Challenging discourses of low attainment: Using THEY poems to reveal positioning stories and shifting identities.

Mathematical identity work is defined as the way a person self-positions in relation to the domain of mathematics as well as how others position them. The stories that another chooses to share about a student labelled as low prior attaining (LPA) are influential voices that create an ascribed mathematical identity. However, identity work is malleable and fluid and hence the positioning stories of others can shift. This study focuses on the positioning stories told by one teacher about a student who was labelled as LPA in mathematics in order to consider a possible counternarrative to the dominant negative discourses. By introducing the poetic structure of a ‘They poem’ into the Listening Guide process of analysis, I was able to identify voices that indicate a positive positioning within the stories and shiftings in the teacher’s narrative data.