The Communication Effect: How to Enhance Learning by Building Ideas and Bridging Information Gaps - Softcover

Zwiers, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1544375557 ISBN 13: 9781544375557

Publisher: Corwin, 2020

Synopsis

The "communication effect" is what happens when we saturate our classrooms with authentic communication, which occurs when students use language to build up ideas and do meaningful things. For starters, authentic communication deepens and increases language development, learning of content concepts and skills, rigor and engagement, empathy and understanding of others’ perspectives, agency and ownership of core ideas across disciplines, and social and emotional skills for building strong relationships. And these are just the starters.

With The Communication Effect, Dr. Jeff Zwiers challenges teachers in Grades 3 and up to focus less on breadth and more on depth by grounding instruction and assessment in authentic (rather than pseudo-) communication. This book provides:

• Ideas for cultivating classroom cultures in which authentic communication thrives
• Clear descriptions and examples of the three features of authentic communication: 1. building up key ideas (claims and concepts); 2. clarifying terms and supporting ideas; and 3. creating and filling information gaps
• Over 175 suggestions for using the three features of authentic communication to enhance twenty commonly used instructional activities across disciplines
• Additional examples of not-so-commonly-used activities that embody the three features
• Suggestions for improving four different types of teacher creativity needed to design effective lessons, activities, and assessments that maximize authentic communication

Our students deserve to get the most out of each minute of each lesson. Authentic communication can help. As you read The Communication Effect and apply its ideas, you will see how much better equipped and inspired your students are to grow into the amazing and gifted people that they were meant to become.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Jeff Zwiers was previously a senior researcher in the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and is now an educational consultant. He has taught all subjects bilingually in secondary and elementary settings. His research and work focus on collaborating with teachers to enhance instruction and assessment for multilingual students, with an emphasis on improving student–student interactions. Jeff has also written books and articles on literacy, conversation, and language development, along with children’s books and curriculums.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1544375557
• ISBN 13: 9781544375557
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208