Episode 216: Observing Classroom Discussions with Lightning Jay & Abby Reisman

In episode 216, Dan and Michael chat with Lightning Jay and Abby Reisman about their article published in Theory & Research in Social Education, “The social studies discourse instrument: Validating an observation tool for classroom discussions.”

Subscribe on iTunes

Transcript 

Books, Articles and Other Amazing Resources

  1. Jay, L. P., Reisman, A., Patterson, T., Chan, W., & Conrad, J. (2025). The social studies discourse instrument: Validating an observation tool for classroom discussions. Theory & Research in Social Education, 1-32.
  2. Episode 184: The State of Social Studies Teacher Education Research with Lightning Jay
  3. Episode 173: Authentic Pedagogy through Lesson Study with Jada Kohlmeier
  4. Osborne, J. F., Borko, H., Fishman, E., Gomez Zaccarelli, F., Berson, E., Busch, K. C., Reigh, E., & Tseng, A. (2019). Impacts of a practice-based professional development program on elementary teachers’ facilitation of and student engagement with scientific argumentation. American Educational Research Journal, 56(4), 1067–1112. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218812059 
  5. Fishman, E. J., Borko, H., Osborne, J., Gomez, F., Rafanelli, S., Reigh, E., Tseng, A., Million, S., & Berson, E. (2017). A practice-based professional development program to support scientific argumentation from evidence in the elementary classroom. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 28(3), 222–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2017.1302727 
  6. Some other papers from the DISCUSS project:
    1. Conrad, J., Reisman, A., Jay, L., Patterson, T., Eisman, J. I., Kaplan, A., & Chan, W. (2023). To what ends? Analyzing teacher candidates’ goals and perceptions of student talk in social studies discussions. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 47(2), 79-91.
    2. Schiera, A. J., & del Calvo, A. O. (2025). What youth want from discussions: Practice, participation, and democracy in social studies (teacher) education. Theory & Research in Social Education, 1-37.
    3. Eisman, J. I., Ani, T., Patterson, T. J., Kaplan, A., Reisman, A., Conrad, J., & Del Calvo, A. (2025). Classroom strategies for navigating emotions during controversial discussions. Theory into Practice, 64(2), 139-153.

Biographies

Lightning Jay is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University, SUNY. His research focuses on social studies education, teacher education, and making history education more relevant, rigorous, and student-centered

Abby Reisman is an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She studies the design and implementation of history curriculum materials and teacher learning experiences that support document-based historical inquiry and student-centered discourse. Dr. Reisman’s projects examine teacher learning in different contexts. In one longitudinal study, she is tracing novice teachers’ discussion facilitation practices as they move through their first three years of teaching. Reisman received her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she directed the “Reading Like a Historian” Project in San Francisco, the first extended

Leave a comment