In the Classroom: Conversations and Kindnesses

Williams College psychologist Susan Engel‘s “7 Things Every Kid Should Master” are based on her review of��“more than 300 studies of K���12 academic tests” and remarkably sensible. All seven are excellent, but two, in particular, jumped out at me as they seem to come up less than others in the discourse these days about teaching and learning.

One of these is the��importance of conversation.

Teachers are given scant training about how to encourage, expand, and deepen children���s conversations....