There is a lack of explicit teaching of active listening skills inside the typical classroom. We are increasing the difficulty of content knowledge expected and increasing the expectations of young children without giving them the tools to help them be successful. One of the four C's is communication but we neglect to give much attention to one of the primary components of good communication and that is the ability to actively listen to message being told to us. Active listening skills will be my dependent variable in this study. We instruct students on how to go through the motions of listening like eye contact, nodding our head to show understanding, and not speaking over the person. We have taught them how to show respect, but not how to listen to comprehend. Half of each child's school day is spent listening to the teacher and to their peers (Wolvin & Coakley as cited in Anderson & Brent, 1994) and they often do it ineffectively (Jalongo, 1996). This same type of study has been performed on older students, but little data has been collected on students in first grade.
My plan is to do a pre-test and post-test model to see what the effect size is for these strategies I plan implement. This is the independent variable in the study. The strategies are explicit active listening instruction, game playing, and art projects. Ability to repeat a verbal message and ability to follow multi-step instruction will be the results indicators. We will be playing a game called telephone to practice actively listening to a message, retaining it into short term memory, and then accurately passing that message on to the next person in the circle. A digital portfolio called Seesaw will be used to collect hard student data with a very simple four quadrant graphic organizer that they can draw a simple picture on. The students will be following oral directions that I give to them. They will earn a point each time they accurately follow one of the instructions I deliver.
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Who are the seminal people researching in the area of your driving question? What are they known for? What are the big ideas? Tell us about the state-of-the-art knowledge related to your question.
I've come across some people who have researched similar questions to mine. No one really stands out at being a seminal person perse. Most of the research I have come across comes from other people who have written their dissertations on the topic. The articles I have found also pertain to children who are a few years older than the ones in my study. I have not come across any "state of the art" knowledge related to my question yet, but I have found that there are facets to active listening that I didn't know existed. "The skill of listening is the first linguistic skill that humans acquire. In fact, fetuses hear voices outside the womb as early as the fifth month of gestation (Doğan, 2008). Perhaps given its primary placement among linguistic skills, the many definitions of listening differ. In general, however, listening comprises sending a message (i.e., transmission), hearing that message, and making sense of it (Özbay, 2005).Listening does not mean watching the other party passively, but making an effort to receive and interpret messages in order to fully achieve communication (Devito, 1995; Omololu, 1984; Umagan, 2007). " (Canpolot, M) I will need to use a mixture of hard data and teacher observation to collect information on all of these different facets. The big ideas I have come across are that listening is a key element of communication that is often overlooked. It is the first skill we develop as infants. "The skill of listening is the first linguistic skill that humans acquire. In fact, fetuses hear voices outside the womb as early as the fifth month of gestation (Doğan, 2008). Perhaps given its primary placement among linguistic skills, the many definitions of listening differ. In general, however, listening comprises sending a message (i.e., transmission), hearing that message, and making sense of it (Özbay, 2005).Listening does not mean watching the other party passively, but making an effort to receive and interpret messages in order to fully achieve communication (Devito, 1995; Omololu, 1984; Umagan, 2007). " ( Canpolot, M) If we are expecting students to achieve proficiency and cometency in the areas of communication and collaboration then we must give them a solid foundation in listening for meaning and understanding. From the studies I have come across, I have found that there has been a positive correlation between systematic active listening instructions and a students ability to perform tasks such and following multi-step instructions. " A review of solution strategies suggested by knowledgeable others and an analysis of the problem setting resulted in the selection of one intervention: an emphasis on social skills instruction attempted to increase positive social interaction and active listening skills. Results from post-intervention data indicated an increase in student use of active listening skills in dyads and cooperative group settings. Findings revealed that students used metacognition to monitor and check their personal listening skills. Findings also suggest that students gained a heightened awareness of the elements of active listening" ( Alonso, L). Citations: Alonso, Laura. Improving Deficient Listening Skills in the Language Arts Program at the Middle Grades. 23 Apr 96 NOTE 52p.; M.A. Project, Saint Xavier University. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses Masters Theses (042) Canpolat, M., Kuzu, S., Yıldırım, B.,& Canpolat, S. (2015). Active listening strategies of academically successful university students. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 60,163-180 Doi: 10.14689/ejer.2015.60.10 “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must we want for all children in the community. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy” In response to the quote above...I just registered my first born child for kindergarten yesterday. Being an educator and then putting your own child into public education kid of helps to clarify for me what the parents of all the children I have taught for the last 8 years have really wanted from me when up until how it really hasn't been as clear. I think that what they wanted from me was to be teaching their children how to think. How to listen. How to learn in many different contexts. How to be adaptable. How to be perseverant when things get hard. I think that no matter what new expectations children are held to and no matter what new technologies are being used and introduced as long as they have the critical thinking and problem solving skills necessary.... they will be successful. How do your findings fit in with the other topics in this class: 21st century teaching & learning, equity of opportunity for students, the brain, inquiry-based learning, etc. I think that what this brain research touches on is that we as teachers need to tap into how the brain learns and make that the primary focus of how to teach children. Many times we loose sight of this because there are things coming at us in all directions. There was a picture that I found that seemed so appropriate for the discussion of the brain (seen above). The density of synapses in the brain is actually less dense from 7 years old to 15 years old. Why? Probably because in education we limit students creativity. As the video from a few classes ago by Ken Robinson stated, " All children have tremendous talents and we squander them pretty ruthlessly." Without a clear understanding of how the brain learns information and how to best teach so that students will learn we are really kind of wasting our time. Content ( what to teach) has overshadowed the need for attention to the pedagogy ( how to teach it). I think that the tips on Neurobiology and learning was a really helpful tool that teachers should be reminded of. The 4 C's is really the how....if we can teach our students HOW to be creative, think critically, communicate and collaborate we will be giving the gift of being able learn and navigate through any content they may be faced with. I really liked the Brainy Bunch page by Pat Wolfe and how it stated , "So the next time someone tells you that any student or group of students is destined to fail in school, don’t believe them. Their path is in their heads. If they have belief, hope and tenacity, there is no telling how far students can go." This further emphasizes the need for equity in education. If we make sure that all students have access to technology, tools and well trained teachers then there is no limit to what any child can achieve. |
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