Technolandy

Day 16 (of SOL 2025) Summer of Learning… Dear Dr  @chrkennedy  active listening

In his annual year end blog, Chris had some good questions… here is question 

16. How can we get better at truly listening to students?

Time – and trusting that we can also be vulnerable. Active listening is not easy, especially when someone is talking about their passion which, (as a teacher shared with great frustration) I just don’t care at all about _____ – gotta fake it to make it – much as many students fake paying attention and enjoying being in the classroom… with some work by adults, it might work well for all!

Active listening is an important skill that, when done well, activated other senses to use to focus in on: https://technolandy.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/day-114-of-188-active-watchinglookingseeing/

Good listening will lead to more questions about the questions being asked. Also important to clarify when/if there is a misunderstanding as well as to gauge interest/connection to what is being learned.  Spoiler to an upcoming writing piece… what if we listen to the learner when they say “enough – I’m done” – to a task… a course… a pathway…