Teacher Mentoring Teacher: Active Listening by Jessica Williams https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6 Please respond in this Padlet to your reflection on active listening by Friday. Then, by next Tuesday, please comment on a minimum of two others' responses. en-us 2019-08-26 21:43:15 UTC 2019-10-25 00:41:27 UTC hello@padlet.com Active Listening bxkrau17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/395527517 Active listening is a skill I need to work on. I hate to say it, but I am extremely guilty of nodding along in a conversation and seeming interested, but my mind is wandering other places. What should we make for supper tonight? How can I reach that one challenging student in my classroom? One of the articles I read said it simply enough, "Just listen!" It is okay if we do not have an immediate response to what someone is saying. There is value in actively listening to someone as they are speaking. I would imagine it would make the person speaking feel appreciated and cared for.]]> 2019-10-09 12:04:38 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/395527517 Active Listening c_yohnk https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/396935468 I enjoyed listening to Julian Treasure's and Celeste Headlee's TED talks the most from the list.  I do agree with Mr. Treasure that we are losing our listening.  In our hectic world today, there are many things that impede our listening.  Many times we "hear" but don't actually listen. Ms. Headlee gave 10 ways for better conversation.  Three of them really stuck in my mind.  1)  Don't multitask.  I know a few people that take great pride in multitasking.  2) Be present.  Don't be thinking about all the things that have to be done before bedtime but be with the person who is speaking.  3) All experiences are individual.  It is not all about YOU!
I liked the Active Listening Sentence Stems and plan to use them to mix things up when I am active listening. ]]> 2019-10-12 03:09:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/396935468 Active Listening j_rubenzer https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/396998732 I like the idea of three minutes a day of silence.  There is so much noise all of the time.  I use my silent time when I am driving home from school.  I turn off the radio and just listen to the drone of the car. It is just like the gentleman said on the TED talk, you eventurally don't hear the sound of the car after a few minutes.  I can also use RASA.  I am going to try to follow them when I'm listening to someone.  I need to try the summarize step.  I usually follow the other three. I have four children and know how to listen. Usually if something was bothering them, they would tell me about it. I would listen and then ask them, " Am I just listening or do you want me to do something?" I do this with my students at school. They will have an event to report to me and I ask them the same question. I can usually get them to advocate for themselves or go to the person they have a problem with and discuss it with me present. Of course, there are times I must send them to the office to get the situation resolved.

]]> 2019-10-12 15:32:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/396998732 Listening...it is something that seems easy to do. However, it is far from easy. I found that many of the distractions, (discussed in the articles and the videos) that prevent us from listening are present in my life. For example, I tend to multitask frequently. I may be having a conversation with someone in person and be on my phone reading an email or sending a text. Am I really involved in either conversation? No! I am ashamed to admit that I do that because I get frustrated when others do the same to me. I am also guilty of looking like I am listening but my mind is going a mile a minute and I am thinking about everything I have to do or what I want to contribute to the conversation. I am not really focusing on the speaker and his/her words. I am only concerned with ME!! Going forward, I would like to make changes in how I interact with others. I want to be an active listener. I want to give my full attention to others. I want to listen to others in the same way that I would like to be listened to. jaritc17 https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/397192011 2019-10-13 22:49:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/397192011 Bekka Beaufeaux https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/397953376 When reading the articles for this section I was hit by quite a few thoughts. First was that I know quite a few teachers who nod along and smile with conversations from others, myself included. It seems that we don’t have enough hours in a day to competently get everything done: plan, assess, create engaging lessons, review content, complete PD, establish a strong community with fellow teachers, form effective disciples of Christ, let alone ensure our families are happy, healthy, and functioning. This means our minds wander. So, how can we stay ‘here and now’ with conversations. The first article I read, “Ensuring teachers don’t run out of gas,” was more toward admin making sure we have time for the above mentioned items. It did strike me, however, as relevant to forming new teachers in understanding that we all have full plates. Sharing your purpose jumped off the page. Making sure we are sharing the why behind it all is crucial in helping to develop new teachers. 

When reading “The most important coaching competency” I was met head on with my personal feelings and beliefs. If I’m not actively engaged with a person or a content, I nod and smile. If I’m totally with you on a subject I will cut in, offer advice, and share thoughts: not the most helpful approach. Along the same lines my personal perceptions are if a person doesn’t engage immediately it means he or she isn’t listening. This triggers me in two ways; to either fill the silence or flee the conversation. This isn’t inherently true. They may be active listeners in the sense of taking in all I have to say, what my body says, and how my tones are invoked. I also have a severe annoyance with parrots. The times in my early childhood when our family went to therapy before and after my parents divorce has instilled in me a hatred of summarization and “here’s what I am hearing you say.” Understanding that about myself can help me get over that hurdle to best serve my future mentees. 

I hope to question my own interpretations of  mentee experiences to better help understand their point of view. I would hate to over analyze something, only to get the emotions behind it wrong as stated in “Active listening: the key to transforming your coaching.” 


]]> 2019-10-15 14:54:13 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/397953376 Active LIstening b_canfield https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/402353436 Active listening is definitely a skill I need to improve on. I have to ask people to repeat what they said multiple times before catching their entire dialogue. When both parties are listening in a conversation, it is much more meaningful. I know I hate when I talk to someone and it is like talking to a wall. I'm sure other people feel the same way when I ask them to repeat what they said multiple times. I have been working on active listening with my two year old so she understands the importance of waiting for your turn in a conversation. Being able to add trust in a conversation, we must first listen.]]> 2019-10-25 00:32:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jessicaaprilwilliams/e4t0c16cw0d6/wish/402353436