Beginnings, Middles, & Ends


Book Description

A sideways story is some moment in life when you thought you were doing one thing, but you ended up learning another. A sideways story can also be a poem, or prose, that, because of the way it is written, may not be all that direct in its meaning. What’s nice about both clouds, and art, is that you can look at them and just resonate. That can be good for both the heart and the mind. Many of the moments of this book have grown from experiences the author has had or stories he used in his lectures with students or told in his office with clients. Some of them have grown from essays written for others, for personal or professional reasons. They are moments on a path through the discovery of social work, a journey of beginnings, middles, and ends. With just the right blend of humor and candor, each of these stories contains nuggets of wisdom that you will not find in a traditional textbook. They capture the essence and the art and soul of social work. In a world rushed with the illusion of technique and rank empiricism, it is the author’s hope that some of the things here might make some moment in your thinking or feeling grow as a social worker. If they provoke a smile, or a tear, or a critical question, it’s worth it. Everyone makes a different journey in a life of social work. These stories are one social worker’s travelogue along the way.




The Book of Beginnings and Endings


Book Description

The third collection from this thrillingly innovative master of the lyric essay.




Fitz and Cleo Get Creative


Book Description

The dynamo team behind Llama Destroys the World continue their delightful and hilarious ghostly hijinks in their early reader graphic novel series, perfect for fans of Elephant & Piggie and Narwhal & Jelly. Fitz and Cleo are: - Siblings (the closest) - Ghosts (the friendliest) - Best friends (the tightest) - Cat owners (Mister Boo approves...of Cleo) - And now bandmates (only the gnarliest!), writers (watch out Hemingway!), filmmakers (auteurs), artists (the list goes on?!)... These two know how to keep spirits high and the good times rolling! In their first-ever second book, join the most adorable apparitions this way of the afterlife through ten gut-busting creative farces, including flexing their storytelling muscles with ghost stories, songwriting, and directing their first film.




Intonation in Text and Discourse


Book Description

It is clear that a printed text provides the reader with more information than the words alone. This includes punctuation marks, capitalisation, paragraphs, headings and sub-headings, all of which help the reader to understand how the words are organised into sentences, and sentences are organised into a coherent text. In a spoken text, this typographical information is necessarily absent. So how do readers and speakers provide equivalent information to the listener? Intonation in Text and Discourse describes the way in which speech melody, or intonation, is used to signal the structure of spoken texts. It examines the role of intonation in clarifying the relationship between successive utterances, from close cohesive ties ('middles') to major breaks for a new topic ('ends' and 'beginnings'). The book is concerned chiefly with the intonational structuring of read or prepared monologue, but also devotes a chapter to current developments in the analysis of intonation in conversation. It describes not only how intonation is used to organise systematic turn-taking but also how it can signal greater or lesser degrees of co-operativeness. It addresses finally the complex issue of attitudinal intonation - the elusive 'tone of voice'. The first book on discourse intonation to deal with such a wide variety of naturally-occurring spoken data, Intonation in Text and Discourse will be of great interest to students, lecturers and researchers of intonation and all aspects of spoken discourse.




Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends


Book Description

Get your stories off to a roaring start. Keep them tight and crisp throughout. Conclude them with a wallop. Is the story or novel you've been carrying around in your head the same one you see on the page? Or does the dialogue suddenly sound flat and predictable? Do the events seem to ramble? Translating a flash of inspiration into a compelling story requires careful crafting. The words you choose, how you describe characters, and the way you orchestrate conflict all make the difference—the difference between a story that is slow to begin, flounders midway, or trails off at the end—and one that holds the interest of readers and editors to the final page. By demonstrating effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of your story, Nancy Kress will help you... • hook the editor on the first three paragraphs • make—and keep—your story's "implicit promise" • build drama and credibility by controlling your prose Dozens of exercises help you strengthen your short story or novel. Plus, you'll sharpen skills and gain new insight into... • the price a writer pays for flashbacks • six ways characters should "reveal" themselves • techniques for writing—and rewriting Let this working resource be your guide to successful stories—from beginning to end.




The Writer's Guide to Beginnings


Book Description

Give your story its best start! The best beginnings possess a magical quality that grabs readers from the first word and never lets them go. But beginnings aren't just the door into a fictional world. They are the gateway to the realm of publishing--one that could shut as quickly as it opens. In The Writer's Guide to Beginnings, author and literary agent Paula Munier shows you how to craft flawless beginnings that impress agents, engage editors, and captivate readers. You'll learn how to develop the big idea of your story and introduce it on page one, structure opening scenes that encompass their own story arc, kickstart your writing with effective brainstorming techniques, and introduce a compelling cast of characters that drive the plot. You'll also examine the best-selling novels from different genres to learn the secrets that experienced writers use to dive straight into a story. With thorough examinations of voice, point of view, setting, dialogue and conflict, The Writer's Guide to Beginnings is a must-have tool for luring your readers in with your opening pages--and convincing them to stick around for the ride. "Writing a book? Hard. Writing the beginning of a book? Rocket science! Strap on your spacesuit, because thanks to Munier's nuanced, actionable breakdown of every possible aspect of a gripping opening, authors everywhere can now take their books to the stars." --K.M. Weiland




Further Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring


Book Description

Building on the success of companion volume Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring, this new volume from coaching gurus David Clutterbuck and David Megginson is a practical, pragmatic guide to the knowledge and techniques you need for successful coaching and mentoring. Rather than adopting a particular school of coaching or mentoring, the authors pick the best from a range of models and frameworks that have developed since the first book published to help you enrich your practice. Further Techniques also features a new structure to make it more reader-friendly, with Part 1 putting the techniques into context, Part 2 covering the frameworks in eight contributed chapters and Part 3 including broader chapters that focus in on techniques for the client, techniques for the coach/mentor and techniques for working on the relationship between coach/mentor and client. A selection of leading figures in the field contribute their techniques and models to the framework chapters in Part 2, taking you through the necessary principles and offering practical advice for newcomers and seasoned professionals alike. Offering a wide portfolio of approaches for helping and developing others, this book is an invaluable resource for all coaches and mentors and a must read for anyone wanting to learn more about one-to-one coaching and mentoring. Edited by David Megginson and David Clutterbuck. Contributors: Gladeana McMahon, Marion Gillie, Daniel Doherty, Megan Reitz, Alan Sieler, John Groom and Vivien Whitaker.




Talk For Writing Across The Curriculum


Book Description

Talk for Writing across the Curriculum takes a dynamic and creative look at how writing non-fiction can be taught across the curriculum.




The Instructional Leader’s Guide to Closing Achievement Gaps


Book Description

All the tools that educators need to improve student outcomes and close achievement gaps. Although it's easy to connect out-of-school factors such as poverty or the pandemic to achievement gaps in schools today, education leaders need to focus on what's within their school or district’s control to ensure equitable learning outcomes for their students. In this practical guide for K–12 instructional leaders, superintendent Teresa D. Hill outlines five keys to effectively close achievement gaps: meaningful assessment, language and literacy, experience and exposure, consolidation of knowledge, and perfect practice. She walks readers through a step-by-step process so that they can * Develop a deep understanding of the achievement gaps in their school or district, including the sources and perpetuators of those gaps. * Prepare their team for the capacity-building work ahead. * Closely examine the five most meaningful and effective strategies for improving outcomes that fall within their school's sphere of influence. * Develop and implement a real-world action plan, including short-, moderate-, and long-term steps for closing gaps. Written by a colleague who knows firsthand what it takes to increase student achievement, the targeted advice and tools in The Instructional Leader's Guide to Closing Achievement Gaps will help educators confront the gaps in their school or district and make progress right away.




Advancing Research on Teachers' Professional Vision: Implementing novel Technologies, Methods and Theories


Book Description

A classroom full of students can be overwhelming for teachers. It is critical that teachers are able to filter and meaningfully interpret the relevant information in this complex scenario. Much of this filtering and interpretation occurs through selective visual perception. Over the last decade, a rapidly growing number of studies in empirical educational research used eye tracking to investigate teachers' selective visual perceptual processes in the classroom. Theoretically, visual attention and perception are often conceptualized as knowledge-based noticing coupled with knowledge-based reasoning about what is visually perceived. Recent eye-tracking studies have shown that experienced teachers, in particular, show improved selective attention of classroom events through faster detection of relevant information and improved monitoring of learning-relevant situations. Researchers agree that a critical driver of selective attention processes is the professional knowledge (declarative, procedural, and metacognitive) of (experienced) teachers, which controls selective perceptual processes in a top-down process. The findings are significant and provide important insights for research on teacher professionalization.