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When I attempted the listening excercise, it wasn't very difficult, I turned the tv on low and I had music on in the back ground but I could listen to the tv show just by focusing on what was going on. The music was music I had heard a lot, so I didn't really feel the need to sing a long or anything. My house is always quiet so it kind of surprised me that I could concentrate with noise around me.

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During the exercise, I focused on asking questions during conversation and learning about the person. I started by talking to my mom and asking her questions instead of adding onto the conversation by talking about myself. I also practiced the exercise by talking with my friends today and asking them about their thoughts. I was able to learn more about who I was talking to and more about their feelings.

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I think that my exercise went as well as could be expected, since I was watching TV
in the basement none of my family members really complained and I was able to recall and remember a good portion of my movie. I found my self paying more attention to one thing over the other depending on what was happening in either. At some times it could be frustrating not being able to hear everything, but in all the exercise did not impede me as much as I though prior to it.

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My exercise went surprisingly well. None of my family members complained of my tv being too loud, and I was able to retain most of the information of the show I was watching. There were a few times I couldn't hear as well, but for the most part it went well.

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I enjoyed partaking in the 3rd exercise. I had to focus more on my partner rather than myself when having a conversation. I asked open-ended questions, like "why did you choose to spend your day like that?" or "what did you enjoy most about your day today?" During this exercise I learned more about my friend and enhanced my listening skills as well. It was very fun, and I will add my ability to ask more open ended questions, and focus more on others in the classroom (not being nosy, but when in a conversation, I shall listen to them attentively, and respond appropriately.) It was very interesting and enriching to my skills of listening.

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I was able to realize more about myself, and open up to new ideas I would've never been open to before. Before starting the exercise I was already expecting  it to go well, so I was glad when it did meet up to my expectations.

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I did exercise 1 and I did not quite enjoy it but it may have helped me work on ignoring background noise. I turned the TV on very low and turned music to medium volume and tried to pay attention to the TV. Background noise is something that really annoys me sometimes and I was able to focus my hearing on something else instead of the noise. I was able to hear the TV but I'm not sure how much I got out of it.

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I learned a lot from attempting one of Shafir's listening exercises. I was surprised by how much asking questions helped my understanding of what the other person was saying. I think it would be smart to apply this exercise to real life by asking more questions in class to better understand and grasp the subject that the teacher is teaching.

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When I did her first exercise I found it very hard at first. I was very surprised that I was able to concentrate on what I was watching with all of the noises in the background. I feel I might try to tune out unwanted noises while I am trying to work more often because I was able to concentrate even with noise.

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When I was attempting the very first exercise I expected it to not work. It was quite challenging trying to cancel out any noises and not trying to turn up the audio. I found the exercise very useful in trying to cancel out the distracting noises and trying to concentrate an the audio. Being able to block out distracting things and concentrate on the person talking.

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Today I tried one of Shafir's exercises in class. I was in class with someone who I don't particularly like and they started saying something that annoyed me. Instead of thinking "ugh I hate her she's so annoying", I thought "she is annoying, but it's her personality and I can't change that. I think that the exercise went as expected and I feel as though I have a more positive attitude about this person. I found value in the exercise because I feel like I'll have a more open mind about working with this person or other people who I don't particularly like.  Parts from this exercise that I will you in every day life is to step back and think, Do I really not like this person? Is this person trying to annoy me? Or is it just their personality?

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When I attempted one of Shafir's exercises, the results were as I expected. I did the 5th exercise and I think it helped me stay more positive. When a negative thought would come across my mind I would try to think of something positive  that had to do with the same situation. I think this exercise really helped me drown out the negativity in many situations. One example was when I had to wake up at 6 for a soccer game. At first I dreaded the fact of having to go to bed early and wake up early. I then thought that waking up early gave me the time to hang out with friends, go out for lunch, and do all my homework. I can use this towards homework or studying for a test in school.

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This weekend I tried to think more positively about myself. I had to play in a show at a bar on Friday and Sunday, usually I would think that I couldn't do it or that I would mess up but this time I thought about doing well and playing correctly and it worked pretty well, me and the rest of my band played very well. It surprised me how well it worked and how confidence made me play so much better.

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This weekend I decided to use the third exercise which was to ask questions about others to make conversation and listen to them. I went to my cousins wedding this weekend and it did not go how I expected. When making conversation with one of my cousins I asked him about what he was most interested in learning this school year. What he said surprised me, he told me how he was interested to learn about physiology. The reason he wanted to learn this was because he wanted use that knowledge and his knowledge about business to make a non-profit organization. I found value in this exercise because it showed me that people I though I knew well are the people I know the least about. I think I will be applying this exercise to my daily life because I think it shows how much you're interested in the topics that the person is talking about and it makes them feel validated.

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I think this listening activity really helped me have conversations, I otherwise would not have had. I think this exercise will definitely help me in group work, because I'm not always in a group with people I like, so this will help me keep an open mind and maybe learn something new in that group. It surprised me how much my negatives thoughts fought with the positive, and I expected my end of the conversation to be somewhat fake; but, I ended up engaging and acting like myself during the conversation.

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For my listening exercise, I turned on the tv and lowered the volume while background noises happened behind me. Since it was over the weekend, I heard a lot of things outside like cars, trains and lawnmowers, and I also heard things in my house like the dishwasher, laundry machine, people walking, my pets and other noises. The exercise did go as expected. I expected it to be difficult, and I expected to have a hard time at first. Eventually, I got the hang of it. It surprised me that I got the hang of it, because normally I have a hard time focusing on the tv when it's turned up. I was also a bit surprised about how hard it was at first. I did find value in the exercise , because I think that it did help me practice my focusing and concentration. I think that this exercise could help in the classroom because it is a good way to practice listening to the teacher while other students may be talking or being distracting.

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The listening exercise I chose, was the first one, turning the TV down. It didn't really surprise me, after turning the TV down, I could hear fine because I was watching a re-run of a show I'd seen before. I could mostly understand what the characters were saying. Turning the TV down didn't really take away from the show. The exercise taught me that to hear things, you don't need to turn it louder, you just need to read the characters and pay more attention.

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I liked my exercise. I listened to my sister, Zosia, talk about her morning, and asked her to ask me what I thought at the end. As she began, I was aware that I immediately began to think about what she was saying and comparing it to my own morning and experiences. I stopped myself and did as the exercise told me; I cleared my head as best I could and "observed". Not reacting, not letting my head think too much, just processing the information best I could without judging or comparing.
I found that truly absorbing the information I was being given was harder, but when Zosia talked about her opinions or stances on things, it was much easier to process it without a "block" of emotion or thought about myself or my opinions. I got an inside look on her view and I feel like that really helped know her more, though the information was small.
When Zosia asked me what I thought, I found myself needing a moment to realize what was happening and gather my thoughts. I had to look back at what she had said and construct my opinion.
Overall I think everyone should try this exercise to see what you can learn and the difference it can make in your thought process.

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My listening exercise was to be more positive and try to drown out all of the negative thoughts I had in my head. It worked for me Geometry class because I was thinking "I am not going to be able to pass this test, I don't know anything" I caught myself think this and I tried to switch my attitude around. Instead I said "I can do this! I will try my best, The outcome will be okay."  I learned that if I think more positive I can be more successful in what I am doing.

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The listening activity that I chose to participate in was the first one on the list. In this experiment we were supposed to turn the volume down very low on the TV. This activity did go as I expected. It took more effort me to follow the story and forced me to pay attention. Something that surprised me about this activity was how hard it was for me to do. I constantly found myself day dreaming, and when that happened I had to remind myself to listen. I also did this when my mom was vacuuming, so it made it even more difficult. I think there is value in this exercise because it was good practice for me to pay attention and listen for an extended period of time. Next time we are in a class discussion I will remember this exercise to help me stay focused.

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I really enjoyed my exercise. I chose an article posted by a biased news site and tried to listen to the message and ignore my internal thoughts. It was very interesting because in the back of my mind I was still having a little bias towards the article. After reading it a few times I was able to read it without bias.