Purpose: This qualitative study aims to use the conceptual lens of figured worlds to explore how a 10-year-old child positions her identity and participates in systems of power through her engagement in writing. Design/methodology/approach: Data was generated across an 18-week ethnographic case study in one fourth-grade classroom located in the Midwestern USA. Findings: Findings highlight how children's writing reflected both an adherence to and a rejection of the mandated curriculum as well as other aspects of the figured world of schooling. In turn, this study offers suggestions about how, by reading children's writing with a figured world lens, their identities and positionings may become more apparent. Originality/value: This study challenges teachers and researchers to read beyond "the basics" emphasized in the mandated curriculum to better attend to the ways children navigate standardized curricula, negotiate identities and positioning and use writing to (re)inscribe identities and positionings.