“Listening and observing are two of the most important and underdeveloped teacher tools.”
As I watched the eager and sometimes anxious faces of children entering their new classrooms for the very first time this year, I thought about how quickly the social order—sometimes called the “pecking order”—in every classroom seems to get established. And I thought about the daunting job every teacher faces in helping every child to feel valued, to feel competent, and to ensure that each of their voices is heard with equal respect and attention, both by the teacher and their classmates.
“Lifting every voice” has always been a goal of mine in the classroom and in the adult community of schools. Increasingly my personal experience teaches me that the secret to reaching this goal is to learn to be a better listener.
I tend to have a lot of ideas, and it’s easy to get carried away with them and have a lot to say. It’s taken time and personal discipline to become a better listener, and I’m certainly not always reaching my own goals in this respect—as my colleagues might tell you. But what I’m learning is that you learn a lot more from listening than talking and that the more everyone gets to talk, the more we all learn.
All learning in school occurs in a social context. The teacher has the job of understanding what and how children are learning in that context so she can adjust her instruction from lesson to lesson to improve student understanding. The best way for her to do this is to spend more time listening to what children have to say and watching what they do. Listening and observing are two of the most important and underdeveloped teacher tools.
To listen well and watch what children are doing, teachers have to spend less time talking to the class. There can be a dramatic difference between the amount of time that children are actually talking to each other about their assignments and problem-solving together in classrooms compared with the amount of time teachers are talking and directing the learning.
When we listen well, we learn not to be rehearsing our own ideas at the same time someone else is talking, but to take in the other person’s ideas and think about them. This often improves our own ideas and influences what we have to say. This, in turn, heightens appreciation for diversity of ideas and opinions, enlivening classrooms and making them more respectful learning communities. The same is equally true in the adult community of school, where listening is a critically important tool for administrators and school authorities. Often, it is the group’s leader and a few very vocal contributors who tend to dominate conversations in staff and school committee meetings.
That’s why it’s so important for us to facilitate more partner and small group conversations in classrooms and board rooms where every person has the opportunity to speak and be heard and, perhaps, most importantly, everyone has the opportunity to listen with attention and appreciation to others’ ideas and perspectives.
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Thanks, Lisa, for your meaningful perspective. (Readers should check out Lisa’s blogsite – Wonder of Children. See menu at right) Chip
Chip – As always, your comments strike the perfect balance of wisdom, gentle reminders, and an awareness that teaching is an art which is carefully crafted and remolded throughout a career. Listening must truly be one of life’s biggest challenges – and true listening means truly giving of oneself in order to hear what’s in the hearts, minds and souls of others. It sometimes amazes me that we ask our children to engage in such a task even while it’s nearly Sisyphean for each of us!
At our school, we model and practice active listening techniques with our classes, but it’s really something for all to be engaged in practicing. We have had listening as a focus over the past year and is continuing in that vein by sharing stories this year, where we ask questions of each other and truly listen to responses. This is proving to be a learning opportunity for all to stretch listening skills, give of ones self and make new connections across our community.
Listening – and observing – are at the heart of what we do as educators. As we learned from the teachers of Reggio Emilia, Italy – children are strong and capable in many ways. We’ll decipher those ways and help move them along in their development with careful listening, keen observations, and drawing on our own expertise of child development and curriculum. Thanks for the reminders to not let the seemingly easy task of listening hinder what we can accomplish once we ensure each child feels listened to, valued, and regarded as a contributor to our class community.
Stephanie – Thank you for your comment. It made me think how listening to our children helps us remember why we got into this business in the first place. Perhaps we should think of listening as our first “guided discovery” for ourselves with each new class.Have a wonderful first six weeks and rest of the year. Chip
I am reading your gentle reminder upon entering my third day of school with my young learners. I thank you for providing these important points to me as an educator of young minds. I am in DESPERATE need of this reminder! We often get stuck in OUR planned guided discoveries and modeling of OUR ideas and forget to listen to the individuals who truly form our space and community! Thank you!
Thank you, Leslie and Rosalea, I was touched by your comments because they speak of the deepest and purest of intentions in teaching … to be led by the children into the truth of their needs and joys and then to respond.
Thank you both for your teaching presence. Chip
Talking too much is definitely a fault of mine. So, I immediately recognized myself in what you wrote. I was appreciative to read this entry just a couple of days before school starts. As I prepare all the routines, activities and lessons of the first six weeks, I am grateful for the reminder of the importance of listening and truly seeing with my whole heart.
Thank you!
As a teacher guilty of too much talking and now retired from the classroom, I wish I could send these thoughts to all administrators, teachers and parents. Listening may be the last teaching practice we learn; it may also be the best practice. Being in Chip Wood’s presence has taught me the art of listening. Thanks Chip.