This article shares the experience of a teacher investigating the tension between a mandated literacy program and his desire to teach in response to his perceptions of students' needs. Qualitative teacher research methodology is used to study the impact of mandated literacy practices on teaching and learning; and to answer the question: how is my teaching situated within the literacy program? Data, collected through a research journal, were analyzed using a Foucauldian lens of discourse, and reading theory. This study unveils the mechanisms supporting mandates, and conflicts between theoretical and practical applications of mandated practices and the teacher's instructional beliefs. (Contains 1 footnote.)