In this clip, the teacher is establishing a shared understanding of vocabulary. She asked the students to identify unfamiliar words or phrases in a fictional text about a basketball game. During the discussion that follows, the students consider what “nursing their lead” and “high crossover” mean. Note that, in the discussion, the teacher was primarily concerned with students gaining a sense of what the author was trying to communicate (e.g., Is it positive or negative?). The goal of this discussion is to help students attain a shared understanding of the text’s meaning.

Students have moved from their table groups to a large table where they can more easily see each other during a discussion of what has happened in the text. Students make claims and provide evidence from the text to support their claims. These students are new to academically productive talk, and the majority of the discussion is teacher directed, however, you’ll notice the use of a discussion monitor throughout the discussion as a way for students to be oriented to their peers.