Presents strategies for encouraging dialog with students from eliciting preconceptions to bringing closure to a unit. Includes the general structure of an instructional unit that employs dialog, strategies for teachers to use, and strategies for students which include active listening. (DDR)

Discussion of responsibility, professional morality, and moral reasoning focuses on the potential that computer conferencing activities have for providing opportunities for moral discourse and expanding prospective teachers' understanding of their professional responsibilities. The form and the content of the discussions have the potential to…

Investigates what would happen when a ninth-grade honors English teacher taught a poem that he was encountering for the first time along with his students compared with what happened when he taught a poem that he had read and taught many times before. Notes that the teacher and the students felt the classroom dialogue improved when the teacher was…

Describes the author's first teaching year in an eighth-grade literature class in which the students had no interest in the topic. Introduces "authentic talk" to engage the students. Discusses how the students' interest in reading increased as they read and discussed favorite works of children's literature. (SG)

Contends that talking about texts in a conversational environment, during and after reading, allows students to think about a text and think about their thinking. Explains "conversation sparks," which push students to make a variety of type of comments that include predictions, questions, clarifications, and inferences. Concludes that giving…

Discusses distance education programs in higher education and describes the Eastern Mediterranean University (Cyprus) Learning Management System which was developed while the online program was offered to on-campus students. Explains functions of the system, including user enrollment, course management, lectures, quizzes, announcements,…

Explores the changing immigration policies after World War II (1945-98) that increased the levels of immigration within the United States. Focuses on policies such as the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 and McCarran-Walter Immigration Act of 1952. Includes questions for discussion. (CMK)

Seven older adults and 20 occupational therapy students participated in book discussions. Focus groups and journal analysis indicated that discussions helped develop rapport and relational links between book topics and participants' experiences. Reciprocal learning expanded each generation's perceptions of the other. (Contains 22 references.) (SK)

Notes that at the school level and in the classroom, English educators can lead the way in open discussion, particularly discussion about books such as the Harry Potter series. Offers a seven-step framework as a way to begin an open discussion. Concludes that the framework acknowledges those concerns and provides a voice for them while also…

Uses a relational approach to teach about race showing how it effects whites as well as people of color. Reveals differences in attitudes and feelings on race and age. Uses answers from nine questions submitted by each student as a basis for lecture and guided classroom discussion. (DAJ)

Discussion of reflective teaching to bridge the gap between theory and practice focuses on incorporating reflective teaching in online teacher education classes for inservice teachers. Highlights include discussion roles; longitudinal reflection papers; instructor self-storying reflections; tandem learning reflections; critical incident…

Examines and identifies students' mental models of an abstract mathematical concept regarding intuition. Observes how students think reflectively on their mental models in a whole-class discussion in terms of logical thinking. (DDR)

Reviews the growth of literature study as an open-ended enterprise for student growth and discussion. Critiques new directions in literature study among children. Explains basic ideas behind the authors' recommendation for literature study. (TB)

A teacher of middle school deaf students describes the use of literature study circles to encourage reading. The study circles encourage self-selection of reading materials, build a sense of community, help students to learn open-ended group discussion techniques, and foster thinking skills. (DB)

Discusses the dominant paradigm for analyzing interactions, Conversation Analysis (CA), pointing out that the paradigm does not include participant intention in its analysis. Notes that CA practitioners focus on empirical investigations of what the participants are doing and how they are doing it and that the understanding of an utterance is…