creating opportunities for students' conceptual and linguistic development. They focus on an

idea or a students. The teacher encourages expression of students' own ideas, builds upon

information students provide and experiences they have had, and guides students to increasingly

sophisticated levels of understanding. In contrast to more directive forms of instruction, which

assume that what is to be learned by the students is already in the head of the teachers, ICs

assume that students themselves play an important role in constructing new knowledge and in

acquiring new understandings about the world.
https://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/teaching-diverse-learners/sites/brown.edu.academics.education-alliance.teaching-diverse-learners/files/uploads/eScholarship%20UC%20item%206q72k3k9.pdf

hension of text and improve students’ attitudes to reading, is termed a “grand 

conversation” (Eeds & Wells, 1989). The grand conversation refers to authentic,

lively talk about text. The teacher initiates the discussion with a “big” question 

or interpretive prompt. The talk pattern is conversational – the teacher asks fewer

questions, but the questions she or he asks are an authentic reponse to what 

students are saying. Turn-taking occurs spontaneously with students taking respon-

sibility for shaping the content and route of the discussion. Decisions about who

talks, in what order and for how long, flow naturally as students and teacher alike

exchange ideas, information and perspectives. During the conversation, the teacher

participates as a member of the group, stepping in as needed to facilitate and 

scaffold the conversation, but it is the students who carve out the conversational

path. The teacher typically brings closure to the conversation by summarizing,

drawing conclusions or establishing goals for the next conversation or by assisting

students to do this.

http://learnteachlead.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Grand-Conversations-in-Primary-Classrooms.pdf

1. After the class reads the day’s story, a small group comes together for a discussion. (The teacher reviews the rules listed below.)

2. The teacher poses a central question concerning a dilemma faced by a character in the story.

3. Students freely explain their positions on the central question.

4. They expand on their ideas, adding reasons and supporting evidence from the story and everyday experience.

5. They challenge each other’s thinking and ways of reasoning.

6. At the end of the discussion, a final poll is taken to see where every-one stands.

7. Finally the teacher and students review the discussion and make suggestions on how to improve future discussions.