ABSTRACT
In this book, I set out to represent the depth of context that shaped cultural meaning related to literary practices in one fifth-and sixth-grade classroom, but now, at the book’s end, I find myself thinking about conditions of meaning that I left out, the defining gaps. As I have argued throughout, in any classroom, at any time, the rituals and routines are dynamic, their meanings dependent on one’s position and agency as enacted and reenacted through moment-to-moment interaction. So, for example, in chapter 4, I briefly noted Nikki’s relationship with Lisa and its shaping influence on the peer-led literature discussions in which they took part, but I left out the complicated dance these students did as they attempted to reestablish their friendship across unanticipated boundaries: Lisa needing to shape an identity as a sixth grader, but feeling drawn to Nikki and their shared vision; Nikki, negotiating new friendships of her own, yet wanting to reaffirm her shared history and intellectual kinship with Lisa. I made a passing attempt to acknowledge this tension, but in the end found myself-as researchers do-summarizing the most salient features of their discussions.
