#3 Listening Seminar
by Shelley Nordick

I. Introduction

1. Grabber--Play Simon Says Listening Game
2. Establish reasons for and importance of this topic
   • Andre Gide quote: "All this has been said before--but since nobody listened, it must be said again."
   • Background Info. We often don't recognize listening as the kind of skill we need to spend time and energy practicing. We may think there's nothing to it. Students come to school speaking and listening. They learn pronunciation of words by listening, and most of a child's beginning vocabulary comes this way. All of this is set when students come to school. However, we hear teachers say all the time, "Students just don't listen." If it is to be learned, it must be taught.
   • Studies have shown it can be taught. Children who have rich listening experiences not only develop greater language skill than children who do not, but even develop more of their innate potential for intelligence. I.L. Moe determined that listening tests were better predictors of reading readiness than were reading readiness tests.
   • Research indicates that listening requires extra physical energy. It should make your heart beat faster. "Life With the Wright Family" Activity
   • Listening requires mental energy--not to keep up, but to slow down, to concentrate on what's being said. It takes our undivided attention. Most people can listen with comprehension to 300 words per minute. The rate of most speakers is 125-175 words per minute.
   • Children do not need to listen more--they need to listen better.
3. Review objectives of seminar:
   • Barriers to listening
     
   • Avoiding barriers
   • Teaching listening
4. Barriers to Listening. Share poem. (attachment 3)
   • Make a T-chart on the board and have students list barriers to good listening.
   • Examples could include problems with the physical environment (temperature, outside noise, humidity, etc); characteristics of the message (difficult vocabulary/concepts, low interest level, amount of info, etc.); social factors (non-verbal cues, classroom atmosphere, etc.); physical and psychological characteristics of the listener.
   • D.A. Penfield made a study in 1970. Found even pre-school children have the abilities that are essential for critical listening, although they lack maturity. Study showed that 2nd and 5th grade showed the greatest impact of listening instruction.
   • Discuss what we can do to avoid/address the barriers listed above.
   • Examples could include providing a good listening model, setting goals for listening, limiting the repetition of questions and directions--Refuse to repeat!, providing a range of listening opportunities, PROVIDE DIRECT INSTRUCTION!!
5. How and what do we teach it?
   • We'll divide listening into two categories:
     1. Serious Listening: (Hang Posters)
        • Following directions
        • Discriminative Listening (listening with a purpose, Sequencing, Observing relevant details, Classifying, Recognizing relationships, Comparing and contrasting, Making connections, Context Clues, Analogies
        • Critical Listening (Listen for main ideas, Separate fact and opinion, Understand generalizations, draw conclusions, Evaluate evidence and ideas, Recognize persuasion techniques)
        • Note Taking
     2. Friendly Listening:
        • Listening Habits
        • Responding/Questioning
        • Point of View
        • Tone of Voice and Word Usage
        • Body Language
   • Skills should be taught in brief sessions with a specific process: (Hang Poster)
     1. Build on a background students relate to
     2. Set the stage for listening
     3. Provide a purpose for listening
     4. Read aloud. Use visuals, use prediction techniques
     5. Questioning
     6. Give immediate reinforcement
     7. Provide follow-up activities

   • Demonstrate a listening lesson teaching Following Directions.

     1. Have students brainstorm all the times they follow directions.
     2. Discuss the importance of being able to follow directions. Pick some of the examples students gave for #1 above and share what would happen if they didn't follow directions. (Share any experiences you may have.)
     3. Share objective with students (Listening to follow directions)
     4. Begin activity. (attachment 4) and
     5. Find out how students did after each section.
     6. Ask students what made listening difficult or what helped them to listen.
     7. Do similar activities for the next few days.
6. Conclusion

   Good listening is not always easy, but it is essential. From The Phantom Tollbooth:"Slowly at first, and then in a rush, more people came to settle here and brought with them new ways and new sounds, some very beautiful and some less so. But everyone was so busy with the things that had to be done that they scarcely had time to listen at all. And, as you know, a sound which is not heard disappears forever and is not to be found again."

Simon Says Listening Game From Games Magazine, by Burt Hochberg

This is played much like the regular Simon Says: You obey the instruction that comes after "Simon Says." However, you can't move while you play this version. You must do it all in your head.

1. Simon Says, stand straight, hands at your sides.
2. Simon Says, raise your right hand.
3. Simon Says, if your right hand is raised, put your left hand on your left hip.
4. Simon Says, stick out your tongue.
5. Simon Says, if one of your hands is raised, raise your opposite leg.
6. Simon Says, if your right hand is not on your hip, reverse the positions of your two hands.
7. Unless Simon did not tell you to raise your left leg, touch your nose with your right hand.
8. Simon Says, the next time you hear the word "reverse", switch the positions of your two hands.
9. Simon Says, if your tongue is out and one leg is raised, pull your tongue in.
10. Simon Says, if one of your legs is raised and your tongue is not out, put your leg down.
11. Do not reverse the positions of your two hands.
12. Simon Says, reverse the positions of your two hands.

Have students stand and show you what positions they're in. (Their left hand should be raised.)

Life With the Wright Family From Alan Jackson's Activities that Teach

One day the Wright family decided to take a vacation. The first thing they had to decide was who would be left at home since there was not enough room in the Wright family car for all of them. Mr. Wright decided that Aunt Linda Wright would be the one left at home. Of course, this made Aunt Linda Wright so mad that she left the house immediately yelling, "It will be a right cold day before I return."

The Wright family now bundled up the children, Tommy Wright, Susan Wright, Timmy Wright, and Shelley Wright, and got in the car and left. Unfortunately, as they turned out of the driveway someone had left a trash can in the street so they had to turn around and stop the car. They told Tommy Wright to get out of the car and move the trash can so they could get going. Tommy took so long that they almost left him in the street. Once the Wright family got on the road, Mother Wright wondered if she had left the stove on. Father Wright told her not to worry--he had checked the stove and she had not left it on. As they turned right at the corner, everyone started to think about other things they might have left undone.

No need to worry now, they were off on a right fine vacation. When they arrived at the gas station, Father Wright put gas in the car and then discovered that he had left his wallet at home. So Timmy Wright ran right home to get the money that was left behind. After Timmy had left, Susan Wright started to feel sick. She left the car saying that she had to throw up. This, of course, got Mother Wright's attention and she left the car in a hurry. Shelley Wright wanted to watch Susan get sick, so she left the car too. Father Wright was left with Tommy Wright who was playing a game in the backseat.

With all of this going on Father Wright decided that this was not the right time to take a vacation, so he gathered up all of the family and left the gas station as quickly as he could. When he arrived home, he turned left into the driveway and said, "I wish the Wright family had never left the house today!"

Listening Poem

Listening, I hear, is a very important thing.

So to help us learn more, I brought some friends to make the message ring:

Stewart Slouch can't listen--He's lacking in sleep
So he's all over his desk in one big heap.

Fidgeting Fred can't sit still.
No mind if he's taken a pill.

Dan Daydreamer catches a word now and then,
But most of the time, who knows what world he's in.

Your math lesson's going well. It's plain to see.
Then Change the Subject Chad asks, "What are we doing in PE?"

Finicky Fran decides everything's uninteresting and dull.
Judging the speaker and subject is her listening pitfall.

Notetaker Nell writes everything down.
Three times in two minutes she'll say, "Please slow down!"

Despondent Dora appears to listen and all,
But getting a response is like talking to a wall.

You know these friends, you see them every day.

We would teach them to listen--if we could just find a way!

The Paper Wad Game

About this activity...

Paper wads? Well, at least there are no rubber bands associated with this game! Actually, the pace here is so rapid that there will be little time for traditional forms of paper-wad mischief.

Materials needed...

Plain paper (8 1/2" x 11") and a strip of paper made by dividing a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" paper into three vertical pieces.

Directions to students...

We are going to be playing "The Paper Wad Game" today, but first you must make your own game board and game pieces.

I have given each of you two pieces of paper. We'll start with the large piece first. Begin by folding the paper in half. Press down on the fold to make it good and sharp, and then fold it in half the other way.

Now, open up the paper and smooth it out. Go over the fold marks with your pencil so that it is easy to see the four boxes you have made. Next, place the paper so that one of the short sides is closest to you. Write the number "1" near the bottom of the top left-hand box. Write the number "2" near the bottom of the top right-hand box. Write the number "3" near the bottom of the lower left-hand box. Write the number "4" near the bottom of the lower right-hand box.

Now, let's make the game pieces--the paper wads. I'm sure you all know how to do that! First, tear the strip of paper into four parts. Try to make them about the same size. (pause) Now, crumple the four pieces into four little paper wads. By the way, the paper wads must stay on your desk or you don't get to play the game.

Now, we're ready to play. This is a game to see how well you listen and follow directions. You'll be showing me by moving the paper wads from box to box as I give you instructions.

Let's practice first. Put two of your paper wads in Box 3. (Don't use the other ones for now.) If I said "3 to 4," you would move one paper wad from Box 3 to Box 4. Okay, do that. Now here's one rule: You never move more than one paper wad at a time, no matter how many wads happen to be in a particular box.

Let's practice again, starting with one paper wad in Box 3 and one in Box 4. The directions re: 4 to 2, 2 to 1. Now, where did your pieces end up? Yes, in Box 1 and 3.

Let's start. First, put one paper wad in each box. Here we go. Pay attention because I'm going fast.

• 4 to 2
• 3 to 1
• 1 to 2
• 2 to 4
• 1 to 2
• 4 to 2
• 2 to 1
• 2 to 3
• 1 to 4
• 2 to 1

Where did the wads end up? Yes, one wad is in each box.

Next, let's start with all four paper wads in Box 2. This time, I'm going to go faster.

• 2 to 1
• 1 to 3
• 3 to 4
• 2 to 4
• 2 to 1
• 1 to 4
• 2 to 1
• 4 to 3
• 1 to 4
• 3 to 4

Where did the wads end up? Yes, they are all in Box 4.

Now, let's put two paper wads in Box 1 and two paper wads in Box 2. Here we go, and I'll be going very fast.

• 2 to 1
• 1 to 2
• 2 to 1
• 1 to 2
• 2 to 4
• 1 to 3
• 3 to 4
• 4 to 3
• 3 to 2

Where are the wads? Yes, there is one paper wad in Box 1, two paper wads in Box 2, and one paper wad in Box 4.

For this last game, I am going to say the directions faster than ever and there will be twice as many commands. Can you keep up with me? Start by putting all four wads in Box 1.

• 1 to 4
• 1 to 3
• 1 to 2
• 2 to 1
• 4 to 3
• 3 to 2
• 1 to 2
• 1 to 3
• 3 to 4
• 2 to 1
• 2 to 1
• 4 to 1
• 1 to 4
• 3 to 4
• 1 to 2
• 4 to 3

How did you do? If you followed the directions, each box should have a paper wad.