Chatper 5

I think this chapter, like many of the others, relates back to the understanding and engaging of students. This chapter is all about talking. I thought this was very strange at first. How are we supposed to teach kids how to talk? Do we even need to? It makes the point that everyone can have a short chat about something they are familiar with but a lot of students aren't comfortable having discussions about serious topics or with people they aren't very familiar with. I can attest to this personally. In my school career, the only opportunites we had to talk in class were when we got thrown in front of everyone to give a speech on a topic we didn't even care about. Most students are made uncomfortable by this and it doesn't help them learn and grow. The focus that this chapter has on group work and interractions between students to further their talking skills is really interesting and helpful. I think the student not only benefits from this academically but also socially and its something they might actually think is fun. In my experience as a student, I ususally like small group discussions vs whole classroom discussions. Students are more likely to actually talk when only 4 or 5 other people are listening rather than 25 other people. I think these are all great tools that all teachers should consider so that their students can benefit and maybe actually enjoy themselves.