This chapter is near and dear to my heart! Building rapport is a critical element of great teaching and well...life! When you know that someone cares or is interested in you as a unique person, you are certainly more connected.

Connect with your students. Learn and know their interests. Make connections between the content and what already interests them. This creates buy-in and engagement. Creating rapport with students not only creates a classroom climate that encourages risk, but it also alleviates a lot of misbehavior.

"We don't want to develop techniques to win behavior management battles, we want to develop techniques that allow us to avoid battles altogether."(Burgess p.19)

Burgess suggests that most (definitely not all) problems can be headed off at the pass, simply by doing one thing: Talking with your students.

"Spend less time trying to get students interested in what you are presenting and more time making connections between what you are presenting and what they are already interested in." (Burgess p.20)

Take time to talk with your students before class, in the hallway, between classes, at lunch, any time you see a student!

"Building rapport is all about interacting with your students as fellow human beings, not just as subordinates." (Burgess p.21)

One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is when Burgess is speaking on making your classroom a place where students feel like doing the outrageous. He puts a premium on making his class fun and entertaining.

"I'm selling education... a life-altering product that can transform the human spirit and literally change the world one student at a time." (Burgess p.32)