Research & Policy: Calling for Response-ability in Our Classrooms

How teacher talk frames, prompts, and responds to student contributions—in the moment and across time—directly impacts the scope and manner of student learning. Response-able teacher talk practices cultivate student exploration and articulation as they frame and connect material to local experiences and student funds of knowledge, guide critical exploration, and cultivate openness to perspectives. Response-able teacher practices are a concrete manifestation of a dialogic instructional stance. This article identifies three recognizable features of response-able talk and provides examples of what they look like in our elementary classrooms.