Balancing indeterminacy and control while discussing a text develops habits of negotiation. Democratic goals for education will remain elusive unless the school environment actively contributes demonstrable democratic behavior or scripts. These behaviors involve being committed to the kinds of conversational processes that encourage and mediate disagreements. If the reason for sharing our individual responses is not to get immediate confirmation, but to test and improve them, then the talk surrounding a poem can foster the open and unpredictable processes of relationship. In choosing among interpretations and seeing their implications, we celebrate the reflective process. The dance of conversation encourages connectedness and mutuality as opposed to isolation and transmission. How might we engage in the serious play that can make this happen?"

- (diPardo)