This paper details how classroom reading instruction can be studied by using microethnographic techniques, wherein classroom events are videotaped and then carefully analyzed to determine their social organizational features. A short introduction to the use of microethnographic methods is presented, followed by an analysis of a lesson taught by a white teacher to a group of black students, which offers a step-by-step illustration of how patterns of teacher-pupil interaction in a reading lesson can be identified. It is suggested that the analysis of participation structures used to instruct students provides a means of relating data on classroom lessons to achievement and offers particular promise for the study of instruction in classrooms with low achieving students. (RL)