Outlines the Conversational Discussion Group framework, an approach to help teachers shift from traditional, teacher-led discussions to peer discussions about literature. Discusses several questions that teachers ask as they make this shift from centralized discussion structures. (SR)

Through oral languaging children learn to share ideas, to shape ideas, to structure thought, and to develop thinking skills. In order to plan appropriate and effective oral communication environments, teachers need to be aware of the factors that shape and influence communication environments or situations. There are three scales or continua of…

Notes are presented on classroom organization, discipline, motivation, and teacher concern for use with instructional radio. Attributes of a regular classroom and a good radio classroom are compared, including teacher/radio positioning, materials organization and presentation, the use of sound and silence, cueing and voice use, demonstrations,…

A study of whole language teaching in urban heterogeneous classrooms was undertaken to identify teacher student classroom discourse patterns. Using the Gutierrez Index of Coding Schema researchers identified three discourse scripts in the 14 bilingual and multicultural classrooms in Southern California under investigation. These were: the…

A study explored ways that three university-based and two middle-school-based teachers might begin to alter or interrupt discursive practices that have in the past permitted inequities in classroom talk about text to go unexamined and unchanged. A feminist theoretical frame guided the study's focus on gender as a lens for examining power…

Offering glimpses into an English teacher's unorthodox teaching style, this book presents the story of one woman's dedication to her energetic, unruly students and challenges teachers to find their own unique genius within personal and institutional limitations. The book discusses how the teacher (who has spent her entire career at one school)…

Reports on a study of possible differences in interaction patterns between a sixth-grade teacher and different groups of students. Results showed consistency in the interactions studied, but important differences occurred in the quality and quantity with students perceived as "best" and "weakest" and boys and girls in…