Active Listening

Active listening requires that two people speak to one another with the goal of listening intently.  One person speaks for a limited time, another listens; the listener then gives back what the person has said.  It is very difficult for many grad students and high school students to block out their own ideas and opinions, and actually actively listen.  

People do not realize that when they listen, they are adding their own ideas to what they are hearing.  Other times, they are getting caught up on the first few ideas, and reply with some tangential idea.  Normal conversations among friends often go this way – my friend tells me about her landlord, and I tell her about my landlord as a child, and she tells me about what her mother used to do when she was growing up, so on.  Academic dialogue really should not.

I suppose that the use of this protocol is an example of codeswitching, not only in our speech but in how we listen.  We must block distracting information out, and keep ourselves from putting our own opinions on those in the classroom.  Also, if we do want to continue the thread of the conversation without going off topic, we must listening active so that our next comment allows the conversation to flow.  

I have used this protocol before, and mostly in adult situations.  In my group text, The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write . . ., Ms. Rita demonstrates in a fishbowl an appropriate speaking and listening protocol for an upcoming activity.  Protocol development remains an important educational strategy for guiding conversation and teaching social skills. This is an activity that can be used in the classroom, especially in an English or Advisory class, but also in any class in which importance is placed on dialogue.