Communication

Elements of Active Listening

• Goal: Learn the elements of active listening.
• Task: In pairs - Partner A Briefly describe to Partner B a situation you have found yourself in at school where there was some type of dispute or disagreement (i.e. with a student over a grade, with a parent over a miscommunication). Both partners will use this guide to determine which elements of active listening were used emotional labeling, open-ended questions, minimal encouragers, reflecting and mirroring, "I" messages, para-phrasing, summarize, effective pauses and silence

Repeat. Partner A should again describe their situation. This time, Partner B should purposefully use two elements of active listening.

• Reflection: When and how might you use these elements in the classroom? In everyday life?
• Variation: Explicit Teaching - Learn the elements of active listening with a personal scenario; Implicit Teaching - Practice the elements of active listening with subject content (i.e. As a review activity, actively listen to your partner explain a concept.); Role play: participants are crisis managers

Formal and Informal Language

• Goal:
• Task:
• Reflection:
• Variation:

Microlab Protocol

• Goal: Students will focus on the quiet parts of listening
• Task: 2-3 students take turns sharing their thinking for one minute while others take notes.
• Reflection: What's difficult about silently listening? What's the benefit to the speaker?
• Variation: A-B partner sharing, listener practices not reacting (no nodding, facial expressions, etc)

Socratic Seminar

• Goal: Students will engage in self-directed, constructive, and deep discussion on key texts through inquiry-based conversation.
• Task: Students prepare 5 questions and 5 quotes from key texts. Without teacher guidance, they will practice raising points, responding to others, and asking questions.
• Reflection: Self-assessment with a rubric
• Variation: Fishbowl (outer circle observes), wing-person (inner circle people have partners on the outside to provide tips and feedback in intervals), discussion leader, observation partners who will grade participants with a rubric