Chalk Talk Exercise

The other day while in class I was delighted to engage in yet another Chalk Talk. Personally, I find these rather invigorating for a multitude of reasons. Mainly because they stimulate many different parts of the brain and aid in the development of the minds of our generation in the 21st century. The Chalk Talk aids in the promotion of 21st-century skills or the 4 cs. Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. These skills are key in order to truly develop the minds of students and society in order to allow them to broaden their spectrum and the way they think.

Communication is ironically one of the major elements in the Chalk Talk although in the Chalk Talk there is NO speaking allowed. While in your group you cannot talk, write messages to each other, nothing of that is allowed so in a way wouldn’t you think communication isn’t part of it but it is. Communication is key in the way that you describe what you’re writing about. If the facilitator circles your point, then you need to make a point to describe what you’re point was about and it can grow difficult to be able to describe what you’re discussing to what the facilitator is trying to get you to say. Also when writing across the board with everyone writing at the same time it’s hard and you need communication with your group but that’s what makes it more challenging and invigorating.

Collaboration is also one of the major elements of this project because you’re working with roughly 4-5 people in this project. That makes the aspect different because the collaboration part is hard since everyone has a different mindset and different perspective on similar topics and ideas. It stimulates the mind because you are able to broaden your horizons and gain not only new knowledge but also a different point of view on a topic and allow you to think differently.


       Creativity is key in this as well because you need to be really creative on how you decide to design the page and the way you want to decorate your facts to make them stand out. You need to have a certain balance of colors and formatting where you’re placing the ideas, where you’re connecting them, how you make this standout, etc. One of the most challenging things looking back on it was the creativity aspect because it separates a good poster and idea from a great one. 

Lastly Critical Thinking is one of the biggest Cs in the Chalk Talk. Critical Thinking and being able to decipher information and relay it with clear cut points and portray it interestingly to your peers is difficult. You must be able to take something that the text states and then decipher also what’s the real meaning behind what the text says, what you think it says, and then deciphering what it really says. You also have to be able to evaluate the article and be able to plot out main points on the paper. This involves really stimulating and thinking while reading this article.