Using teaching representations is one of the common means for preparing pre-service mathematics teachers (PSTs) to learn how to teach mathematics meaningfully. However, turning PSTs' attention to the mathematical objects that students engage with during the lesson is a challenging pursuit. This paper suggests using the Realization Tree Mediator…

An essential element of creative musicianship is the ability to seek, provide, and respond to feedback. This article presents a method of teaching elementary music students to respond to creative work in a way that is productive and uplifting, using a discussion protocol. Grounded in the work of Lerman and Borstel's critical response and Seidel's…

Classroom discourse serves an important role in language, literacy, and other content area learning in early childhood and elementary classrooms. In this article, the authors define discourse as it relates to teaching and learning and overview the background of research on the topic. Then classroom discourse is reconsidered in the current context,…

Statistics has been a content domain in the mathematics curriculum for decades. However, statistics is a distinct discipline from mathematics and there are important differences in how one should teach the two disciplines. In this article, the authors consider how these differences can inform an adaptation to the 5 Practices for Orchestrating…

Facilitating rigorous and interactive (dialogic) classroom text discussions that build reading comprehension skills requires advanced forms of expertise and skills. The authors describe three different ways that discussions can evolve when practicing teachers take up the work of making their discussions more dialogic. The authors then describe…

Classroom discussions are regarded by both practitioners and researchers as an essential pedagogical practice for fostering students' high-level comprehension of text yet cultivating a dialogic classroom culture conducive to supporting students' productive talk can be a delicate undertaking. In this article, using a series of transcripts from one…

In these fraught, divisive times, K-12 educators have an opportunity to make a profound contribution to students' academic, intellectual, and civic maturity by giving civil, purposeful discussion the priority it deserves. With reading and writing, discussion is a co-equal leg of the tripod of literacy. By engaging in frequent discussions of…

Courses: Public Speaking, Survey of Communication Studies, Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural Communication. Objectives: This activity focuses on helping students (1) become aware of their implicit biases, (2) understand the relationship between implicit biases and the quality of arguments (i.e. unfounded ad hominem arguments), and (3)…

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected student learning; according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2022), scores for students in the United States have shown a decline in mathematics. . One way educators can strengthen students' current mathematical knowledge and bridge to new content is through Number Talks. Number Talks are brief…

Dealing with controversial issues is one of the most important tasks teachers perform. In this article, the author presents a few core concepts and research findings that are essential for understanding what teaching controversial issues is all about and why it is so important to develop capability in this methodology.

Linguists have found that certain dynamics of conversation are consistent across languages worldwide, and these dynamics can affect the classroom discussions that teachers use to assess student understanding and make instructional decisions. Carrie Holmberg and Jamaal Muwwakkil discuss how conversational pauses, for example, might lead questioners…

What is a teacher to do when students share an idea with underlying mathematics that is different from that of the student contribution being discussed? Could such situations be avoided to begin with? In this article, the authors share strategies that can help teachers better keep the mathematics related to the student contribution under…

It is often a challenge for an instructor to get the students' attention for interactive class learning. This paper focuses on the use of Black Panther movie characters to stimulate power bases discussion in class to encourage reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. Power bases are important because they are interlinked with other…

Most of what students discuss and write in school is in response to questions their teachers pose. Class discussion usually revolves around teacher-generated inquiries. On homework assignments, teachers design questions to assess students' reading comprehension, or to foster their ability to synthesize information. However, it is important that…

An undergraduate online course on Applied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was developed through different formats of case study that included lecture, class discussion, small-groups discussion, and individual work. Cases covering health, biotechnology, agriculture, and other issues were developed or adapted from the literature to reach the…