Listening is a part of communication that needs to be practiced and developed just as much as speaking. We spend countless lessons focusing on students ability to speak, read, and present in front of a classroom. However, we should not overlook communications ugly step sister, listening. To become excellent learners we must become excellent listeners. In the article, "Several Ways to Help Students Become Better Listeners" Larry Ferlazzo touches on the idea of creating lessons based on students listening skills. Ferlazzo suggests having the students react to research results about listening skill, but any teacher can personalize a lesson to benefit the task at hand. For example, if you are creating a fun activity for the students around Christmas time, something you can do is have them listen to your verbal instructions while they create something (they don't know what it is) out of paper and other tools. The object of this activity is to listen to the teacher's verbal instructions while they make the project. At the end of the activity, they will be please to find they created a Christmas tree (or something of that nature).
Other simpler activities can include a lesson on manners. You can teach your students table manners after reading, Alice in Wonderland, or Mansfield Park. They must listen to their fellow classmates with polite commentary while they sip tea. They will be graded on politeness, pose, creativity (some students may want to dress up) and knowledge of the other speakers as well as knowledge of the book.
The fun part comes in when the students get to test each other on what they discussed. They become the teachers and they must see if their peer were listening.
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