In the 'The Science and Art of Listening' (link below), Seth Horowitz, notes that 'hearing' and 'listening' are two distinct processes our brains continually perform. In the article, he discusses the various levels of hearing that occur, the importance that should be placed on this vastly underrated sense, and our brains ability to switch its 'attention' to those sounds that it thinks are important - how then to make what occurs in class important enough to students to trigger listening. He notes that '[listening] is a skill that we're in danger of losing in a world of digital distraction and information', but that '[luckily], we can train our listening just as with any other skill. Listen to new music when jogging rather than familiar tunes. Listen to your dog’s whines and barks: he is trying to tell you something isn’t right. Listen to your significant other’s voice — not only to the words, which after a few years may repeat, but to the sounds under them, the emotions carried in the harmonics. You may save yourself a couple of fights.'
The article prompted me to think about how to encourage listening in my classroom, and to try think about different ways of helping students to train their listening skills. During discussions this year, I have tried to emphasize to the students that they should strive to use each other's names, make eye contact, use parts of what was said previously to construct their own comments, use the text as much as possible, keep a pen in hand, and to work on keeping open/attentive body language, but I would enjoy hearing from others how they help students to 'listen' rather than just 'hear' in class.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/why-listening-is-so-much-more-than-hearing.html?smid=pl-share
Another option might be quizzing them on other students' comments or frequently assigning different students to serve as scribes. I know that Jim Connor used to include quiz questions that referenced comments made by specific students in class.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a teen leadership book which includes Listening as a leadership skill set. It includes vocabulary and cues. I'll make some copies.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes have 'a surprise ' quiz at the end of class--where the students have to write down the phrase which I repeated the most that day and/or the most relevant or thoughtful comment a peer made. I really like doing this because often the kid you assume is really listening isn't, and the one you thought was tuned out recalls every word.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Hans want to remain unknown? Good suggestions, I should give the occasional discussion quiz at the end of class - something I often mean to do, but don't.
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