Improve Listening Skills in Students
Many teachers lament that fact that students often fail to listen. In truth, listening actively is not something that people are born knowing do. Just like tying your shoe, people need to learn listen. Teachers can assist their students in developing the listening skills necessary for academic and real world success by engaging them in a series of listening activities. These activities help students hone their listening skills and encourage them to use these listening skills and listen actively.
Instructions
1. Explore learning styles. Give your students a learning style inventory, allowing them to determine how they learn best. If students see that they do not learn well when taught in an auditory fashion, they will know that they need to put more effort into actively listening.
2. Require student response. Select a buzzword that would likely come up throughout a school day, such as pencil. Tell students that, every time you say pencil, they should raise both their hands. If you notice students drifting off during a lesson, throw your word into the mix, requiring movement that will re-engage them and encourage them to listen up.
3. Instruct students to keep their eyes on the speaker. When people are actively listening, they look at the person speaking. Explain to your students that you expect them to keep their eyes on you when you are speaking and not instead rifle through papers. This allows you to see that your students are listening and provides actively listening practice for your pupils.
4. Play telephone. Line your students up, start a message at one end, and allow them to move the message down the line whispering it to each's neighbor. See how close the message that comes out of the end is to the original. Play this game regularly to encourage your students to develop their listening acuity.
5. Require students to answer questions about stories read orally. Traditionally, teachers provide copies of text to students. To improve listening skills, don't do this. Tell the students that they are going to have to answer questions using only the knowledge they gained by listening. This encourages students to tune in to the lesson.
6. Engage students in dictation activities. Practicing this task with your students can be highly effective in improving their attention to detail. Periodically, ask students to write what you say as you read a passage. If students find the activity tiresome, spice it up by offering a prize to the student who records what you say with the fewest errors.
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