Smokey Daniels

Harvey “Smokey” Daniels is a longtime literacy educator, author, and national consultant known for his work on student-centered, collaborative learning. He has been a city and suburban public school teacher, a university professor, a writing project director, and a classroom consultant, and he holds his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has authored or coauthored numerous influential professional books for teachers, including Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups, Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading, Content-Area Writing, Comprehension & Collaboration, The Curious Classroom, Upstanders, and the Texts and Lessons series.

Daniels is the author or coauthor of The Best-Kept Teaching Secret: How Written Conversations Engage Kids, Activate Learning, Grow Fluent Writers, K–12, written with Elaine Daniels, and Teaching the Social Skills of Academic Interaction, Grades 4–12: Step-by-Step Lessons for Respect, Responsibility, and Results, coauthored with Nancy Steineke. He has worked extensively as a conference speaker and school district consultant across the U.S. and Canada, helping educators develop literacy-rich, collaborative classrooms, and in 2012 he received the National Council of Teachers of English (N