Participation structures in two classrooms of culturally similar children (Indian) taught by teachers with different cultural backgrounds (both experienced, one Indian, one non-Indian) were investigated in an Odawa reserve community in Northern Ontario, Canada. Data came from direct observation, videotaping in classrooms and in some children's homes, and interviews and collaborative research with school staff. "Work in progress" results indicate cultural difference in exercise of authority by the Indian and non-Indian teachers with the Indian teacher's participation structures showing more cultural congruence with interaction patterns customary for Indian children. At the level of Odawa daily life, there is virtual absence of central political authority. Specifically, comparing setting up a lesson (teacher movement, directives, relationship between movement and giving directives), the non-Indian teacher moved more rapidly, moved around the whole room, gave directions to the total classroom group and small reading group at the same time, and called out directions to individual children across the room, while the Indian teacher proceeded slowly, exerted control over the whole class at once, singled out individuals only in small groups. In leaving-the-room comparisons, the Indian teacher exercised control more through movement, more indirectly, and less frequently than the non-Indian teacher. (RS)