Listening

Teachers definitely take listening for granted in the classroom. When you think about it, it really is kind of ridiculous to assume that first and second graders know how to listen simply because they have ears. They may know that with their ears they can listen if they want, but they probably don't know that there are times when they should listen especially hard, such as anytime the teacher is talking, and times when they should tune out other things they hear, such as their classmates goofing off in the back of the room during a lesson. Our lesson on listening really opened my eyes to this concept--I will definitely make it a top priority to teach my students first thing how to listen, since its doubtful they know how to appropriately.

Furthermore, I feel like it is really important as a teacher to ensure that whatever you are teaching is listen-able. In other words, make it interesting, that way you will have no doubts whether the faces looking at you are in a different world or if they are actually paying attention to what you're saying. You can't expect students, especially in elementary school, to pay attention to you if you're not being interesting. Period. Ways to keep things interesting are to make them short and concise, design the lessons so that they are engaging and thought-provoking, and ideally a teacher should make them interactive. Kids love to move so creating an active lesson would be effective for most learners.

I enjoyed the propaganda activity because it helped refresh me on the different types and to also relate them to commercials that we see every day we watch tv. It was a great reminder of what not to believe when enticed by a catchy ad. I think a lot of Americans are far too gullible, though, because anytime I see a diet ad on tv I laugh because it is so unrealistic. The diet pill companies make millions, however, so someone must be buying their antics.