" Hello... Hello? Is Anybody Listening?": Teacher as Listener in the Classroom.

17 Pages·2012·0.41 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 508 592
ED 371 413
Collard, Teresa Y.
AUTHOR
"Hello...Hello? Is Anybody Listening?": Teacher as
TITLE
Listener in the Classroom.
Mar 94
PUB DATE
17p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
NOTE
International Listening Association (Boston, MA,
March 3-5, 1994).
Viewpoints
Speeches/Conference Papers (150)
PUB TYPE
(Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120)
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Cooperative Learning; Debate; Discussion (Teaching
DESCRIPTORS
Technique); Higher Education; *Lecture Method;
Problem Solving; Role Playing; Student Centered
Curriculum; *Teacher Behavior; *Teaching Styles
Communication Strategies; Educational Issues
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
Lectures have a place in educational history and even
students must be exposed to more
a place in today's classroom, but
listening to a
than one style of teaching. After 20 minutes of
realize their
lecture, most students reach a saturation point. To
in the
maximum potential, students must do more than just listen
regarding the
classroom. They must engage in activities and dialogue
simple techniques (other than
course materials. Teachers can use some
lecturing) to encourage students to recognize the meaningfulness of a
allow for
subject. Pausing at least three times during a lecture to
assimilate
discussion among the students may help them clarify and
students'
the information. Sometimes "lectures" should be based on
questions about a particular chapter. Student-led discussions move
learning
students from passive to active participation. Cooperative
learning
activities can be used in the classroom to enhance students'
useful
and develop their social skills. Problem solving is another
stimulate
active learning activity. Demonstrations can be used to
students' curiosity and to improve their understanding of conceptual
material and processes. Role playing situations allow students to
experience situations. Games, debates, and simulations add variety to
the classroom setting. Barriers to change include the following:
teachers may feel very uncomfortable when trying something new; and
administrators offer few incentives to change. (Contains 11
references.)
(kS)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
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Listening
1
Teacher as
Is anybody listening?":
*Hello...Hello?
Listener in the Classroom
Teresa Y. Collard
Martin
University of Tennessee at
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS
Case ol Educational Research and Improvement
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
This document has been reproduced as
received trom the person or organization
originating it.
CI Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Points of %new or opinions slated in Ihis
document do not necessarily represent
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
official OERI position or policy.
Convention
International Listening Association
March 3-5, 1994
Boston, Massachusetts
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Llstening
2
Part I
We (teachers) should be self-monitoring,
and self-changing practitioners
self-exploring,
(Weimer, 1992).
...we need to be instructionally aware
The days when teachers walked into classrooms, placed notes
(only pausing long enough to
on the lectern, and began lecturing
There are some very
Or are they?
breath), are long over.
the
serious, very real teachers who start class at the sound of
the full period, never relaxing their grips or
bell, hold fo
Perhaps over time, these teachers
their lectures for a second.
And
have become enchanted by their voices or their power.
perhaps, this enchantment fosters a false sense of success in
days
their teaching, so much so that they can look beyond the bad
and continue on with their daily lectures.
It is the
Lecturing is almost synonymous with teaching.
methOd by which we were taught, and in most cases it is the
Lectures have their place in the
method by, which we teach.
They even have their place in today's
history of education.
However, students must be exposed to more than one
classroom.
Just because lecturing has history behind it
style of teaching.
Believing this
doesn't mean that it is the best teaching method.
form
is like accepting that the horse, while once the most common
I'm afraid
of transportation, is still the only way to travel.
it just isn't so.
Just as there are new modes of transportation on the
And
highways, there are new modes of teaching in the classrooms.
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it is our job as teachers to choose the mode or method Which
This presentation
takes the student where he or she needs to go.
Plus, it
examines a teacher's role as listener in the classroom.
offers suggestions on how to gauge and encourage student
comprehension of materials through a wide variety of activities.
In classrooms all across the world, students alternate
Yes
passively-between note taking, daydreaming and listening.
This isn't
even in the best classes, students daydream.
difficult to believe if one considers the concept of a speech
Wherein we speak at rates of between 125-
thought differential.
175 words per minute, but we can process information at more than
400 words per minute (Gronbeck, 1992).
This lapee leaves a large amount of time for students to
Time for
focus on information other than the class material.
them to daydream, write notes to friends, or just plain not pay
We have all experienced some form of the speech
attention.
thought differential, and we cannot turn a blimd eye to this
behavior.
Another issue to consider when discussing the value of
Saturation deals with an
lecture is the concept of saturation.
individualls inability to listen effectively to even the most
Studies have
exciting lecturer over a sustained period of time.
shown that after as few as ten to twenty,minutes of lecturing,
students become confused and bored (Bonwell and Bison, 1991).
This boredom causes students to tune out the droning voice, and
thereby reduces the amount of information learned from the
This tuning out might explain why lectures are less
lecture.
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and changing student
effective at promoting student thought
attitudes.
potential, students must
In order to realize their maximum
They must be engaged
do more than just listen in the classroom.
We
the course materials.
in activities and dialogue regarding
vessels of knowledge.
cannot, continue to think of students as
the words which drip
They are more than mere containers catching
Education has to he more than simply
fron their teacher's lips.
It has to be meaningful to students.
lecturing students.
Boeree (1991) believes
What makes a lecture meaningful?
existence, well paced
that it is ',relevance to the listener's own
plus
development of a problem and resolution of that preblem,
imaginative
concrete, real-life imagery that encourages
Meaningful lectures must
participation and identification."
perspectives,
actively engage students about their world, their
/t must be new and vital, not a collection
and their existence.
The lecturer should weave words into
of notes from past decades.
and holds the students'
a wonderful, real story which captures
in
However, I don't believe that this is the case
attention.
Rather, I fear um lecture our old
most lecture situations.
have
ragged notes because they are what we know audidumma we
been.
Kahnueiler (1992) made this rather tongue in cheek statement
"It takes less work on ny part to dole out
about lectures.
and
information...I can deliver my lectures without interruptions
speak.0
take some pride in seeing people take copious notes as I
mind, I would
Even with this rather antagonistic statement in
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lecture in the classroom but with
support the necessity of some
if they
Lectures can make a difference
this ground rule in mind.
the
students' needs, not on the needs of
are centered on the
instructor.
Part XI
difficult job;
Teaching well is an extremely
keep in the air, so many
there are so nany balls to
1987).
minds and wills to engage (Crowell,
classroom structure
The process of dirsigning a
requires that I
which meets my hopes and expectations
(Cramer, 1990).
first overcome ny own perceptions
into class and lecture the full
So if we aren't going to go
There are many
do?
fifty minutes, what are we going to
recognize the
techniques that encourage students to
doesn't revolve around lecture.
meaningfulness of a subjects that
student questions, student led
These techniques include pausing,
solving,
discussion, cooperative learning, problem
and games/simulations.
demonstrations, role playing, debates,
in turn.
Each of these methods will be discussed
Pausing:
basic lecture format.
Pausing is a way of modifying the
lecturer stops at least three
student learning is enhanced if the
discussion over what has been
times during the lecture to allow
for approximately two
Students simply turn to each other
shared.
This °puts the focus
information.
or three minutes and compare
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presentedM in the
assimilating the information
on clarifying and
1991).
lecture (aonwell and Jason,
simple technique into my lectures,
I have incorporated this
It aids students in
and it seems to be very productive.
While allowing a slight
understanding What they have heard,
It also helps reduce
reprieve from the current lecture.
in student focus.
saturation by allowing for a shift
Student questions:
the end of the lecture is
Allowing for student questions at
There is more to this than
another way to modify a lecture.
the student and moving an tn
just giving a quick response to
students are
Rather at the end of the class,
another question.
information they don't understand.
allowed to ask questions About
questions and issues raised are
on the next class day, the
addressed in detail.
is to allow each student
Another form of student questioning
chapter or sUbject the day
to ask a question on a particular
the
The lecture would then cover
prior to the discussion.
This
the Chapter as a whole.
questions asked by the students not
responsibility of Shaping
method asks students to share in the
because he/lhe
This is more work for the lecturer
the lecture.
the day before the
would have no idea what to cover until
interest rather
However, it does respond to student
lecture.
than rote lectures.
Student led diicussions:
from passive loarning
Student led discussions move students
that
In these situations it is a must
to active participation.
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of the
In this case, the role
take over.
teachers let students
time,
However from time to
the students.
teacher is to listen to
facilitate these
for the teacher to
it nay be necessary
misinformation, asking probing
discussions by clarifying
participation,
adherence to task, ensuring
questions, ensuring
teaCher Should not do is
one thing the
etc. Mot importantly,
students
Instead, he/she must respect
dominate the discussion.
the freedom to seardh
learners, and allow them
as thinkers and
for answers.
students to
state, wWe ask all
Rhodes and Sdhaible (1992)
Obviously, a
discussion leader.
prepare to be the
lead discussion is well
student who prepares to
Pick a leader and two
prepared to participate...
the
turn the class over to
supporters at random and
until near the end of
students...We do not contribute
period. instead, we listen,
the first half of the
students' level of
attempting to learn the
and to see whidh issues
understanding of the material,
interest to them."
are of compelling
led discussions.
basic rules for student
These seem to be the
always go smoothly.
the discussions will not
We must realize that
lapses in
confusion, mistakes, and
They will be marred by
the realm
natural occurrences in
However, these are all
thought.
much from their
and students can learn
of critical thinking,
meaning for themselves.
mistakes when constructing
Cooperative learning:
enhance
learning are two-fold: to
Goals of cooperative
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8
social
students' learning and to develop students'
management and
skills like decision making, conflict
communication...(Bonwell and Bison, 1992).
edbancing a student's
Cooperative learning is geared towards
Small groups work together to
academic and social skills.
"Duration of these
understand a particular issue or task.
semester (Boomell and
activities nay be from one class to a whole
Bison, 1991)."
the group shares the
In the case of cooperative learning,
possibility for
However, this does not eliminate the
same grade.
"Also, with
Bonwell and Bison (1991) argue,
individual grades.
contribute and
individual accountability, all group members will
It is a
all the work."
not rely on the high achtevers to do
students to learn from each other
group effort which encourages
in a fairly nonthreatening manner.
students attain the highest reward
In cooperative learning,
Thus, every
well.
only if all other members of the group perform
basis has an
student rewarded under a cooperative learning
perform well
interest in seeing 'diet other members in the group
This fosters a sense of shared
(Ravenscroft, 1991).
do not
responsibility which individual learning practices
address.
in cooperative learning is to serve as
The teacher's role
Again, this is an
and evaluator.
facilitator, moderator,
the teacher to listen and Observe more,
activity which requires
class with
I have used this in ay interpersonal
and speak less.
other
Students work well together, and help midi
much success.
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negative
I have rarely experienced any
over difficult tasks.
criticisms from this approach.
Problem solving:
learning activity.
Problem solving is a vary useful active
information not just as words
It enables students to understand
The instructor night use
situations.
on a page, but as real life
address issues raised by
real or fictitious case studies which
Students are then allowed to find solutions
the course naterial.
decisions
This method forces students to make
for the problems.
of the
and enhances their understanding of the importance
information:being covered.
Demonstrations:
curiosity
Demonstrations can be used to stimulate students°
conceptual material and
and to improve their understanding of
I teadh courses in basic
processes (Bonwell and Bison, 1991).
essential feature of
public speaking where demonstration is an
eadh
The students learn a great deal from watching
the course.
Perhaps they learn what makes a good
other present speeches.
them to adopt
speech because they experience one, and this causes
speeches.
some winning strategies for their own
and seeing. For
Whatever the case, students learn by doing
grade school was
instance, one of the few lessons I remelber from
/ remelber the teacher gently placing the
a lesson on mercury.
of the danger
element on a tray; all the while, he was warning us
day I have
I was held spell bound, and to this
of touching it.
This is demonstration working at its
not forgotten the warning.
Demonstration is a common war children learn
most basic level.
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