This descriptive study focuses on the understandings expressed by nine second graders about themselves as readers and looks at the direct experiences of the students in their reading groups. Findings suggest that these proficient and less proficient readers hold very different perceptions of themselves as readers and that these perceptions are related to the differences in their learning-to-read experiences. Data also illustrate that although the teacher allocated equivalent amounts of instruction time for both proficient and less proficient readers, the pace of instruction for the less proficient readers was much slower than that of the proficient readers. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)