Dr. Jeff Zwiers, an educational researcher at Stanford University, has spent the last 15 years analyzing classroom conversations to see how they can be better used and improved in classroom settings. Teachers who have worked with him report significant growth in students’ engagement, content learning, language, creativity, and sense of agency. Zweirs introduced his initial vision for classroom conversations Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understanding. His follow-up book, Next Steps with Academic Conversations: New Ideas for Improving Learning Through Classroom Talk , expands the first book with updated classroom strategies and practices. In this new version, teachers will discover: How to introduce buildable ideas and teach students how to develop and support them Equitable classroom discussions and how diverse backgrounds conversing can benefit social skills and emotional intelligence Highlights of new research-based theories on classroom conversation Ways to develop students' confidence in conversation and how classroom skills can apply to real world interactions This resource is the product of his extensive research, co-teaching, and collaborating with a wide range of educators. It was written for busy teachers who want a practical guide for strengthening the quality and quantity of productive conversations in their lessons.

My Next Step is a remarkable memoir of one man coming face to face with the darkest moments of his life and how, through his own drive and the unwavering support of family and friends, he never succumbed to despair. Dave Liniger had it all: four successful children, a lifetime filled with adventure, and a company he’d founded, RE/MAX, that became one of the most prominent real estate brands in the world and made him a success beyond his wildest dreams. He had served in the Vietnam War, parachuted out of planes, raced cars, and once even attempted to circumnavigate the world in a balloon. And then overnight his full and varied life almost came to an abrupt end. Doctors discovered he had a horrific staph infection along his spine that left him paralyzed from the neck down and in excruciating pain. My Next Step chronicles how Dave found reserves of strength to fight through his pain. He drew inspiration from his wife, Gail, who had shown incredible grace and courage during her recovery from a tragic airplane crash twenty-nine years earlier. His guiding light was the mantra, “Just 10 steps.” If he could take 10 steps, he could take 20. If he could take 20, he could walk a mile. After three critical surgeries and six grueling months in the hospital, Dave finally returned home. He continues to heal, but is back running the company he loves and getting stronger every day. My Next Step will inspire those facing tragedy to find the courage to accept their situation and do what’s necessary to take the next step toward a meaningful life.

Next Steps: New Directions for/in Writing about Writing is the first collection of teacher and student voices on a writing pedagogy that puts expert knowledge at the center of the writing classroom. More than forty contributors report on implementations of writing-about-writing pedagogies from the basic writing classroom to the graduate seminar, in two-year and four-year schools, and in small colleges and research universities around the United States and the world. For more than ten years, WAW approaches have been emerging in all these sites and scenes of college writing instruction, and Next Steps offers an original look at the breadth of ways WAW pedagogy has been taken up by writing instructors and into an array of writing courses. Organized by some of the key foci of WAW instruction—writerly identity, process, and engagement—the book takes readers into thick classroom descriptions as well as vignettes offering shorter takes on particular strategies. The classroom descriptions are fleshed out in more personal ways by student vignettes, reflections on encountering writing about writing in college writing classes. As its theoretical basis, Next Steps includes chapters on threshold concepts, transfer of writing-related learning, and the history of WAW pedagogies. As the first extensive look into WAW pedagogies across courses and institutions, Next Steps is ideal for writing instructors looking for new approaches to college composition instruction or curious about what “writing about writing” pedagogy actually is, for graduate students in composition pedagogy and their faculty, and for those researching composition pedagogy, threshold concepts, and learning transfer. Contributors: Linda Adler-Kassner, Olga Aksakalova, Joy Arbor, Matthew Bryan, Shawn Casey, Gabriel Cutrufello, Jennifer deWinter, Kristen di Gennaro, Emma Gaier, Christina Grant, Gwen Hart, Kimberly Hoover, Rebecca Jackson, Frances Johnson, Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Katie Jo LaRiviere, Andrew Lucchesi, Cat Mahaffey, Michael Michaud, Rebecca S. Nowacek, Andrew Ogilvie, Sarah Read, Rebecca Robinson, Kevin Roozen, Mysti Rudd, Christian Smith, Nichole Stack, Samuel Stinson, Hiroki Sugimoto, Lisa Tremain, Valerie Vera, Megan Wallace, Elizabeth Wardle, Christy I. Wenger, Nancy Wilson, Dominique Zino

Social work students consistently struggle to apply theory to practice, or use the knowledge of textbooks and classrooms in the field. Vignettes and scenarios represented in textbooks are often simplistic, too tidy to be realistic, and with clean resolutions. Next Steps: Decision Cases for Social Work Practice highlights the complex, messy nature of social work practice in a way that is engaging to students, allowing them to step into the role of a practicing social worker. This book is a collection of decision cases from multiple areas of social work practice, designed to enhance the quality and depth of classroom case discussion and analysis. These realistic, compelling cases present dilemmas about which even experienced practitioners may disagree. This allows rich classroom discussion that enhances critical thinking, provides real-life application, and creates numerous opportunities to apply content and knowledge acquired throughout a social work education experience.

Teachers facing the challenge of meeting the diverse reading needs of students will find the structure and tools they need in Jan Richardson's powerful approach to guided reading. Richardson has identified the essential components of an effective guided reading lesson: targeted assessments, data analysis that pinpoints specific strategies students need, and the use of guided writing to support the reading process. Each chapter contains planning sheets to help teachers analyze assessments in order to group students and select a teaching focus Includes detailed, ready-to-go lesson plans for all stages of reading: emergent, early, transitional, and fluent

Conversing with others has given insights to different perspectives, helped build ideas, and solve problems. Academic conversations push students to think and learn in lasting ways. Academic conversations are back-and-forth dialogues in which students focus on a topic and explore it by building, challenging, and negotiating relevant ideas. In Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings authors Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford address the challenges teachers face when trying to bring thoughtful, respectful, and focused conversations into the classroom. They identify five core communications skills needed to help students hold productive academic conversation across content areas: Elaborating and Clarifying Supporting Ideas with Evidence Building On and/or Challenging Ideas Paraphrasing Synthesizing This book shows teachers how to weave the cultivation of academic conversation skills and conversations into current teaching approaches. More specifically, it describes how to use conversations to build the following: Academic vocabulary and grammar Critical thinking skills such as persuasion, interpretation, consideration of multiple perspectives, evaluation, and application Literacy skills such as questioning, predicting, connecting to prior knowledge, and summarizing An academic classroom environment brimming with respect for others' ideas, equity of voice, engagement, and mutual support The ideas in this book stem from many hours of classroom practice, research, and video analysis across grade levels and content areas. Readers will find numerous practical activities for working on each conversation skill, crafting conversation-worthy tasks, and using conversations to teach and assess. Academic Conversations offers an in-depth approach to helping students develop into the future parents, teachers, and leaders who will collaborate to build a better world.

This resource-rich book includes planning and instructional tools, prompts, discussion starters, teaching points, intervention suggestions, and more to support all students. Plus, an online resource bank with downloadables and videos. Jan Richardson's latest thinking on Guided Reading helps teachers take the next step forward to pinpoint instruction that supports every reader. Richardson uses the Assess-Decide-Guide framework to take a deep dive into each guided reading stage, covering PreA to Fluent readers, their needs, and the best ways to support and challenge them. A master reading teacher at all levels, Richardson skillfully addresses all the factors that make or break guided reading lessons: support for striving readers, strategies for reaching ELLs, making home-school connections--all with an unwavering focus on reading for deeper comprehension, to develop thoughtful, independent readers. The book includes dozens of must-have record-keeping, assessment, and reference forms, as well as how-to video links that provide show Jan in action with diverse readers.

Successful leaders always have an amazing story. They spend a lifetime chasing success, dodging critical errors, and creating great businesses. The problem? An intense life can leave you exhausted, emotionally spent, and a just little bit crazy. Amazing stories start us, but good habits and discipline sustain us. It's time to achieve balance. Dr. Kate McLellan Walker Ph.D., LPC, LMFT is an experienced clinician, entrepreneur, writer, researcher, educator, and speaker. Born in Texas and raised in the Midwest, she struggled with ADD and FOMO (fear of missing out) throughout her adolescence. As soon as she could she ran to the live music capital of the world and earned her Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Texas at Austin. She used that credential to teach public school orchestras and freelance as a bass player until 1998 when she decided to pursue her MA and Ph.D. in counseling from Sam Houston State University. Her achievements and many diverse interests include doctoral advisory board member, university professor, president of the Texas Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, and licensing board liaison. An avid researcher (and still blessed with ADD), Dr. Kate harnesses her love of business, novelty, and creativity to speak, teach, and write about her experiences running her successful clinical practice AchieveBalance.org, training over thirty-seven cohorts in her ground-breaking leadership organization Kate Walker Training, and being the wife to a soldier and mom to three amazing kids. In her spare time, she still freelances as a professional bass player for singer-songwriters in the Houston area. Balancing business and family places Dr. Kate in a unique position to help other leaders achieve balance too. In her new book, My Next Steps: Create a Counseling Career You'll Love, she synthesizes interview data garnered from five successful entrepreneurs in the counseling field. The result is a step-by-step guide containing practical tools so readers can create the successful career they fell in love with, make a living, and keep their sanity.

“A candid, readable, and useful book about how we can get past talking about gender bias and actually start doing something about it.” —Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife Empowering women empowers everyone. Women with confidence, equal pay, and leadership opportunity enrich workplace culture and help the whole organization. The first step is understanding that gender balance is not a zero-sum game. The Next Smart Step is a clear, assured guide to understanding the challenge of gender imbalance, implementing solutions, and equipping readers with the tools we all need to ensure change that is positive and enduring. It is about all of us becoming leaders. The Next Smart Step builds on a positive reality, helping readers recognize and manage unconscious biases, see diversity as a 21st-century skill, and work towards equal partnerships in the workplace. It outlines strategies for flexibility, communication, openness, and mutual respect. Gender equity is not only the right thing to do—it makes life better, workplace culture more diverse, opportunity more widely available, and organizations more successful. The Next Smart Step will help everyone from new hires to corporate executives learn the personal leadership this important issue demands.