Dr. Curenton has provided a much needed resource for teachers of young children. She has made being intentional about teaching and monitoring language easy with the Conversation Compass. The background, concrete activities, and vignettes she provides throughout the book effortlessly blends the "why" and "how" for teachers in this easy-to-use guide to foster language development in all learners.

Conversation Compass is a pioneer for early childhood educators. It offers valuable information about the importance of conversation in the early childhood classroom as well as tools to support intentional efforts for encouraging both teachers and children to talk in meaningful ways. In an era of standards and attention to word-gaps, this book will help to create not only an awareness for teachers, but will also help them navigate an area that is otherwise difficult to plan for but stringently evaluated. 

Dr. Curenton's new book, Conversation Compass: A Teachers Guide to High Quality Language Learning in Young Children, provides the early childhood field with a practical resource to embed evidence-based practices that foster language development in all young children. The teaching strategies discussed are based on research that indicates the "serve and return" or back and forth between adults and children fosters healthy development and impacts brain development from birth. Dr. Curenton promotes the concept of “conversation partners.” She provides teachers with activities and resources to encourage richer conversations between peers and authentic opportunities to develop language in the preschool setting. Her discussion of the specific strategies to support African American children and linguistic diversity is particularly rich and addresses a significant gap in our education of teachers so that all children's backgrounds, cultures and ways of learning are honored and respected. I highly recommend Conversation Compass as a “must read resource” for all teachers and teacher educators!