Author Thomas McCann invites readers to rethink their approach to teaching writing by capitalizing on students' instinctive desire to talk. Drawing on extensive classroom research, he shows teachers how to craft class discussions that build students' skills of analysis, problem-solving, and argumentation as a means of improving student writing. McCann demonstrates how authentic discussions immerse learners in practices that become important when they write. Chapters feature portraits of teachers at work, including transcripts that reveal patterns of talk across a set of lessons. Interviews with the teachers and samples of student writing afford readers a deeper understanding of process. Students also report on how classroom discussions supported their effort to produce persuasive, argument-driven essays.

In recent decades, scholars have shown an increasing interest in gossip’s social, psychological, and literary functions. The first book-length study of medieval gossip, Transforming Talk shifts the current debate and argues that gossip functions primarily as a transformative discourse, influencing not only social interactions but also literary and religious practices. Known as “jangling” in Middle English, gossip was believed to corrupt parishioners, disturb the peace, and cause civil and spiritual unrest. But gossip was also a productive cultural force; it reconfigured pastoral practice, catalyzed narrative experimentation, and restructured social and familial relationships. Transforming Talk will appeal to a diverse audience, including scholars interested in late medieval culture, religion, and society; Chaucer; and women in the Middle Ages.

Author Thomas McCann invites readers to rethink their approach to teaching writing by capitalizing on students’ instinctive desire to talk. Drawing on extensive classroom research, he shows teachers how to craft class discussions that build students’ skills of analysis, problem-solving, and argumentation as a means of improving student writing. McCann demonstrates how authentic discussions immerse learners in practices that become important when they write. Chapters feature portraits of teachers at work, including transcripts that reveal patterns of talk across a set of lessons. Interviews with the teachers and samples of student writing afford readers a deeper understanding of process. Students also report on how classroom discussions supported their effort to produce persuasive, argument-driven essays. Book Features: A focus on “the thinking behind the practice,” as opposed to a collection of lesson ideas. Connections to important elements from the Common Core State Standards, especially arguments writing. Examples of students at work with examples of the writing that emerges from their discussions. Portraits of skilled teachers as they promote inquiry and sequence and facilitate discussions. Appendices with problem-based scenarios, interview questions for students and teachers, samples of debatable cases in the news, and more. “In this important book, Tom McCann has given us not only the admonition to change, but the details about what effective change must be and what it looks like, evidence that it works effectively, and details about how to bring it to pass.” —From the Foreword by George Hillocks, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of Chicago. “For a professional book to have an impact on the field, it needs to address a perceived need. Writing arguments for Common Core performance assessments is a HUGE need right now that this book helps address.” —Carol Jago, associate director, California Reading and Literature Project, UCLA.

This book introduces a variety of inclusive strategies for teaching language and literacy in kindergarten through 2nd grade. Readers are invited into classrooms where racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse children’s experiences, unique strengths, and expertise are supported and valued. Chapters focus on oral language, reading, and writing development and include diverse possibilities for culturally relevant and inclusive teaching. Featured teaching strategies foster academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness—leading students to read their worlds and question educational and societal inequities. Early childhood teachers will find this book invaluable as they consider effective ways to teach diverse children. The hands-on examples and strategies portrayed will help educators expand their thinking and repertoires regarding what is possible—and needed—in the language and literacy education curriculum. Unique in its focus on equitable, fully inclusive, and culturally relevant language and literacy teaching, this important book will help K–2 teachers (re)think and (re)conceptualize their own practices. “Offers us a great opportunity to explore pedagogical strategies that are diverse and inclusive.” —From the Foreword by Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin–Madison “Readers will discover a treasure of teacher and student collaborative experiences to engage diverse learners.” —Yetta and Ken Goodman, University of Arizona “The authors offer rich vignettes and pragmatic guidance for learning about, responding to, and respectfully building community among children. We readers are in their debt.” —Anne Haas Dyson, University of Illinois “A beautifully written book filled with powerful examples. . . . I heartily recommend it for all teachers lucky enough to work on a daily basis with our brilliant early elementary students.” —Ernest Morrell, Teachers College, Columbia University

Around the Texts of Writing Center Work reveals the conceptual frameworks found in and created by ordinary writing center documents. The values and beliefs underlying course syllabi, policy statements, website copy and comments, assessment plans, promotional flyers, and annual reports critically inform writing center practices, including the vital undertaking of tutor education. In each chapter, author R. Mark Hall focuses on a particular document. He examines its origins, its use by writing center instructors and tutors, and its engagement with enduring disciplinary challenges in the field of composition, such as tutoring and program assessment. He then analyzes each document in the contexts of the conceptual framework at the heart of its creation and everyday application: activity theory, communities of practice, discourse analysis, reflective practice, and inquiry-based learning. Around the Texts of Writing Center Work approaches the analysis of writing center documents with an inquiry stance—a call for curiosity and skepticism toward existing and proposed conceptual frameworks—in the hope that the theoretically conscious evaluation and revision of commonplace documents will lead to greater efficacy and more abundant research by writing center administrators and students.

Create environments where students ask questions, not just answer them! When students become questioners, learning improves for all. Yet, even though research has repeatedly shown that student questioning increases ownership of learning and narrows opportunity gaps, studies show that students ask less than five percent of the questions in classrooms today. How do you turn this teacher-centric dynamic around? In this book by bestselling author and education expert Jackie Walsh, the author shifts the focus to student-centric learning and how to develop student questioning strategies, including self-questions, academic questions, exploratory questions, and dialogic questions. Other highlights include: • Vignettes of quality questioning in action in various grade-level and content-area classrooms • Examples of how to use questioning to harness the power of formative assessment and create a culture of inquiry • Student questioning models for distance learning By instilling students with the desire and ability to become better questioners, teachers will see more actively engaged students, more collaboration, and an increase in overall student motivation for learning and achievement.

This innovative resource provides teachers with a road map for designing a comprehensive writing curriculum that meets Common Core standards. The authors zero in on several “big ideas” that lead to and support effective practices in writing instruction, such as integrating reading, writing, speaking, and listening; teaching writing as a process; extending the range of students’ writing; spiraling and scaffolding a writing curriculum; and collaborating. These “big ideas” are the cornerstones of best researched-based practices as well as the CCSS for writing. The first chapter offers a complete lesson designed around teaching narrative writing and illustrating tried and true practices for teaching writing as a process. The remaining chapters explore a broad range of teaching approaches that help students tackle different kinds of narrative, informational, and argumentative writing and understand complexities like audience and purpose. Each chapter focuses on at least one of the uncommonly good ideas and illustrates how to create curricula around it. Uncommonly Good Ideas includes model lessons and assignments, mentor texts, teaching strategies, student writing, and practical guidance for moving the ideas from the page into the classroom. “An uncommonly good book about uncommonly good ideas about teaching writing in the era of the Common Core—and beyond. In this slender volume two master teachers, Sandra Murphy and Mary Ann Smith, share the knowledge accumulated during their lifetimes of teaching writing and exploring the broader world of related theory and research. They confront the hard problems all teachers will face, but do so with an evident joy in their chosen profession The book is slender, readable, and well worth the ride, whether you are a novice terrified as you stare into your first classroom or an old hand looking for an extra boost with a new class and a new year.” —Arthur Applebee, Distinguished Professor and chair, Department of Educational Theory and Practice, University at Albany “Throughout this book I find the intelligence and insights that help me think about what it looks like to teach writing through the Common Core State Standards while maintaining my own integrity as a teacher. This book is a master class that you can take throughout the year, reading today about what you need to learn to do better tomorrow.” —Jim Burke, best-selling author and high school teacher