Abstract: | The trend toward the inclusion of students with special needs in classrooms in which there is ambitious instruction places complex and multiple demands on teachers. These challenges suggest the need for research investigating powerful ways of supporting teachers to critically reflect upon and revise their instructional practices. Using interactional ethnography, we report on the process and outcomes of engaging in conversations with teachers when the purpose of the conversation is to interpret and respond to vignettes characterizing the participation and learning of students with special needs. Specifically, we focus on how teachers' thinking about the use of small‐group work changed over the course of the conversations and led to modifications in teachers' practices relative to constituting and employing small‐group work in their classrooms. |