Listening (Teacher's version)

NOTE TO TEACHER

Read slowly. When you see bolded, large, or colored text, increase the volume of your voice.

If you show people you are a quality person they will respect you more.

Being a good listener is a mark of a person of high quality. Here are 4 ways how.

#1.	You show respect for everyone involved. They will respect YOU for that! --- Even if you really are able to fully listen while doing something else, doing that something else sends the message that you are not fully listening. The message the other person receives is that you are being discourteous to them! People don't like that!
#2.	You boost the person talking. You are showing them that they are worth your FULL attention. They then tend to respect YOU more.
#3.	You can take in and use information. In other words, that you are a capable person. You will earn their respect. --- On the other hand, if things "go in one ear and out the other" people will tend to think of you as unreliable, or "not fully there," as in "his brain is out to lunch!" That's a sign of a low quality person!
#4.	You are able to follow through on instructions or requests. People will learn that you can be trusted with tasks. "Gee, he got it perfect without me having to repeat it!"

CHOOSE to be a good listener! Choose to be a Lady or a Gentleman!

An exchange similar to this took place. I have added a bit to it for presentation in class.

Mr. Andrews: (To a student.) "I was just talking to everybody about listening, and not working with the keyboard, and here you are doing the same thing. Explain why.

Boy: "I was listening while using the keyboard.

Mr. A. "Yes, I understand what you are saying. It is tempting to do that. Even adults can be so tempted.

But ... There are Problems!

(6 are listed)

#1.	As a teacher, I need to know if you really are listening. The only evidence of that is if I see your face, and your reaction to what I am saying.
#2.	While you believe that you can listen carefully while doing something like using the computer, I have enough experience to know as a fact that many students do not do it well. They miss hearing something important. I see it happen all the time!
#3.	You are showing a lack of respect for me, the teacher. You are making me work harder than I should have to. I have to take too much time to get everyone’s attention. I have to pull students back to paying attention. The time wasted to get your attention means less teaching and learning for everyone. It is stealing time and education.
#4.	Knowing that students are not fully listening, I tend to repeat more, taking even longer to get through what I have to say. You are showing disrespect for your fellow students by making me take longer than needed to teach or give instructions. Also, courteous students who already know how to do the thing are stuck waiting longer for me to finish.
#5.	I have to repeat for those who "didn’t hear" the first time, sometimes repeating several times during the same period. This is also stealing time. Time that I could be spending solving REAL problems and doing REAL teaching.
#6.	I have to rescue you (in computer class) because you "didn’t hear." Students who "didn’t hear" usually end up with a problem. They struggle needlessly! They can become frustrated. They waste their own time trying to figure it out. They can fall behind in the work. Sometimes I have to undo the damage they have done in their document. I have to "teach them" the same material I taught the whole group just a few minutes earlier.

The BOTTOM LINE is, not listening is not fair to everyone, including yourself!

"Listening is easy. You don't have to do anything. All you have to do is hear the words the other person is saying."

WRONG!

Good listening is an active skill that you can develop with practice. You can use it throughout your life. Business people, or your husband or wife won’t like it if you don’t respect them enough to listen to them with your FULL ATTENTION. If you listen well, they will likely respect YOU more.

 

Listening Monitor.

In order to listen, you have to start listening!

If they make the effort, humans can put into their minds special agents, or monitors. You can tell your mind to look for some external cue, and if it occurs, to focus your attention upon it. Once such an agent or monitor is in place, it operates without your conscious awareness or effort. Mothers often do this automatically, and to such an extent that they will wake from a sound sleep if they hear even a weak sound of distress from their child.

Such a monitor can be created to help you be aware of when a teacher or leader begins speaking. It is really quite simple to do, but may take some practice and rework before it is working reliably.

Here is how to do it. Talk to yourself something like this:

"<YourName> inside, no matter what I am doing at the time, and no matter how focused I am on what I am doing, I want you to listen for the teacher’s voice. If you hear it, immediately focus my attention upon what the teacher is saying."

I urge you to do this now, and repeat it every day, until it automatically happens.

Look for Connections Between what is Said and Other Information

The more connections or associations you can make to the new information, the better you will understand it, and the better you will remember it. Did you read about it already? Have you learned some of it already? Have you used it already? Is it somehow related to something in a different class? Usually any kind of connection is helpful.

Take Notes

As the teacher or leader is speaking, get out a pencil and paper and take notes. Get in the habit! It works to focus your mind at picking out important parts. Don't be lazy. Laziness NEVER leads to improving yourself! The choice is yours: Be LAZY or Improve Yourself!

You don't have to write out full sentences. Often just a word or three is all you need to focus your listening, or later jog your memory about what was said. Pick out key words, phrases, or ideas. Write them down. See the page about Taking Notes.

Even today, at age 66, I will often take notes while watching a TV documentary I find interesting. I often take the notes on my notebook computer. That way I can clean them up during commercials or breaks.

Use Feedback

It is easy for the spoken word to be misunderstood.

Maybe:

• The speaker did not express himself well.
• The listener did not hear correctly.
• The listener was distracted for even a very short time.
• Some noise covered up enough to confuse the listener.
• The listener confused similar words.
• The subject was different than the listener expected. Listener got confused. May have thought he "heard" what he expected to hear!

There is only one way to detect and correct these errors. If it is possible to do so, you the listener can say something like:

"This is what I think I heard. <Listener now restates in his own words what he thinks he heard.> Is that correct?" You can do this after a lecture or instruction is finished.

The speaker, hearing what you think you heard, can now say, "Yes. That is exactly right!" (Or) "Not quite. Here is a correction. ---- "

Please be a quality person.

You cannot do it by being lazy.

Please work on listening.

Get in the habit of asking students to feed back what you just said. Concentrate on students who in the past seem to have a problem listening. This will help them stay focused on what you say. It would be a very good idea to speak with these students privately, and tell them you will be doing this. Tell them you are not trying to embarrass them, but to give them special attention to help them stay focused to learn to listen carefully. Repeat the benefits of good listening! Indicate listening carefully saves the student's time and increases student's ability to reach their Life-Goals. When you ask for their feedback, ask with the utmost respect, and respond with the utmost respect!

---

Page TOP - - - Super Student Contents, "Habits"

Unschool Super Student Contents, "Habits" - - - Master Contents