Reader Identity and the Common Core: Agency and Identity in Leveled Reading

This article moves beyond the common core and leveled literacy instruction to demonstrate how diverse learners in one fourth grade classroom, challenged teacher authority in an effort to position themselves as capable readers. In doing so, they implored the teachers to consider the social context of reading as an essential component to the ways in which we offer readers opportunities to grow. Readers ’ identities, were both limited by and grew out of the opportunities pertaining to leveled reading that were made available within the classroom. The vignettes examined contain implications for how a student’s sense of agency and reader identity impacts who they are as readers and how they are viewed within the culture of the classroom. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES Theresa Abodeeb-Gentile Ed.D, teaches literacy methods courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Theresa prepares teachers using, research-based methods for helping elementary aged students develop literacy skills and focuses her instruction on application of reading theory into practice. Theresa’s research examines the way student and teacher interactions impact their identities as literacy learners in various contexts. She also examines ways that students learn various aspects of literacy in classrooms and what informs learning. Theresa can be reached a