Embodiments of “Struggle”: The Melancholy, Loss, and Interactions with Print of Two “Struggling Readers”

This article examines the significance of the “struggling reader” identity on students' classroom experiences. Drawing upon sociocultural theories of literacy, performance theories of education, and psychosocial qualities of identity, I argue that such an identity is felt, lived, and embodied throughout students' daily interactions. Once identified as struggling readers, students internalized a sense of loss and exclusion while reading in the classroom and attempted to reposition themselves as readers through various embodied performances with print.