Students and teachers build predictable yet fluid structures for interaction. Teachers listen to and observe students, collecting data from and about them, and use a variety of strategies to engage them in learning. Teachers respond to students in ways that enable them to explore options, make choices, and participate in meaning-making experiences. Teachers not only bring their expertise and authority to interactions with students, they also precipitate change by nudging and questioning to stimulate thinking and enable students to ask their own questions and seek answers. Learners are aware of the uniqueness of each other's backgrounds, and value this uniqueness.
Learners have diverse backgrounds, which reflect a mosaic of cultural heritages.
They bring to their classrooms their different language proficiencies, their learning styles, and their own authority and expertise. The community of learners appreciates these diversities of cultural heritage and socioeconomic background, validating and challenging learners' representations of the world. Every language, culture, and experience is a resource in the classroom. The community of learners values experience as the stimulus for growth and change. Learning comes from active response, evaluation of ideas and events, interactions with texts, discussion with others, and construction of knowledge.