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In addition to the language and related meanings and ideas that students appropriated from different kinds of texts, they also appropriated language that Mrs. Cooper used when she interacted with them during instruction. Among the focal students, the ones who most frequently appropriated Mrs. Cooper’s language were Hailey, Madeline, and Zoe. Each girl had her own way of doing so, which I argue relates to the social and academic goals each one had. Among all of the participants, I found that girls appropriated this kind of language more frequently than

• I have a connection

• I want to add to what [student name] said

• I have a comment and a connection; I have one comment and one connection • This is similar to what [student name] just said

Students’ use of the above language during reading and writing instruction throughout the school year enabled them to do certain kinds of positioning work. Generally speaking, the students understood that by using this language during instruction, they demonstrated active listening. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Cooper dedicated considerable time to discussing with students the value of active listening to productive participation. Most of the above phrases and terms indicate to a speaker that the listener was paying attention and is attempting to build on to what the speaker just said.

When students used these phrases, they engaged in both social and academic positioning. Socially, students were participating within storylines of respect and acceptance. Most of the phrases above extended conversations by adding a related element to something already said. In building a community of learners, this kind of common ground lends itself to a sense of unity. Students feel safe to participate and share their thoughts and ideas because they expect their peers’ responses to validate what they say. In her final interview, as noted in the previous chapter, Mrs. Cooper addressed students’ talk as a concern of hers when she reflected on how students did not press each other for clarification or more explanation during reading lessons. In order for that to have been the case, the participation structures during reading (and writing) mini-lessons likely would have needed to change a bit in order to more closely resemble features of Morning Meeting Share, during which time questions for additional information were expected.

As noted, Hailey, Madeline and Zoe were the focal students who most used language that Mrs. Cooper modeled for or encouraged students to use. Hailey most frequently used I have a connection and I want to add to what [student name] said. Storylines of being a “good student” shaped most of Hailey’s participation each day. She wrote the “good student” self-descriptor in a project that students made during the fall. In any classroom, storylines of being a good student are dependent upon how one participates and why. In this classroom, by taking up language designed to promote the construction of knowledge during student interactions, Hailey positioned herself as a good student. By explaining, as she did in her first interview, that she preferred certain participation structures because they could help her continue to improve the quality of her work, Hailey further positioned herself as being a good student. In that October interview, she told me that she preferred the writing mini-lesson portion of writing workshop because, as she put it, “I like to know how to make my work better by doing different things” (10-01-2014). In addition to adhering to the academic storylines of being a good student by participating toward knowledge construction and improving the quality of one’s work, Hailey adhered to the social storylines of being a good student by treating others thoughtfully. In this classroom, a good student engaged in storylines of care and acceptance. When she contributed during a discussion, Hailey positioned her peers as having valuable things to say by prefacing her remarks with words like connection, add on to, and sometimes similar to. Such language served to acknowledge the contributions of peers who had already shared their thoughts and ideas.

Zoe most frequently used I have one comment and one connection. She participated each day within storylines of social interaction and creative thinking. In the same project that all of the students made in the fall, one of her self-descriptors was creative. Storylines of creativity and of social interaction necessitate the desire and ability to collaborate and share with others, and in

doing so, come up with something potentially better than without incorporating others’ ideas. Zoe’s position as creative was both social and academic. By making a connection to other classroom community members’ thoughts, she positioned her peers in similar ways to Hailey. Academically, by contributing a comment and a connection, she fostered cognitive exploration that considered a topic in multiple ways.

Finally, Madeline’s appropriation of Mrs. Cooper’s language was in keeping with storylines of kindness and of trying to gain social or academic influence. Her positioning was unique because of the content of her talk as well as how she delivered her words. At multiple places throughout my fieldnotes, I wrote that Madeline sometimes seemed to position herself socially as a thoughtful friend, and other times she seemed to want to gain academic influence by assuming a teacher-like tone and by offering positive feedback the way that Mrs. Cooper would do. Additionally, when Madeline offered kind or encouraging thoughts and feedback to her peers, she generally did so without raising her hand. In this classroom community, the students were generally expected to raise their hands to speak, whereas Mrs. Cooper, as the teacher, obviously spoke without this requisite feature of classroom participation. On 11-13-2014, during Writing Share, Mrs. Cooper shared with the class that she had noticed what a few students had done to model parts of their books after the “model text” used at the beginning of the lesson. She showed Zoe, Hailey, Madeline, Noah, and Rose’s work. After she had showed their work, she said to the class, “Let’s give [student name] some sizzle.” She did this with each individual, and each time Madeline would add, “Good job, [student name].” Early in the year, it had been established that silent sizzle was an effective way for students to communicate complimentary encouragement to their peers without all speaking at once.

Why Madeline spoke out like this seemed to be directly related to the positive social and academic positions she was trying to establish. She did not seem to speak out of turn to defy Mrs. Cooper’s expectations for student participation. Rather, she was attuned to the forms of talk to which she and her classmates responded well. Consequently, she was positioning herself to use those forms of talk, because she knew her classmates would appreciate it. Madeline understood well the storylines of acceptance, care and kind talk that were expected in this classroom community. Likewise, she had come to understand that storylines of active listening and participation were instrumental to favorable academic positions. Because she had some challenges as a writer and reader, Madeline may have unintentionally determined that in order to become more academically influential, she needed to make her voice heard somehow during discussions and interactions with peers. Thus, in addition to extending good wishes to her classmates when they shared something during Morning Meeting Share, Madeline made use of positive remarks during reading and writing instruction.

For example, on multiple occasions, Madeline, offered positive remarks and evaluations to peers after they read or showed something to the class during Writing Share. On one of these occasions, in November, she used for the first time a word that she had heard another student use earlier in the school year. In August (08-14-2014), Madison shared during Writing Share that she was proud of having used onomatopoeia in her writing through the word “whoosh.” When Madison said the word, onomatopoeia, Mrs. Cooper and one of the second grade teacher assistants, who had walked in to get some papers, both looked at each other and expressed excitement over Madison’s use of this word. Although I cannot claim that this moment was what led to the following moment in November, I do think there was a link. When, in November, Noah read some of his writing during Writing Share, Madeline said to him, “Ooh, that was good

use of onomatopoeia” (11-24-2014). By commenting on his use of this literary device (which he had not mentioned by name), Madeline positioned herself academically as able to use such a term correctly and casually in conversation. At the same time, she positioned herself socially by complimenting Noah.

Similarly, one day during the reading mini-lesson, Zoe came up with an analogy about digging to describe what happens when someone is trying to select a book to read and the person has found one that is too difficult. Zoe said:

Um, it’s kind of like you’re digging. When a book is too hard, you keep digging and then it’s like you come to this huge rock and you have to force, like to the words, you have to sound it out really hard. And you can’t sound it out, so you have to dig somewhere else. (09-10-2014)

In response to Zoe’s metaphor, Madeline’s eyes grew wide and she gasped and then exclaimed, in an audible but controlled volume, “Good job!” It was evident to me at that moment, as I noted in my fieldnotes, that Madeline’s exclamation was a direct response to the creative nature of Zoe’s analogy. What was not clear was if she was positioning herself socially as an encouraging peer, academically as a teacher-like voice, or a bit of both. However, her words and their force were consistent with other times she had given classmates positive evaluations. Of note is that like Madeline, Mrs. Cooper also found Zoe’s analogy useful. As she concluded the reading mini-lesson, Mrs. Cooper explained to the students that it is important to give books a chance,

in the way, and we can’t get through that rock, either the words are too hard or we just can’t get to an interesting spot, as readers it’s okay for us to stop reading a book and find a book that will be better for us.

By using Zoe’s words, Mrs. Cooper indirectly positioned Madeline’s reaction as one that made academic sense given the analogy’s ability to illustrate when it is necessary to select another book.

Through their interactions with each other and their teacher, the students in my study demonstrated an ability to recognize the effect that certain terms and phrases could have on their position within the classroom community. Their participation, talk, and collaborations took place within storylines of care and acceptance, yet students also imposed their personal goals on routines and interactions as they tried to position themselves as friends, group members or non- members, and good writers. In order to establish, maintain, or achieve certain social and academic positions, students used talk that they had come to learn was useful when engaging in conversations during reading and writing instruction and during other times of the school day.