Listening

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Home : 2001 : September : 10

Listening
By M

Whenever I want to teach a skill such as listening, being respectful, being appreciative I make a chart with these headings and have a discussion with each one: "What attentive listening looks like," "What attentive listening
sounds like," and "What attentive listening feels like." Once they realize what it should look like (for example some of the things my class came up with was- eyes on speaker, nodding, leaning a little forward, sitting still) They know I know what I'm looking for when I'm LOOKING for attentive listeners. And, they also know what it should sound like (quiet, you hear the speaker clearly,

sometimes the listener will affirm what the speaker is saying, etc,) They also know that it feels GREAT when they know someone is listening to them. We practice this by talking in 3s- one is the speaker, one the listener and the other is the observer. The observer takes notes and remarks on how well the listener listened according to our discussion. Then, they switch rolls. We come back and report on this assignment as a class. After that, I "notice" attentive listeners in class- (don't mention names- that's embarassing- but they like to be noticed!) I have many "attentive listeners" in my class! (5th grade)