ABSTRACT
The chapter employs a languaging relations framework to theorize the concept of relational-key positing that the essential state of being human is one in which people construct relationships with each other through how they language relational-keys. Relational-key is best understood metaphorically as a musical key that structures the relationships among notes to each other creating a broader aesthetic, emotional and intellectual framework. The chapter analyzes two classroom events in a kindergarten classroom to examine how students and teachers language relational-keys of joy, humor and togetherness which also constitute the stances that the students and teachers take towards what it means to engage in classroom reading and writing. Central educational concepts are reconceptualized and new questions for researchers and educators are posed through the frame of relational-key.
