Indicators include: • Questions of high cognitive challenge, formulated by both students and teacher • Questions with multiple correct answers or multiple approaches, even when there is a single correct response • Effective use of student responses and ideas • Discussion, with the teacher stepping out of the central, mediating role • Focus on the reasoning exhibited by students in discussion, both in give-and-take with the teacher and with their classmates • High levels of student participation in discussion

Indicators include: • Student enthusiasm, interest, thinking, problem solving, etc. • Learning tasks that require high-level student thinking and invite students to explain their thinking • Students highly motivated to work on all tasks and persistent even when the tasks are challenging • Students actively “working,” rather than watching while their teacher “works” • Suitable pacing of the lesson: neither dragged out nor rushed, with time for closure and student reflection

Indicators include: • The teacher paying close attention to evidence of student understanding • The teacher posing specifically created questions to elicit evidence of student understanding • The teacher circulating to monitor student learning and to offer feedback • Students assessing their own work against established criteria