A teacher's reactions to students' mathematical contributions have critical implications for shaping both teaching and learning. We present a framework for describing reacting moves that resulted from a comparative analysis between two existing frameworks; one developed by secondary teachers for parsing instructional practice and the other…

Establishing a communication-rich classroom can be difficult. This article describes the process and findings of a practitioner action research study addressing the question of how teachers can interact with their students while they are working in groups to encourage and enhance student-to-student communication. Recommended research-based teacher…

From the perspective of communication of textualized knowledge, problems that concern mathematics education might be amenable to a sharper treatment in which the role of the usual discourse seems important. Contains 14 references. (ASK)

Offers practical suggestions for implementing the National Council of Mathematics Teachers' (NCTM) Standards related to classroom discourse. Presents examples of discourse from various mathematics classrooms. (ASK)

Teachers and students can use color to identify different types of writing. This article describes using color to highlight annotations, identity, topic sentences, thoughts and emotions, logical arguments, advertising and selling, showing and telling, and looking and seeing. Includes sample assignments for identifying emotional content, topic…

This article suggests one way of categorizing types of factual writing and introduces a teaching strategy for developing students' awareness of structural and language features of many factual genres. It is based on genre theory and the idea that generic structures of texts are determined by the purpose of the text. Six nonfiction genres are…

Highlights a study that demonstrates what it means to press students to think conceptually about mathematics. Discusses similarities between classes--social norms--and differences between classrooms--sociomathematical norms. Concludes that, when teachers press hard for conceptual thinking, mathematics drives not only the activities but students'…

Ethical issues make writing assignments more than academic exercises, especially when the ethical issues involve the writing itself. Such issues arise in every aim and mode of discourse and in every stage of the writing process, from choosing a topic to editing the final draft. Informative discourse must be factual and comprehensive, and have…

Presenting an account of the general workings and functions of English intonation and accentuation, the discussion notes the prominent role of accent placement. An attempted overall framework for interpreting intonation and accent in English takes account of the discourse dimension to render the subject accessible to both teacher and learner.…

A writing style manual was developed by group of teachers and administrators to reduce number of writing formats preferred by different teachers, eliminate guesswork about formats among teachers and students, and add consistency to students' writing experiences. Manual is designed for use by students in grades 6-12 who are writing assignments,…

The most serious approaches to teaching basic writing in the last 20 years have been framed by the competing metaphors of growth and metaphors of initiation. The growth model pulled attention away from the forms of academic discourse and toward what students could and could not do as writers, and encouraged teachers to respect and work with the…

Describes a professional development activity that offers a way for teachers to analyze their current classroom discourse practices and move toward the goal of dynamic and productive mathematical discourse. (ASK)

Argues for a viable discourse community of the social studies profession. Suggests that such a professional conversation is characterized by an engaging and authentic topic and skilled conversationalists of equal status. Recommends that the first questions to be addressed deal with the nature of value, reality, and knowledge. (DK)

A study investigated the effects of writing in a personal and a formal mode on students' understanding of literary text. Formal text-based and personal reader-based writing samples produced by 65 tenth grade students in response to two stories from D. Sohn's "Ten Modern American Short Stories" were analyzed for quality of response,…

Reflecting new development in the field of rhetoric and composition, this textbook's third edition incorporates major changes which propose to turn theory into practical advice. These additions in the third edition draw on a new theoretical understanding of how writers operate within a discourse community, on a new research-based view of the…