This book focuses on learning as a social process. The language of teaching and learning within classroom literacy lessons, and how this language contributes to building a culture of learning, is a key principle that underlies each concept presented in the book. Each of the chapters asks teachers to examine the interactive nature of classroom life and to rethink the notion of a lesson. Chapters are: (1) On-Task Literacy Learning in the Everyday Classroom; (2) On-Task Talk: Productive and Explicit Teaching; (3) Literacy Lessons Built on Interaction; (4) Assessment: Knowing and Responding to the Learner; (5) On-Task Teaching and Learning: A Framework for Focused Teaching; (6) On-Task Thinking: Reflective Teaching and Learning; and (7) Reshaping Professional Development for On-Task Teaching. The main direction of the book leads teachers to approach instructional talk in an explicit, and consequently more productive, way to reconnect the learner with the learning, and the teacher with the teaching. It asks teachers to consider the importance of classroom interactions in relation to on-task talk, on-task behavior and on-task thinking. It asks them to consider: the way they structure learning events in an interactive sense; the topics talked about in classroom lessons; how they respond to student contributions both in classroom lessons and in assessment events; how patterns or routine of classroom interaction impact on purposeful student learning; and how focused, on-task talk can promote reflective teaching and learning. (NKA)