The lessons in this unit are based upon best practices in teaching effective listening, as found in An Overview of Best Practices to Teach Listening Skills^[1] and Effective Listening^[2]. This is a 10-14 day unit of instruction, approximately 45 minutes per day, for high school students.

Lessons here teach students to "employ effective speaking and listening skills for a range of purposes and audiences", within Alaska State Standards for Speaking and Listening^[3]. Similar standards in Speaking and Listening are found in the Common Core State Standards Initiative^[4]. Lessons are constructed according to iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses^[5]. 

I have included images and headings, along with optional supplementary activities for instructors who wish to use this module for blended online and traditional classrooms. This is meant to be a Learning Module and a ready-to-use online teaching kit. 

All images are used under license from Deposit Photos. All work is my own, except where noted. References used for specific activities are cited within the Instructor Notes for each section.

Instructor Directions

To introduce the concept of Effective Listening, we first ask students to identify and describe the effective listeners in their own lives. This way, they have concrete, personal examples of the interpersonal skills which will be described later in this unit. 

The strength of this kind of survey is that as an instructor, you can see individual responses, but you can also share collective group data responses with the class, such as shown in the example below. 

To get a customizable copy of this form, click here. The Instructor Notes in Assignment 9 will show you how to save a copy of your own to customize. To share your own group's data, click as shown below:

It's helpful to review factors the majority of the class chose to describe the great listeners they know. For example, more than 70% of this group indicated people they want share great news with (71.4%) and seek after tough times (76.2%) in their own lives "pay attention when I talk". This relevance to them helps reinforce points regarding the importance of paying full attention in the next presentation.

OPTIONAL CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY Cross-Curricular Discussion Activity

You can also use the form responses to help your students practice infographic analysis skills by asking them to interpret data in graphs and charts to write their own observations, theories, or conclusions. The same "Summary of responses" will actually give you much more information, including pie charts, such as the one below. 

There are questions posed within this presentation. If you decide to show the presentation to a group, pause at the questions and ask students to share their opinions and comments. 

OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES

One focus of this presentation is the importance of looking up from screens to face the speaker when listening. You may wish to add this video, "Look Up"^[1], about the importance of looking up from screens in general, and have an additional class discussion with students afterward. It's somewhat ironic that we need to look at a screen in order to view it, but the message can resonate with teens and spark very lively conversations. There is a mention of the word "bastards" in the video, so please consider that in your decision. 

You may choose to add this article as an introduction^[2] to the "Look Up" viewing and discussion activity. You can also choose to use only the article as a discussion prompt.

Champion, Matthew. "The Internet Loves This Photo (and so Will You)." The Independent 28 Sept. 2015

Media embedded October 5, 2015

There are several great venues to use for discussion forums. Here are a few, with links to get started. 

Edmodo

MoodleCloud

Google Docs

Facebook (closed group)

If your students are not yet proficient in posting to discussion forums, make a few example posts with them as a group. Also demonstrate how you'd like them to reply. Typically, students learn this very quickly, because many of them already have experience through social networks. (My seventh graders learned after one class demonstration.)

Remember to post replies as a member of the forum yourself. Respond especially to posts without much attention yet. Participation with this will grow along with engagement. Be patient, but encouraging. Keep this forum active throughout the unit. Students will post more as they learn more. 

It is advisable to cover the expectations of digital citizenship, if you haven't already done so.

Here are suggested instructions to use with this assignment. If you would like your own copy of these instructions to save and customize, click here. *

Here are a few more lesson plans to help teach Digital Citizenship, from Brainpop Educators^[1]. 

http://educators.brainpop.com/digital-citizenship-spotlight-lesson-plans/

To rename, save, and modify your own copy of the instructions, use the Google Doc "File" menu as shown below:

This presentation gives a basic introduction to social mirroring and mirror neurons. After they have viewed this presentation, partner students together. Give each student a set of 5 expression cards (there are 8 examples below). Have one student silently "act" the emotion on the card with facial expressions and posture for 30 seconds, and challenge his/her partner to mirror back a positive emotion. (When they see a frown, return a smile instead.) After thirty seconds, say "freeze" and see which mirror was strongest. This is an activity to help students mirror positive expressions back instead of reflexively copying negative expressions. Most of the time, students given a negative emotion expression card will not be able to keep it when challenged with a positive expression (smile, etc.). Rather than telling students this in advance, let them discover it naturally through this activity.   

"Expression Cards" (Print and cut out, or make your own.)

After the activity, talk with the students as a group about what kind of situations positive mirroring may help. (Positive mirroring can help diffuse anger, resentment, distrust, anxiety, worry, annoyance, and fear. It can help foster collaboration.) Also discuss situations in which positive mirroring may not help. (There are times, such as those involving grief, when it's best to listen with a neutral, open expression.) 

ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITY

If you are interested in further exploring mirror neurons and the roles they may play in society, you might like this video by Vilayanur Ramachandran. Click the link below the preview picture to access the TEDEd lesson, "The neurons that shaped civilization - VS Ramachandran".

This link will bring you to a fully customizable TED Ed lesson with a video and discussion questions made by VS Ramachandra. Please click here for the lesson.

Additional References Used in Activity 4:

Iacoboni, Marco. "Imitation, Empathy, and Mirror Neurons." Annual Review of Psychology 60 (2009): 653-70.Http://www.annualreviews.org/. Annual Review of Psychology. Web. 26 Sept. 2015. <http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163604>.

Mack, Steve. "Contagious Subway Laughter." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHnRIAVXTMQ>.

Ramachandran, Vilayanur. "The Neurons That Shaped Civilization - VS Ramachandran." TED-Ed. 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

Listening Skills (or the lack thereof) are actually Listening Habits. The process needed to change habits takes effort and time. This activity uses techniques and strategies research shows helps develop new and lasting habit formation.^[1]

The Listening Challenges Exercise adheres to the following neurological and psychological principles: 1) conscious choice to change existing habits; 2) development of individualized cues; 3) use of personal memory prods; 4) partners and group support to help encourage change; 5) self evaluation and reflection; 6) focus on positive impacts and benefits from using the new habit. Students can use this activity conscientiously to help themselves develop better long term listening habits. This exercise is the first in a series of three related activities provided in this unit. You will find in future Listening Challenge Exercises that students evaluate their ongoing progress toward their goals.

Customizable forms are available to instructors for each exercise. These forms can be revised and used periodically throughout the academic year for instructors who wish to maintain ongoing listening self-evaluations to cultivate lasting habitual change. One study found the range in which individuals reach automaticity of new habits varies greatly, from 18 to 254 days, with an average of 66^[2]. So, if we want students to genuinely internalize effective listening habits, these activities should continue beyond the initial 10-14 days during which they are explicitly taught. The evaluations can be done as homework. Partners and groups can be instructed to set meetings outside class, if instructional time for these activities is limited.  

To get your own customizable copy of this form, click here, then make your own copy, as shown in the picture below.

To make your own copy of the form, click "File", and choose "Make a copy..." from the dropdown menu as shown above.

You may wish to pair students with the same listening goals, so they can help monitor, support, and reinforce each other. You can do the same with small groups, especially for those students who choose this strategy in their form responses. 

The video on Jack Ma^[1] was selected for this exercise because Jack is a speaker who presents listeners with challenges, due to his accent, so they must listen closely and carefully. He's also a wonderful example of someone with a Growth Mindset, whose message is very positive.

The assignment venue used here is a Moodle Site for work I design. If readers here would like access to the question bank to make their own assessments on MoodleCloud or elsewhere, the questions can be downloaded in Moodle text format here. 

Make sure students watch the videos and attempt the multitasking activities. Many students, like many adults, are prone to overestimate their multitasking abilities. The first activity makes the point seriously, and the second activity (which was Google's April Fool's joke in 2012) is hilarious. 

For listening, all focus needs to be on the speaker. Speakers perceive this as respectful, and tend to mirror that behavior back to the listener. It also helps ensure listeners get all the information presented.

References used in this presentation:

Up Clip - Meet Dug. (2009, October 1). Retrieved October 11, 2015, from https://youtu.be/Q8FWzLMobx0?t=32s

MultiTask | Multitask Game. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2015, from http://multitaskgames.com/multitask-game.html

The Distracted Mind. TED P(2013, December 16). Retrieved October 11, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQKELDNnzUQ

Carr, N. (2011, June 17). Why the Human Brain Can't Multitask. Retrieved October 11, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpD3PxrgICU

Google Chrome. (2012, March 31). Chrome Multitask Mode. Retrieved October 11, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiLSiqyDf4Y

A new way to multitask. (2012, April 1). Retrieved October 11, 2015, from https://www.google.com/chrome/multitask.html

To get a customizable copy of this form, click here. You can see how to rename this and customize it in the Instructor Notes of Lesson 9. There is also a third Listening Challenge supplemental activity in Lesson 9, if you choose to continue these self-evaluations. 

If you did group students with the first Listening Challenge, bring them together now, and allow them to discuss their progress and remaining challenges together. If you haven't paired or grouped students with similar goals yet, you may wish to do so now, so they can help monitor, support, and reinforce each other going forward. It's advisable to periodically give students the opportunity to review and evaluate their listening progress as the academic year continues. 

This quiz has instantaneous feedback and is set for mastery. To take this quiz from a student's perspective, click this link. The username and password for demonstration purposes are epsy556. 

The assignment venue used here is a Moodle Site for work I design. If readers here would like access to the question bank to make their own assessments on MoodleCloud or elsewhere, the questions can be downloaded in Moodle text format here. 

OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES

If you feel your students would benefit from additional lessons and practice in Effective Listening, you might also wish to include these two activities.

1. Presentation: Obstacles to Listening (Part 3)

Please click the link below the preview picture to view this presentation.

Click here to view the presentation, Obstacles to Listening: Part 3.

2. Listening Challenge 3: If you want your students to practice their skills through a third self-evaluation exercise with goals, you can click below the preview picture for the form.

Please click here to make a copy for yourself, rename it, and customize it as you wish for your course needs.  Here is a link to edit the spreadsheet.

To save make a copy of this form, follow these instructions.

1. Click "File" --> "Make a copy..."

2. Click in the document title box to rename your own document. All changes are saved automatically.

3. To view your live form, as students will see it, click Form --> View Live Form

References used in Obstacles to Listening, Part 3

"The Low Talker | Seinfeld | TBS." YouTube. TBS, 5 June 2014. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKWYg9qFOpA>.

"The Puffy Shirt | Seinfeld | TBS." YouTube. TBS, 5 July 2014. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qWFSBqAxR4>.

Frank, Thomas. "How to Take Notes in Class: The 5 Best Methods - College Info Geek." YouTube. YouTube, 9 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

"Note Taking Tips." Http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl.html. Academic Skills Center California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

If you have any further questions, please contact the creator of this module at kreusch2@illinois.edu .