challenge for writing teachers. This paper describes a teacher-researcher's experiences while teaching a fifth-grade class and studying a developing writer's workshop approach to writing instruction. She investigated: (1) how students interpret literacy activities and how participation in social context stressing negotiation, shared responsibilities, student voice, and ownership influences students' self-images as writers, their writing, and their contributions to others' learning; and (2) how the teacher's role shapes students' interpretations. The paper discusses negotiation of the literacy curriculum in a writers' workshop, focusing on two female students' participation and development as writers. Writing conferences, group work, collaborative writing, and sharing shaped these students' growing sense of ownership and proficiency and transformed the teacher's own role. Certain experiences in the curriculum-negotiation process can be viewed as "sources for struggle" among teachers and students. Teachers can use these experiences as rich resources for learning about students' interpretations of curriculum, their participation in the learning community, and the teacher's role in shaping interpretations. Growing mutual respect for variant teacher/student interpretations transcends curriculum "control" concerns; teachers gain by learning how to foster writing proficiency in all students. Two tables and one figure detailing aspects of the classroom literacy environment and the writers' workshop are included. Contains 40 references. (Author/RS)