A guide to forming and managing effective task forces.

The benefits of collaborative learning are well documented—and yet, almost every teacher knows how group work can go wrong: restless students, unequal workloads, lack of accountability, and too little learning for all the effort involved. In this book, educators Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Sandi Everlove show you how to make all group work productive group work: with all students engaged in the academic content and with each other, building valuable social skills, consolidating and extending their knowledge, and increasing their readiness for independent learning. The key to getting the most out of group work is to match research-based principles of group work with practical action. Classroom examples across grade levels and disciplines illustrate how to * Create interdependence and positive interaction * Model and guide group work * Design challenging and engaging group tasks * Ensure group and individual accountability * Assess and monitor students' developing understanding (and show them how to do the same) * Foster essential interpersonal skills, such as thinking with clarity, listening, giving useful feedback, and considering different points of view. The authors also address the most frequently asked questions about group work, including the best ways to form groups, accommodate mixed readiness levels, and introduce collaborative learning routines into the classroom. Throughout, they build a case that productive group work is both an essential part of a gradual release of responsibility instructional model and a necessary part of good teaching practice.

School counselors are often the only employees in school settings with any formal education in group work, and yet their training is typically a general course on how to run groups. Group Work in Schools provides an alternative training model; one that presents exactly what counselors need to know in order to successfully implement task-driven, psychoeducational, and counseling/psychotherapy groups in any educational setting. Additions to this newly updated second edition include: discussion topics, activities, case examples, integrated CACREP standards and learning outcomes, as well as an overall update to reflect the most recent research and knowledge.

This integrative book brings forty years of research and scholarship in counseling, psychology, and education together in a singular analysis. In Making Meaning, Hayes illustrates how the construction of meaning can have a profound effect on how we come to know ourselves and others. Hayes depicts meaning-making as an ongoing, dialectical, and recursive process of change and reinvention. This process plays a central role in individual development and loss and helps promote multiculturalism, collaboration, and group and team development. This book is recommended for mental health professionals and educators looking to promote democratic learning communities.

Group counseling is a dynamic and valuable treatment device used by therapists throughout the psychological disciplines, one that has proven effective in promoting change and growth in a variety of populations and settings. The Oxford Handbook of Group Counseling takes an innovative approach to this expansive topic, providing both a comprehensive field manual for practitioners and an authoritative reference work for teachers and researchers. Comprising 31 topic-based chapters by leading practitioners and researchers, this handbook covers the full spectrum of current and relevant topics in group counseling, including: - definitions and background - history and efficacy - key change processes (e.g., therapeutic factors, group cohesion, group climate) - group leader strategies and characteristics - new applications for group counseling strategies, including online groups - group counseling with special populations - the future of group counseling With roots in the most recent and relevant literature, The Oxford Handbook of Group Counseling is an ideal text for training programs (counselor education, clinical psychology, social work, or human services) or as a reference for researchers in counseling psychology. Whoever the reader, it a valuable and comprehensive guidebook for both students and practitioners in the growing practice of group counseling.

This compelling casebook integrates critical incidents, spirituality, and counseling with diverse populations dealing with issues across the life development continuum. It offers counselor educators, students, and clinicians a highly useful educational tool for more effective teaching and practice that will foster lively discussion, case conceptualization, and intervention skills. Using an applied format, the book is organized in seven sections: life span issues, spirituality and wellness, specific disorders, substance abuse, career, diverse populations, and spiritual interventions. More than 50 contributors have been selected either to present specific incidents or to react to them. After each case is described, an expert practitioner answers the questions posed and provides additional insight and alternative strategies. The editors then offer their reflections, providing a concise summary of counseling outcomes. *Requests for digital versions from ACA can be found on www.wiley.com. *To purchase print copies, please visit the ACA website. *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]

A practical guide to improving the everyday practice of group work Establishing a general context and framework for the volumes included in the Group Work Practice Kit, What Is Group Work? presents an inclusive overview of group work in an easy-to-read format. Authors Robert K. Conyne and Leann T. Diederich: Define types of groups Connect with accreditation and/or specialty standards Demonstrate how best practices in group work and attention to diversity and multicultural issues can be used to guide practice Illustrate how key group processes (for example, group cohesion) can be used to mobilize effort Set the stage for translating available group work evidence into group leader practice What Is Group Work? is part of the Group Work Practice Kit: Improving the Everyday Practice of Group Work, a collection of nine books each authored by scholars in the specific field of group work. To promote a consistent reading experience, the books in the collection conform to editor Robert K. Conyne’s outline. Designed to provide practitioners, instructors, students, and trainees with concrete direction for improving group work, the series provides thorough coverage of the entire span of group work practice. This book is endorsed by the Association for Specialists in Group Work.