Importance of listening to teachers

Listening is in fact invaluable in schools in all sorts of ways and at many levels of responsibility – for teachers, school leaders, students themselves and parents.  This is the first of a series of articles from Peter Hudson focusing on listening in schools. We start with teachers.

There are of course innumerable reasons for being a good listener if you are a teacher.  I have picked the five that I think are the most important.

1. To show respect for and motivate your students .

If anyone is listened to they feel more respected than if they are spoken over or talked at.  If your teacher listens to you, you feel that much more valued and if you feel more valued you feel good about yourself which in turn makes you want to do more.  In other words, you feel more motivated.  Increased motivation makes you much more likely to work harder and if you work harder you achieve more and will receive yet more respect.  So a virtuous circle has been started that can do nothing but good for your students – just by listening to them.

2. To find out what’s really going on with your students

If you are to support your students as well as possible you need to know what’s going on in their lives.  Some students will be open and informative but others won’t.  Active listening is a really good way to get kids to open up.  You need to know about difficulties in their academic life as well as their lives outside school if you are to be able to point them in the best direction for appropriate help and support or to give it yourself.  Active listening can help in both these areas.  A skilled active listener can help students to find their own way out of difficulties which is even better as it increases their self-motivation.

3. To be an effective role model

Whether you notice or whether you don’t, as a teacher you have a significant influence on students: you are a role model for them. So you need to decide how best to play out this role. Setting an example as a listening caring person will rub off and you will be helping students to develop as listeners too.

4. To be the best kind of support for your colleagues at school

We all know that having a ‘natter’ in the staff room and saying ‘well done’ can help you and your colleagues get through the difficult patches in a school day, week or term.  But giving them a serious ‘listening to’ can be even more supportive.  All that was written under showing respect for students works equally well with peers.  At one school where active listening skills had been taught to a majority of staff, teachers would regularly say to others at break, I don’t want to chat today, could you give me a ‘proper’ listening to like we learnt on the course?  In this kind of listening session staff would discuss significant problems and then create their own action plan to tackle them: the specific form of listening taught completely obviates the need for you to give advice to the other person, but rather helps them think it all through in a constructive way and find their own way forward.  As with students, teachers are much more motivated to take action if it’s their own ideas they are carrying out.

5. To help you with parent conferences

As a parent, I well remember being told this and that about my daughters’ work and attitudes.  The teachers often acted as if they were the only ones who knew anything. Trying to get a word in edgeways was often quite difficult.

I often went away frustrated and disappointed. I’m sure it’s not that bad anymore, but I expect it’s still difficult for teachers to know how best to deal with some of the more difficult parents meetings.  Listening can be a real boon in these situations too.  Parents need to feel heard and understood:  it all starts with listening!

Post Script: the importance of active listening

But it’s not any old listening.  It has to be active listening or motivational listening as I sometimes refer to it.  Motivational listening isn’t hard to learn and doesn’t take too long either so long as you are prepared to practise.

Other articles by Peter Hudson:

Peter Hudson, a past Chair of the British Association of Social Functioning, is a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist. His career has encompassed counselling and psychotherapy in private practice, the state sector with the UK’s National Health Service and in schools both in the UK and overseas.

To book Peter for training in your school please contact:  

Feature Image: Tim Gouw – Pexels

No matter how intelligent a student is, he will reap the benefits of his education only if he has developed adequate listening skills in the classroom. Teachers typically give direct instruction and then provide clarification as necessary. Students who listen keenly to directions and lectures -- rather than simply hearing them -- have distinct advantages. Efficient listening in the classroom saves time and results in improved academic and social skills.

Classroom dialogue is an integral part of the educational setting. Students interact with the teacher and one another when they offer thoughts, questions and ideas. Students who are in tune with class conversations are equipped to partake in the discussions. When students speak in front of a group in this type of informal setting, it prepares them for future endeavors in public speaking.

Pupils who listen carefully in class can readily begin assignments. They do not waste time asking a lot of questions prior to starting their work. When a student is not effectively listening, he could make unnecessary mistakes that require him to redo parts of the assignment. The exercises often carry over as homework, causing the student to devote even more time. Students realize the effect that listening has on time management.

Increased Academic Understanding

Students who listen in class gain a better understanding of the content the teacher presents and can identify the fundamental concepts. Their concentration ultimately results in storage of information in memory. This helps the student when he needs to recall and build upon prior knowledge, especially in a subject such as math, which is based upon previous skill attainment. Good listeners are better equipped to connect to new ideas and content.

Enhanced Interpersonal Connections

Whether a student is part of a teacher's or a guest speaker's audience, he needs to earn that person's respect and confidence. When the student is attentive, the speaker feels valued and is subsequently more open to the student's suggestions and input. Teachers react favorably when their pupils make an effort to actively listen in class. Students also have a high regard for peers who listen intently to their comments and questions.

Sharpened Listening Skills

Teachers typically incorporate listening prompts and activities throughout the day. They use rhythm games with young students to teach them aggressive listening skills. They might repeat a phrase such as "All eyes on me" in order to gain students' attention. Boys and girls learn that eye contact is an integral part of the listening process. When students follow the teacher's prompts and suggestions, they develop strong listening skills that carry over to all facets of life.

Today’s post is written by Michael F. Opitz, professor emeritus of reading education from the University of Northern Colorado who has investigated numerous literacy topics over two decades, including how to teach listening. His substantive research on teaching listening resulted in his book, Listen Hear! 25 Effective Listening Comprehension Strategies [Heinemann, 2004]. He is the author of and coauthor of numerous books, articles, and reading programs. 

Listening is at the heart of language development. At the moment of birth, babies have approximately 12 full weeks of listening experience and as children develop, so do their listening skills; listening becomes a vehicle for comprehension development. 

5 Reasons to Explicitly Teach Listening:

1. Learners develop an ability to discriminate sounds. Listening involves the identification of the differences among sounds. This identification and discrimination leads children to the understanding that sounds are grouped together to form words.

1.  Students realize the value of listening. Listening makes up a great percentage of a student’s day, both in and out of school. Expanding their views of listening and the benefits of using good listening skills can impact how they use listening. For instance, listening precisely to verbal instructions has a direct impact on student’s success in the classroom. They know exactly what they are to do as a result of being able to perform this type of listening.

1. Students learn to listen for a variety of purposes. There are many purposes for listening, such as to determine a speaker’s intended message, being able to thoughtfully respond to a speaker’s message, and to appreciate music. The good news is that teachers can actually teach children how to listen for a variety of purposes, which is one of the main goals of the Listenwise curriculum. Teaching listening to students is far different from simply expecting them to develop this complex language art by listening for longer periods with no specific focus.

1.  Listening enhances children’s ability to use the other language arts. When we teach listening we allow students to follow directions, understand expectations, and make sense of oral communication. As children improve as listeners, they learn to use the same strategies to improve their command of the other language arts. For example, when children ask a question [speaking], they then listen [listening] for the response which might clarify what they need to do to complete a given reading or writing task.

1. Students understand the relationship between listening and reading. Listening, like reading, is an active process. Listening and reading require the use of similar thought processes such as predicting and self-monitoring to attend to the conveyed message for the construction of meaning. And let’s remember that reading a word is much easier if it has first been heard!

As these five reasons show, explicitly teaching listening better positions learners to be critical listeners. They are better able to interpret what they hear in our media-driven society. Consequently, they are more astute consumers of information, goods, and services.