I belonged in a way that no one understood anything we were learning

Particular teaching practices such as teacher communication are influential to shaping an identity of participation in mathematics classrooms. Effective teacher communication is essential for students’ sustained engagement in communities of practice like mathematics. A feature of such communication is its potential to shape a positive identity of participation. Conversely, ineffective communication has the potential to do the same, but marginalizing particular students whereby they shape an identity of participation within a community of failures. Consequently, some young people are not identifying and participating in mathematics classrooms but rather, displaying subversive behaviours whereby they identify and participate on the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion from their mathematics classes, or worse, school. This paper draws on interview data from early school leavers and non-completers of school who describe their experiences of teacher communication in mathematics lessons. Insights from the students give credence to the claim of this paper that teacher communication in mathematics education classrooms influences the shaping of an identity of participation. The research in which this paper draws, supports the view that such communication is found to be inclusive of some students yet exclusive of others allowing only a privileged few to shape an identity of participation within a community of practice as mathematics. The title of this paper is drawn from comments from a larger study of identity of participation in mathematics classrooms.