This eBook is built on twenty-three propositions about communication, propositions that, when taken together, encompass fundamental truths about human communication from a Christian perspective. Creating Understanding puts communications media into proper perspective. It makes meaning and understanding the focus of the effort of communication. It is committed to having the purposes of communication determine the means to be employed. This eBook is a foundation on which the enterprise of Christian ministry can be built or refined. It provides perspective, constantly, on the ways the cultural landscape is informing and affecting the communication process.
Winner of the Jake Harwood Outstanding Book Award (2022). What, exactly, is understanding? And how do people create, maintain, and manipulate states of understanding via communication? This book addresses these questions, drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in cognitive science, communication, psychology, and pragmatics. Rejecting classic descriptions of communication as "sending and receiving messages," this book proposes a novel perspective that depicts communication as a process in which interactants construct, test, and refine mental modes of a joint experience on the basis of the meme states (mental representations) activated by stimuli in social interactions. It explains how this process, when successful, results in interactants' mental models aligning, or becoming entrained--in other words, in creating a state of understanding. This framework is grounded in a set of foundational observations about evolved human cognition that highlight people's intrinsic social orientation, predisposition toward efficiency, and use of predictive interference-making. These principles are also used to explain how codified systems ("codes") emerge in extended or repeated interactions in which people endeavor to create understanding. Integrating and synthesizing research across disciplines, this book offers communication scholars and students a theoretical framework that will transform the way they see understanding, communication, and social connection.
The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units offers instructional modules on the basic concepts and elements of Understanding by Design (UbD), the "backward design" approach used by thousands of educators to create curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students' understanding of important ideas. The eight modules are organized around the UbD Template Version 2.0 and feature components similar to what is typically provided in a UbD design workshop, including— * Discussion and explanation of key ideas in the module; * Guiding exercises, worksheets, and design tips; * Examples of unit designs; * Review criteria with prompts for self-assessment; and * A list of resources for further information. This guide is intended for K-16 educators—either individuals or groups—who may have received some training in UbD and want to continue their work independently; those who've read Understanding by Design and want to design curriculum units but have no access to formal training; graduate and undergraduate students in university curriculum courses; and school and district administrators, curriculum directors, and others who facilitate UbD work with staff. Users can go through the modules in sequence or skip around, depending on their previous experience with UbD and their preferred curriculum design style or approach. Unit creation, planning, and adaptation are easier than ever with the accompanying downloadable resources, including the UbD template set up as a fillable PDF form, additional worksheets, examples, and FAQs about the module topics that speak to UbD novices and veterans alike.
"Brian Smith and Paul Raspin demonstrate a thorough and pragmatic approach to creating and applying sound market insight. Using numerous practical examples, learning points and provocative takeaways, they build on established strategic marketing principles to give you actionable knowledge you can apply your business to create lasting market advantage." Beverley Dipper, Market Insight Manager, Microsoft UK Ltd "I have no hesitation in saying buy this book. It will find a front and centre position in your bookshelf, with plenty of post-its marking pages that you will return to again and again." Mark Irvine, Strategy Manager, De Beers Diamond Trading Company "A readable and well-founded description of how to generate actionable customer insight and follow it through with passionate and consistent execution" Dag Larsson Global Brand Insight Director, AstraZeneca Creating Market Insight addresses the key strategic issue facing any company: How do we make sense of our market and find those precious nuggets of knowledge that lead to real competitive advantage? Creating Market Insight: Explains how firms tailor their market scanning behaviour to work well in the special conditions of their market Describes the process through which data is translated first into information, and then knowledge Differentiates routine market knowledge from true insight and details how firms turn insight into value Provides a detailed, step-by-step process that enables the reader to emulate the success of insightful firms Creating Market Insight is written for managers who need to need to create value in the real world.
"This book sets the standard in delivering a comprehensive, state-of-the-art approach for understanding, treating, and preventing classroom behavior difficulties. It should be on the bookshelves of all professionals who work in school settings. I will certainly recommend this text to my colleagues and students." —George J. DuPaul, PhD, Professor of School Psychology, Associate Chair, Education and Human Services, Lehigh University A classic guide to creating a positive classroom environment Covering the most recent and relevant findings regarding behavior management in the classroom, this new edition of Understanding and Managing Children's Classroom Behavior has been completely updated to reflect the current functional approach to assessing, understanding, and positively managing behavior in a classroom setting. With its renewed focus on the concept of temperament and its impact on children's behavior and personality, Understanding and Managing Children's Classroom Behavior emphasizes changing behavior rather than labeling it. Numerous contributions from renowned experts on each topic explore: How to identify strengths and assets and build on them Complete functional behavioral assessments The relationship between thinking, learning, and behavior in the classroom Practical strategies for teachers to improve students' self-regulation How to facilitate social skills Problem-solving approaches to bullies and their victims Medications and their relationship to behavior The classic guide to helping psychologists, counselors, and educators improve their ability to serve all students, Understanding and Managing Children's Classroom Behavior, Second Edition will help educators create citizens connected to each other, to their teachers, to their families, and to their communities.
Within every picture is a hidden language that conveys a message, whether it is intended or not. This language is based on the ways people perceive and process visual information. By understanding visual language as the interface between a graphic and a viewer, designers and illustrators can learn to inform with accuracy and power. In a time of unprecedented competition for audience attention and with an increasing demand for complex graphics, Visual Language for Designers explains how to achieve quick and effective communications. New in paperback, this book presents ways to design for the strengths of our innate mental capacities and to compensate for our cognitive limitations. Visual Language for Designers includes: —How to organize graphics for quick perception —How to direct the eyes to essential information —How to use visual shorthand for efficient communication —How to make abstract ideas concrete —How to best express visual complexity —How to charge a graphic with energy and emotion
"This book results from many years of experience in a 'self-administered' Waldorf school. During those years, I watched the decision-making process unfold through innumerable conversations and committee meetings. It is my hope that this short text can serve as an aid for those seeking to increase their conversational ability. Only such increased competence will enable us to raise the human interaction taking place in any conversation to a higher level." -- Heinz Zimmermann All human activity, whatever the size of the community --whether in business, the family, schools, or politics --is group activity. Such group activity depends upon the ability of human beings to work together consciously in language. Speaking, Listening, Understanding is a book about group conversations, especially those intended to arrive at decisions and/or insights. Various types of conversations are described. In the process, we learn how individual participants, context, and mood can affect the overall process, Exercises, both group and individual, are provided for different kinds of conversations. Rather than the dynamics of group psychology, however, the author starts from the artistic aspects of conversation: namely, language and consciousness. Using examples and anecdotes drawn from many years of work with groups, Zimmermann shows in a straightforward way what can go wrong and why. Then, through a step-by-step articulation of the processes involved in conversation --speaking, listening, and understanding --he shows what kinds of awareness and practices can strengthen the group processes that facilitate creative conversation. This is a valuable resource for any group or community, and it is directed especially toward Waldorf school communities.
Discover why and how schools must become places where thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author of Making Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture of thinking is more important to learning than any particular curriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplish this by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time, modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment. With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout this book, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is not about just adhering to a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.
Photography is a complex craft. Some excel at the technical side of image-making, focusing perfectly on the subject, releasing the shutter at just the right moment and making exposures with the precise amount of light. Others are artists and storytellers, capturing a fleeting moment in time which inspires a viewer to gaze upon an image and ponder its meaning. The best photographers are masters of both. In this highly visual, informative new book, Angela Faris Belt discusses the four crucial elements of photography that are essential for successful technical and conceptual image-making: .the photographic frame and its borders .quality of focus as determined by the aperture or lens .shutter speeds and their effects in relation to time and motion .the physical media used to create the aggregate image Step-by-step guidance including informative screen shots, traditional darkroom and Photoshop techniques, suggested exercises, and before and after images help both film and digital photographers improve their skills, learn new techniques, and better understand their craft. More than 300 stunning, full color images and portfolios featuring the work of over 40 prestigious artists provide visual inspiration as well as a gorgeous collection of artwork for photography enthusiasts.
