"Questioning" is a process that sparks discussion and encourages deeper thinking. Effective questioning builds on students' natural curiosity, moving them out of their comfort zone and into the learning zone in a purposeful, accessible way. It also models the process of good thinking and fosters a culture of high expectations. Like any…

The achievement gap has been the focus of a good deal of research, attention, and hopeful new practices, yet it has hardly decreased. Using insights from sociolinguistic and sociocultural studies of classrooms in concert with practices developed by teacher researchers in the tradition of the Brookline Teacher Researcher Seminar, the author…

A longstanding aim of education efforts to position students as knowledge constructors so they are engaged in the building and shaping their learning environment. Current education reforms situate student sense making around authentic science inquiries where students are engaged in the practices of science. In the science classroom, this means…

Primary school practices are often bound by traditions that perpetuate compliance and skills-based, decontextualized, rote memorization activities. These histories of practice, prevalent in schools serving mostly Black and Brown children, make it inordinately difficult for students to author themselves as knowledge builders (i.e., with epistemic…

Identity refers to all the characteristics that "specify who we are and also how we see other people" and is formed with the accumulation of our own experiences and those from social life with regard to certain roles like professional, political or parental roles. Some of the characteristics of identity that determine and describe…