Adult Roles And Responsibilities
Strand 2 Standard 1
Adult Roles and Financial Literacy
Strand 4 Standard 1
Students will identify types of communication styles, explain active/effective listening skills, and demonstrate the ability to use active listening skills.
Vocabulary
Primary Vocabulary
Introduction/Pre-Assessment
Option A:
Form a circle; sit "cross-legged" on floor. Give each person a penny or a piece of candy. I'm
going to read a story (The Wright Story (pdf)), and every time you hear any word that sounds like right
or left, then pass the penny to the person on your right or left. Start reading slowly, and then
speed up. After a few passes stop the story and ask how they are doing? Make sure everyone
has a penny and keep going.
Process Questions:
Option B:
Have a student stand in front of the room and give directions to the other students about how to
draw a picture. The student giving directions can not use their hands to illustrate how to make a certain shape. They are to give direction continually so that the class does not have time to compare their
drawings. They are not to answer any question(s) from the other students.
Process Questions:
Option C:
The teacher should come in the classroom and begin taking roll in a different language. (If you do not know a different language, just make up mixed-up words that the students will not be able to
understand.) Relate to students that this is the way communication is. If you do not speak the same
language with the people you associate with, you are in for some trying times.
Option D:
Or read the book, Yo! Yes!, by Christopher Raschka, ISBN #0-531-05469-1 or the book
The King Who Rained, by Frea Swynne, ISBN#0-671-66744-0, Half Moon Books, Simon and Schuster.
Content Outline, Activities and Teaching Strategies
(All options do not necessarily need to be taught. Select ones to cover
standards and objectives and according to your district policies.)
Option 1: Effective Listening Skills
Use the Listening Quotes Powerpoint and the Effective and Active Listening PowerPoint.
Have two students stand in front of class. Both will be reading aloud at the same time. One should be reading from an encyclopedia, the other from a children's book the class would enjoy. After having the students read for a couple of minutes, discuss with the class:
Whom did you listen to? Why?
How did you decide who to listen to?
What distractions were there in the room?
Is it hard to concentrate when you are hearing two conflicting messages?
If we want to be effective at communication we must learn to be good listeners. Review the Effective Listening Skills Transparency (pdf) with the class.
Option 2: Listening Blocks
Use the Listening Blocks Powerpoint.
Discuss the transparency Listening Blocks (pdf) with the class. Have students complete the Listening Activity as a class or as individuals.
Option 3: Active Listening
Use the Active Listening PowerPoint.
Review the information Active Listening Skills and Top Ten Listening Skills (pdf) with the students.
Option 4: How Well Do You Listen?
Have students complete the questions on the worksheet How Well You Listen (pdf).
Discuss the findings as a class.
Option 5: Introduction to the Communication Unit
Refer to the document Teacher Information Effective and Active Listening (pdf).
Simple Communication Guidelines
Option 6: Video
Show the Video: The Laws of Listening by Learning Seed
After the video discuss the "Effective Listening Skills" vs "The Seven Laws of
Listening". The attached Art of Listening Guide (pdf) for the video contains teacher information which includes activities and questions for a classroom discussion.
VHS LS-1158-07-VHS ISBN 1-55740-818-1
DVD LS-1158-07-DVD ISBN 1-55740-817-3
Option 7: Active Listening Activity
Use the Stop, Look and Listen worksheet (pdf).
Option 8: Practice Listening Skills
Have students complete the Reflective Listening Skills Practice Worksheet (pdf).
Option 9: Video
To illustrate listening roadblocks show the clips from the movie, You've Got Mail and have students answer the You've Got Mail worksheet (pdf).
Option 10: Performance Objective
Demonstrate the ability to use two constructive communication skills.
Have the students complete the listening activity Listening Triads (pdf).
Summary/Evaluation
Effective Communication takes practices. As always, balance is the key to effective listening. The
conversation between the message sender and the message receiver is a delicate dance. And even
though your goal may be to simple hear the message, it requires give and take from both parties, from the
beginning stages of the communication process down to the last word.
What is one thing you learned about active listening today that you can use in your communication? What one thing about active listening are you going to work on today?