ABSTRACT

Nate, a boy from the Pacific Islands in year 3 (equivalent to second grade in the United States), was described by his teacher as performing at a lower level of competency in class and “struggling with literacy and numeracy.” Despite this, as part of a classroom computer activity of maze making, Nate completed the set task at a more sophisticated level than many others. While working on the maze, Nate engaged in an unsanctioned literacy and numeracy practice on another computer window, which drew a small audience of boys who watched in awe as he created a complex digital artifact. In this chapter, I provide the classroom context for the maze-making episode and then track the progress of Nate as he worked on the maze, comparing Nate's finished product to mazes completed by other boys in the class. I speculate about the ways in which this achievement might have an impact on his identity as a class member and consider the necessity of including nontraditional literacy and numeracy practices as part of meaningful learning, especially for those who might be constructed as low achievers by their teachers in basic literacy and numeracy.