This publication investigates what happened when a Chicago public school first-grade teacher radically changed her teaching practice and embraced a holistic literary approach. The practice of shifting patterns of control in the classroom and the construction of knowledge in a setting where most children are bilingual is explored. The nine chapters cover: (1) the context of the study; (2) power, knowledge, and shared authority; (3) sharing authority and classroom process; (4) children's initiations during teacher-led read-alouds; (5) sharing authority in student-led read-alouds; (6) negotiating knowledge and process in buddy reading; (7) authorship and authority in individual writing; (8) discourse and authority in teacher-led group writing; and (9) sharing authority in the classroom. Appendices include notes on method and methodology and transcription format. (Contains 137 references.) (ND)