Students in 4-2 have academic conversations with their classmates at least once every two weeks. I give them a prompt, and they write a response for about 5 minutes. Then, students get into groups and each student goes around and shares what they wrote. After each student has shared, students go around one more time, this time responding to something that one of their classmates said. Students use one of our "Discussion Talk Moves" to respond:

1) I agree with _____________ because...

2) I disagree with _____________ because...

3) I have a connection to what ______________ said...

4) __________________, can you explain your thinking more?

5) _________________, can you repeat what you said?