Do you hear what I hear? Nope, because you're not listening.

Two summers ago, we went to a hypnotist show and my twelve-year-old daughter went on stage to be hypnotized. This experience revealed an interesting truth about my daughter: she simply doesn’t listen. She was hypnotized, no doubt about it, but she didn’t do everything the hypnotist suggested. If there was too much going on or the instructions were too long, she would get confused and not do anything. She was like a zombie standing on the stage in a daze. The hypnotist would sometimes have to put his hand on her shoulder to get her to listen. Sooo does her inability to listen explain why I have to tell her over and over again to clean her room? Probably not but we’ll just roll with it.

This same daughter also takes forever to answer a simple question. I can ask her what she wants for breakfast and it takes her forever to answer. It used to feel like a long awkward pause until I realized she was seriously considering the question. Now I am learning that brief silences are good so that information gets processed. The textbook teaches us to pause before responding and to comment on the previous speaker first. This keeps us engaged in the conversation instead of focusing on our response.

I am a mean mom. When we go on a road trip, we listen to books instead of watch movies. My kids get excited about the books, including my “super cool” son. I really liked that the textbook mentions that students like to listen to poetry, books, and podcasts. These are important listening opportunities. 

The text also suggests having the students retell the story.

Communication is much more than listening and speaking. According to the textbook, body language is a form of communication. Before we speak to people we automatically assess their body language and what it is telling us and to consciously aware of what we are saying with our own body language.