Struggling Reader, Struggling Teacher: An Examination of Student-Teacher Transactions with Reading Instruction and Text in Social Studies

The year-long case study described in this article examined the transactions between a sixth-grade social studies teacher, Mrs. O'Reilly, and a struggling reader within her classroom, Sarah, in relation to the reading-task demands of their classroom. Findings indicated that Mrs. O'Reilly's transactions with Sarah were influenced by a cognitive, print-centric view of reading and the identity she created for Sarah based on that view of reading. Sarah's transactions with the reading task demands were influenced by how she identified herself as a reader and her goal to prevent her peers from seeing her as a poor reader The findings presented here suggest that Sarah was marginalized as a reader because she would not take on the behaviors associated with Mrs. O'Reilly's view of a good reader. However, Sarah also knowingly marginalized herself by engaging in behaviors that allowed her to maintain her identity as a struggling reader. The findings from this study suggest that teachers and researchers need to find ways to identify and be responsive to the role of identity in the classroom. Reading practices that ignore identity are likely to have, at best, limited impact on struggling. readers' literacy development.