WHAT NO “RUG TIME” SHARING MEANS: REVISIONING CHILDREN’S OPPORTUNITY TO ENACT LITERATE IDENTITIES THROUGH THE LENS OF POSITIONING THEORY

Harris, Pauline

doi:10.1590/010318136068715912020

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Dossiê • Trab. linguist. apl. 59 (1) • Jan-Apr 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/010318136068715912020 copy

WHAT NO “RUG TIME” SHARING MEANS: REVISIONING CHILDREN’S OPPORTUNITY TO ENACT LITERATE IDENTITIES THROUGH THE LENS OF POSITIONING THEORY

O QUE A NÃO PARTICIPAÇÃO NA “RODINHA” SIGNIFICA: REVENDO OPORTUNIDADES PARA DEMONSTRAR IDENTIDADES LETRADAS A PARTIR DA TEORIZAÇÃO DOS POSICIONAMENTOS

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a telling case account of how a child called Charlie was positioned and (re)positioned himself within and across different situational types of classroom literacy encounters in his first-grade classroom. This telling case is based on a re-analysis of an originating study conducted by the author (HARRIS, 1989HARRIS, P. (1989). First grade children’s constructs of teacher-assigned reading tasks in a whole language classroom. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.); and is founded on a history of research based on revisioning archived data records as new theories develop. Providing a profile of different ways in which a child positions self and is positioned by the teacher, the system and peers, this telling case presents a research approach for understanding positioning processes and their consequences for children as they develop literacy processes and identities. To make transparent how the telling case study led to new theoretical insights, this paper makes visible multiple levels of analytic scale and angles of analysis of positioning (ANDERSON, 2009ANDERSON, K.T. (2009). Applying positioning theory to the analysis of classroom interactions: Mediating micro-identities, macro-kinds, and ideologies of knowing, Linguistics and Education, 20(4), 291-310. ) that were undertaken to make visible the dynamic nature of positioning as understood through Positioning Theory (HARRÉ & LANGENHOVE, 1999HARRÉ, R. and VAN LANGENHOVE, L. (1999).Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action . Oxford: Blackwell .; HARRÉ, 2012HARRÉ, R. (2012). Positioning theory: moral dimensions of social-cultural psychology. In J. Valsiner (ed.)The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology. New York: Oxford University, pp. 191-206.). This telling case study, therefore, builds a foundation for developing theoretical understandings of the fluid and dynamic nature of positioning in classrooms, and influences of positioning on children’s opportunities to enact and demonstrate their literate identities and capabilities.

Keywords:
literacy; literate identities; positioning theory

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Task interactions and actions of Charlie with resources and self	Theorizing moment-to-moment practices and characterization of participation
1. Charlie is in the classroom reading nook where he picks a detailed, complex information chapter book about marine life to read. Researcher's note. Across "Free Choice Reading" encounters, Charlie invariably engrosses himself in sophisticated information books that would have been deemed by his school to be well above his reading level.	Moment-to-moment practices Charlie initiates the selection of an information book that relates to his interests in nature, regardless of its readability as perceived by his teacher or school. Characterization of participation Free Choice Reading is characterized by Charlie as choosing a book that he genuinely wants to read and which matches his interests and aspirations. Reading in this situation is further characterized by Charlie as sitting at a table and quietly reading his book of choice. Researcher's note. On another occasion, Charlie told Pauline that he enjoys reading, whether alone or with another child. He also said he liked times when the teacher read to the class. He said, "I think it's nice to hear new ideas that other people have in their brains and nice to know new friends."
2. Charlie takes the book and sits down quietly at a table to read it quietly on his own.

3. Charlie opens the book and turns pages.	Moment-to-moment practices Charlie skims and scans the book. Charlie samples text in the book that catches his interest Charlie reads and quietly vocalizes to himself about what he is noting and learning as he reads. Characterization of participation Free Choice Reading is characterized by Charlie in terms of applying a range of reading strategies (identified in the above moment-to-moment practices) as an intent, agentic, focused reader and learner. Researcher's note. Charlie similarly engages as an intent, focused learner during "Free Choice Activities" encounters - such as when he spent a solid half-hour meticulously sketching a stegosaurus from a 3D model, erasing and fine-tuning details as he went.
4. Charlie stops at a page and begins to read silently.
5. Charlie stops and studies a photo of a goosefish.
6. About the goosefish, he exclaims to himself, "I tell you, that's weird! It's got something like a tree growing out of its head!"

7. Charlie reads on.	Moment-to-moment practices Charlie continues to skim, scan and sample text. Charlie attends to, reads and interprets both visual and verbal text and connects the two, such as the book's pictures and their captions. Charlie works to decode unknown and quite technical words. Charlie shows interest in words and being able to identify words he does not recognize in print. Characterization of participation Free Choice Reading is characterized by Charlie in terms of applying a range of reading strategies (identified in the above moment-to-moment practices) that serves to make meaning and advance his interests in and knowledge of the subject matter at hand.
8. Charlie looks at a photo of a Macau shark.
9. Charlie looks at the caption beneath the shark photo.
10. He sounds the caption out loud to himself: "/ma-caw/ shark."
11. He says to himself, "That sounds unusual. /Ma-caw/ shark."

12. Charlie turns some pages and continues reading silently.	Moment-to-moment practices Charlie continues to skim, scan and sample text. Charlie continues to engage with both visual and verbal text Charlie quietly reflects on what he is learning from reading this book. Characterization of participation Free Choice Reading continues to be characterized by Charlie in terms of applying a range of reading strategies (identified in the above moment-to-moment practices) that serves to make meaning and advance his interests in and knowledge of the subject matter at hand.
13. Charlie turns the page to a section on fish.
14. Charlie continues reading the words and photos.
15. Charlie stops and softly says to himself, "I learned something. I learned that some fish have bigger gills than others."

16. Charlie closes the book.	Moment-to-moment practices Charlie stops reading and closes the book. Characterization of participation Free Choice Reading is characterized by Charlie as ending with his closing of a book.

17. Charlie picks up a pencil and some paper and puts the paper together as a book.	Moment-to-moment practices Charlie initiates Free Choice Writing. Charlie makes a blank book. Charlie writes the title of his book, indicating that his book will be an information book about marine life. Charlie draws pictures for his book. Charlie labels his drawings, referring to words in the book he has just read. Characterization of participation Free Choice Writing is characterized by Charlie as a time to choose what he wants to write about, and as writing that connects with his reading. In a conversation with Pauline, he said, "Writing can be a hard assignment but I like it. I like writing my own books.". Researcher notes: Pauline often observed Charlie making books in which he makes reading/writing connections. However, he does not have access to opportunity to share the books he makes with the class because such sharing occurs during "Rug time" when Charlie is withdrawn from the classroom for remedial reading instruction.
18. Charlie writes "Marine Life" on the cover of his book.
19. Charlie sketches animals from the book he has just read, and copies words from the book to label his drawings in his own information text.