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Bestseller!

Talk About Teaching!

Leading Professional Conversations
Second Edition
By: Charlotte F. Danielson
Harness the power of informal professional conversation and invite teachers to do the intellectual work needed to boost achievement. Move beyond passive observations and ineffective workshops and really talk the walk.

Full description


Talk About Teaching! - Book Cover
Product Details
  • Grade Level: PreK-12
  • ISBN: 9781483373799
  • Published By: Corwin
  • Year: 2015
  • Page Count: 160
  • Publication date: September 02, 2015
Price: $40.95
Volume Discounts applied in Shopping Cart

Review Copies

Review copies may be requested by individuals planning to purchase 10 or more copies for a team or considering a book for adoption in a higher ed course. To request a review copy, contact sales@corwin.com.

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Description

Improve teaching practice through powerful professional conversations!

Move beyond isolated teaching, passive observations, and ineffective workshops to be the leader who engages staff and affirms the value of reflective and informal professional discussions. Launch meaningful conversations and a powerful team of teachers who understand how students learn, what motivates them, and how to implement that research in the classroom.

Good leaders know that sharing, discussing, and examining teaching practices and student work improves student learning through professional examination, inquiry, and growth. Educators who harness the power of informal professional conversation invite teachers to do the intellectual work needed to connect with students and boost achievement. The second edition of this powerful book includes:

  • A new chapter guiding conversations to align with new state standards
  • Outlines for specific conversation skills needed to initiate and succeed
  • Mental maps, sample topics, and conversation activities

Read Talk About Teaching! and build a culture of understanding, respect, and empathy that encourages your team to reach for new possibilities.

"This is a great resource for leaders who regularly facilitate conversations with teachers. I use it in my graduate class in supervision and strongly recommend that students keep this book as a resource for the future."
Diane Canino Rispoli, Clinical Professor of Educational Leadership and former school leader
Syracuse University, Syracuse NY

"The book’s major strength is that it combines a discussion of what constitutes good teaching and how to conduct productive professional conversations. This book would be an excellent resource for supervisors and principals."
M. Susan Bolte, Principal
Providence Elementary, Aubrey, TX


Key features

  • Identifies topics for professional conversations that are linked to the "big ideas" or essential components of successful teaching
  • Links the "big ideas" to both critical research and to the author's frameworks
  • Identifies and describes research-based conversation skills, including setting the tone, probing, paraphrasing, and inviting thinking
  • Demonstrates how to create an environment that supports informal and effective professional conversations, e.g., making time for the conversations, establishing the necessary trust, reaching consensus on the essential components of successful teaching
  • Provides an entire chapter of very specific conversation activities or protocols organized around the "big ideas" that comprise suggested questions, materials to support the conversations, and likely outcomes of discussions

Author(s)

Charlotte F. Danielson photo

Charlotte F. Danielson

Charlotte Danielson, a former economist, is an internationally-recognized expert in the area of teacher effectiveness, specializing in the design of teacher evaluation systems that, while ensuring teacher quality, also promote professional learning. She advises State Education Departments and National Ministries and Departments of Education, both in the United States and overseas. She is in demand as a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and as a policy consultant to legislatures and administrative bodies.

Ms Danielson is a graduate of Cornell University (history), Oxford University (philosophy, politics, and economics) and Rutgers University (educational administration and supervision.) She has taught at all levels, kindergarten through university), and has worked as a curriculum director and staff development director, and is the founder of The Danielson Group. Her Framework for Teaching has become the most widely-used definition of teaching in the United States, and has been adopted as the single model, or one of several approved models, in over 20 states.

Ms. Danielson's many publications range from defining good teaching ("Enhancing Professional Practice: a framework for teaching," 2007), to organizing schools for student success ("Enhancing Student Achievement: a framework for school improvement," 2002), to teacher leadership ("Teacher Leadership that Strengthens the Profession," 2006), to professional conversations ("Talk about Teaching! Conducting Professional Conversations," 2009), to numerous practical instruments and training programs (both onsite and online) to assist practitioners in implementing her ideas.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Preface

1. Why Professional Conversation?

The Imperative for Improvement in Teaching

The Nature of Teacher Learning

Promoting Professional Learning Through Conversation

Assumptions Underlying Professional Conversations

Summary

2. Power and Leadership in Schools

Overview

The Reality of Power

Reconciling Power and Leadership

Summary

3. The Big Ideas that Shape Professional Conversations

What Constitutes Important Learning?

What Causes Learning?

How Are Students Motivated?

The Merging of All These Ideas

Summary

4. The Topics for Conversations

Power, Leadership, and the “Big Ideas”

Summary

5. Conversation Skills

Setting the tone for conversation

Linguistic Skills

Paraphrasing

Summary

6. Informal Professional Conversations

Purpose

Settings for Professional Conversations

Procedure

Summary

7. Implementation Issues

Finding Time for Conversation

Communicating the Purpose

Establishing Trust

Forging Understanding and Consensus on the “Big Ideas”

Elaborating the “Topics for Conversation”

Summary

8. Conversation Activities for Implementation

Establishing the Foundation

Communicating the Purpose

Establishing Trust

The Big Ideas: Considering High-Level Learning

How do People Learn?

Worthwhile learning experiences

Human Motivation

Topics for Conversation

Summary

References

Index

Reviews

Quote by M. Susan Bolte, Principal, Providence Elementary, Aubrey, TX:

"The book’s major strength is that it combines a discussion of what constitutes good teaching and how to conduct productive professional conversations. This book would be an excellent resource for supervisors and principals."

"The book’s major strength is that it combines a discussion of what constitutes good teaching and how to conduct productive professional conversations. This book would be an excellent resource for supervisors and principals."

M. Susan Bolte, Principal
Providence Elementary, Aubrey, TX
Quote by Diane Canino Rispoli, Clinical Professor of Educational Leadership and Former School Leader, Syracuse University:

"This is a great resource for leaders who regularly facilitate conversations with teachers. I use it in my graduate class in supervision and strongly recommend that students keep this book as a resource for the future."

"This is a great resource for leaders who regularly facilitate conversations with teachers. I use it in my graduate class in supervision and strongly recommend that students keep this book as a resource for the future."

Diane Canino Rispoli, Clinical Professor of Educational Leadership and Former School Leader
Syracuse University
Quote by The California Bookwatch: January 2016:

"Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations provides a fine survey of how to encourage professional conversations and discussions about education, and comes from a team of teachers who discuss the basics of connecting with students on a meaningful level. The second edition of this book offers a new chapter on guiding conversations, sample topics and conversation activities, and discussions of how to engage students through conversational approaches and professional practices. From promoting analytic thinking to taking into account what motivates students and affects their actions, Talk About Teaching is for educators who want to open and foster dialogues that support the learning process."

"Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations provides a fine survey of how to encourage professional conversations and discussions about education, and comes from a team of teachers who discuss the basics of connecting with students on a meaningful level. The second edition of this book offers a new chapter on guiding conversations, sample topics and conversation activities, and discussions of how to engage students through conversational approaches and professional practices. From promoting analytic thinking to taking into account what motivates students and affects their actions, Talk About Teaching is for educators who want to open and foster dialogues that support the learning process."

The California Bookwatch: January 2016

Other Titles in: Staff Development & Professional Learning | Leadership | Staff Supervision / Evaluation / Retention

Price: $40.95
Volume Discounts applied in Shopping Cart

Review Copies

Review copies may be requested by individuals planning to purchase 10 or more copies for a team or considering a book for adoption in a higher ed course. To request a review copy, contact sales@corwin.com.