ABSTRACT
School was all talk, of course, but in a different way. Being told, not telling.
Penelope Lively, The House in Norham Gardens
There is a sense in which, in our culture, teaching is talking. Michael Stubbs, Language, Schools and Classrooms
The aim of this chapter is to explore some of the types of interaction commonly found in mathematics classrooms and the sorts of communication they permit. In the context of chess, the term gambit refers to a move or a series of moves which involves a possible sacrifice on the part of the instigator, but which is intended to produce an overall advantage. This idea can be fruitfully applied to the teaching situation to describe, for example, the strategy of teachers inviting their pupils to converse in pairs (for varying lengths of time). One sacrifice involved is that, by encouraging talking in pairs, even if the teacher circulates to monitor and participate in some of the conversa tions, she rescinds control or even an awareness of many of the verbal interchanges going on in the class.
