- Have you ever wished your students were better at following directions?
- Do you wish your students communicated more clearly?
- Do your students misunderstand assignments?
- Are your students clueless about figurative language, idioms and inferred language?
Teaching the skills of listening can help!
Listening is the foundation of language; it is the bricks and mortar of learning. Listening is an interactive, interpretive process that requires us to:
- Tap into prior knowledge
- Organize the content
- Regulate our listening speed and processing
- Interpret meaning
- Recognize the whole and the parts of the information
- Respond accordingly.
“The best way to diffuse an argument is to listen first, second and last.”
— Anabel Johnson
Teaching listening pays off. It’s a great way to improve your classroom climate. Good listeners:
- Follow directions
- Understand expectations
- Are better motivated
- Communicate more clearly
- Clarify their needs
- Have higher academic performance
Listening is an integral part of the reading process. It helps to build vocabulary, increase fluency and aid in comprehension. Supporting reading through listening enables students to build skills and access curriculum at their grade level.
Listening is such an important skill that it is included in academic state standards throughout the country.
http://www.education-world.com/standards/state/index.shtml
Below is an example of Pennsylvania’s academic standards and how they relate to listening:
Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening
1.6.8. GRADE 8
- Listen to others.
- Ask probing questions.
- Analyze information, ideas and opinions to determine relevancy.
- Take notes when needed.
- Listen to selections of literature (fiction and/or nonfiction).
- Relate them to previous knowledge.
- Predict content/events.
- Summarize events and identify the significant points.
- Identify and define new words and concepts.
- Analyze the selections.
To view more information about Pennsylvania state standards, go to
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/k12/lib/k12/RWSLStan.doc