Opening ‘windows’ for teachers to change classroom discourse

Appreciating student contributions and providing feedback to students are key features of productive classroom discourse. In addition, students' self-concept of ability is a crucial predictor for verbal contributions students make in teacher-student interactions. This case study explores how three teachers improved their classroom discourse practices by participating in a video-based teacher professional development program. In particular, it seems like the students with an initially low self-concept of ability benefited from the changes in the productive discourse as the teachers seemed to have gained a greater awareness of them. These case analyses are promising for further investigation of the complexity of changes in classroom environments. •Three cases of teachers with high potential for change are presented.•Through a video-based professional development classroom discourse was improved.•Changes seem to coincide with changes in students' self-concept of ability.•Teachers' judgment accuracies of students' self-concept of ability also improved.