The Importance Of Communication

Whether we are engaging in conversation, reading a book, or researching on the World wide web information and knowledge is transferring between various channels. In the process, people exchange ideas, opinions, and find solutions to problems through various forms of communication. However, what does the word communication involve? According to the Oxford English dictionary (OED) (2014), "communication" is definable by "[t]he action of sharing in something [,] mutual participation or ownership ("communication. n" def.3b). As teachers, communication functions as an entity unto its own, a device, of sorts, in constant movement that allows information to pass from the instructor to the student. Traditionally, teachers achieve this transfer of information

Irrespective of the subject, students need to feel a connection to the content, particularly in secondary grades when students begin to solve "the question [of] 'who am I, '" (Lapp et al., 2008, p.59). Chapter four, "Why content area literacy?: Focus on students," features the concept of " 'discourse '" as a marker of diversity, which stems from the idea that participating in conversation, particularly conversations within one 's own family, inevitably shapes a person 's identity (Gee as sighted by Lapp et al. 2008, p.59). Essentially, the chapter confirms that in addition to ethnic diversity within the classroom, teachers must likewise consider individuality in the pursuit of motivating students. Armed with knowledge that teachers face a highly diverse group of learners, "Lapp et al. (2008) suggest that by simply recognizing the multitude of student "literacies" teachers have a greater possibility to capture intrinsic motivation (p.62) (Journal entry 3, p.2). Additionally, I note in my journal that beyond the recognition of diversity, students need to have varying degrees of autonomy built into lessons as a means to foster intrinsic motivation (Journal entry 3, p.2). Moreover, I acknowledge that an intrinsically motivated "student-body is not merely a group that passively receives information, but rather a group that is actively participating, along with the instructor, in a collaborative learning" (Journal

Through narrative students and teachers alike, have the opportunity to ask questions and thus engage in class conversation. As I acknowledge in journal entry nine, "[t]eaching question-based skills within the curricular material provides the initial scaffolding students require to practice the act of inquisitive thinking and over time. . . these core skills transfer into daily routines". Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and when students are both motivated and equipped with the necessary tools to engage in inquiry, the act of comprehension becomes