Here at the International School of Brussels Early Childhood Center, I have been working very closely with our Speech and Language Therapist in developing Attentive Listening with our students. She saw the direct link between Attentive Listening and expressive and receptive language disorders in the students she works with. When introducing the Community Circle to our staff this fall as an agreed upon mandatory activity in all classrooms, we worked together to present not only the community building effects of that Circle time, but the specific language skills that are also be taught and reinforced. She was able to pull together the research around the multiple elements of speech and how they relate to Attentive Listening. Together we developed a simple graphic icon using eyes, ears, a mouth and a heart to symbolize everything you use to listen. We laminated them and posted them in every room. This link between the "science of speech" and the emotional development that happens when we listen attentively has truly helped the staff implement this agreement consistently throughout our building.
For those of you who come from Ontario, you will know that attentive listening is one of the reportable expectations from the Language Arts Curriculum. So now that July has almost flown by and people will be thinking about how to start the school year, what is the first thing you do "to teach" this agreement to the students? I really like the thought that if we expect it we have to teach it. An anchor chart of what good listening looks like, sounds like and feels like be would be my first choice of activities. What is yours? Do you have a good picture book that you use early in September to kick off the discussion about listening?
I love watching my students begin to 'own' the classroom and how it's managed. I always know we're on our way when I hear my kids reminding each other to have attentive listening!!
I had a class that was pretty challenging, in terms of attentive listening. Basically, they didn't. So I started by having the last 5-10 minutes of each day be the time to really practice attentive listening. One day, a student said, "Why don't we just do this attentive listening ALL the time?!" And that was it – the start of a whole new culture in my classroom.
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