A study examined a resistant student's interactive discursive practices within a participant framework. Data were taken from observations, audiotapes, and transcripts of teacher-led small group discussions in two sixth-grade classrooms at a public urban middle school. Seven visiting teachers from a university and 56 students in the two classes worked in groups consisting of one teacher and four students. The groups were asked to discuss and write in response to a series of tasks focusing on readings about people. The audiotape and transcript used to illustrate the role of the resistant student recorded a lesson from the first day of study of a 670-word excerpt from "The Acorn People." Results indicated that "resistant" students may be sufficiently competent in classroom discourse to participate meaningfully in the dialogue but choose to participate intermittently. The particular student was interested less in taking part in the discussion than in taking it apart, preferring to move in and out of the lesson, sometimes contributing to the lesson but more often opposing it. (Contains 22 references, 5 notes, and 12 figures presenting segments of the transcript. The excerpt from "The Acorn People," a transcription guide, and the complete transcript of the discussion of "The Acorn People" are attached.) (RS)