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 in 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. 

The Common Core State Standards require students to do more with knowledge and language than ever before. Rather than be mere consumers of knowledge, students must now become creators, critics, and communicators of ideas across disciplines. Yet in order to take on these new and exciting roles, many students need daily teaching with an extra emphasis on accelerating their academic communication skills.

Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms: Essential Practices for Developing Academic Language and Disciplinary Literacy describes seven research-based teaching practices for developing complex language and literacy skills across grade levels and disciplines: using complex texts, fortifying complex output, fostering academic interaction, clarifying complex language, modeling, guiding, and designing instruction. Most important, you will find clear descriptions and examples of how these essential practices can—and should—be woven together in real lessons. The book:

• Clarifies how to support the learning of complex language that students need for reaching Common Core and other standards
• Provides practical ways to realize the instructional shifts needed with the implementation of new standards in diverse classrooms
• Includes frameworks and descriptions on how to develop students' complex language, speaking, and writing
• Helps maximize strategies and tools for building system-wide capacity for sustained growth in the practices

Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms is a concise guide for helping us improve our practices to strengthen two vital pillars that support student learning: academic language and disciplinary literacy.