MAKING RESPONSIVENESS EXPLICIT: CONFERRING IN THE ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM.

Responsiveness is critical to math learning. This study examines how elementary mathematics teachers use a discourse structure adapted from literacy instruction - the conference - to engage in responsive teaching with students as they grapple with mathematical tasks. Teacher-student interactions from nine lessons in two fourth grade math classrooms were analyzed to define the structure of a math conference. An emergent typology of the pivotal conferring teaching move, the nudge, is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]