In this episode of the Empower Students Now podcast, host Amanda Werner discusses the importance and challenges of teaching active listening to students. She provides an overview of essential skills like self-advocacy, ethical reasoning, and critical thinking, emphasizing that active listening might be the hardest but most critical of all. Amanda dives into the components of active listening, offering strategies for educators to model and teach these skills in the classroom. She also addresses common challenges, such as students’ reluctance to listen or speak, and provides practical activities and solutions. This episode aims to equip teachers with tools to foster a culture of genuine listening, which is foundational for empathy, learning, relationships, and democracy.
00:00 Introduction and Series Overview
01:15 The Importance of Active Listening
05:05 Teaching Active Listening to Students
07:16 Components of Active Listening
27:08 Challenges and Solutions in Active Listening
36:03 Conclusion and Next Steps
Transcript
Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Empower Students Now podcast. I am Amanda Werner, your host, and today we’re continuing. The series about essential skills that all students need most for their future, no matter what the future has in store, which is very unclear at this point. So along with all of these episodes about these different skills I’ve provided.
Speaker: Editable student facing slideshows that you can use with your students to teach these skills. So to access these slideshows, you will need to go to the show notes and click the link called Essential Skills Slides. And sign up for my email list. And once you do that, you’ll get access. You’ll unlock all of the slideshows that I have for [00:01:00] you.
Speaker: And I con I will continue to add to this page. So the slides and the skills that we’ve talked about thus far are self advocacy, self knowledge, ethical reasoning. Critical thinking and today’s episode is about active listening, and I believe this is the hardest skill of all. Not because it’s like conceptually difficult, but because it requires something that’s pretty rare in today’s world, which is just the willingness to slow down and genuinely.
Speaker: Focus on another person, and I have trouble with this too, so active listening, it’s not just about like hearing someone, it’s not about, you know, like thinking about what you wanna say in [00:02:00] response to that person, which these are very common things that happen in our own brains. When someone else is talking, it’s about.
Speaker: The practice of, it’s really about mindfulness. It’s about giving someone your full attention and really seeking not only to understand what they’re saying, but like the meaning behind what they’re saying and, and responding in a way that shows you actually heard them, and if you didn’t hear them asking follow up questions to make sure that you understand what you heard.
Speaker: All of our students and us we’re, we’re growing up, we’re we’re, we’re aging in a world that actively resists this type of communication. I mean, if you think about it, we’re navigating a landscape where. [00:03:00] We’re expected to respond to messages instantly, you know, emails and, um, text messages. You know, you get them and you feel this obligation, you know, to, to respond Immediately.
Speaker: Conversations happen in bursts on different social media platforms. Um, attention is measured in seconds. You know, we’re, we’re. Thinking about something or looking at something and then suddenly we’re, we’re distracted by something else. And multitasking is something that I think all of us are doing and engaged in, and it can be really overwhelming, you know, like all of these distractions in our world.
Speaker: And then also, you know, algorithms and social media companies and like optimizing all of our attention, um, by trying to keep us engaged and on their platforms and. [00:04:00] It’s not about understanding, you know, it’s more about like, let me keep these people on my platform and let me keep making money, right?
Speaker: We’re all living and swimming in this world that is, you know, vying for our attention and. So trying to work towards paying attention, like full attention to a person, it feels almost like radical, right? But I do think. Especially today in this world that we’re all in. Um, this is such an essential skill, and that’s why I’m talking about it today because without active listening, we can’t build real relationships.
Speaker: We can’t collaborate effectively. We can’t try and understand other people’s perspectives that are different from our own. We can’t learn things from people. [00:05:00] Who you know, might have a different perspective and. See things differently. So let’s get started, and I, I’m gonna talk about this topic in terms of like, how could you teach this to students?
Speaker: And again, I highly recommend you go and get this slideshow that, um, is paired with each of these episodes to teach your kids because they’re editable. And they’re student facing, so like they’re ready to go and you can use them like tomorrow or even today if you wanted. They’re, they’re pretty simple slideshows and they have, um, opportunities for students to, uh, reflect and write opportunities for students to practice the skill.
Speaker: Um, and they’re all, it’s all embedded in the slideshow. So I really hope you can go grab those and when you do, you’ll also be, um, signed up for my email list and. You’ll just, you know, we’ll be able to be in contact more, which is really exciting. I do [00:06:00] plan to survey my listeners to find out what kind of topics you’re really interested in learning about.
Speaker: ’cause you know, this podcast is for you and I, I’m pretty blind, honestly, about like what you want to hear and what you want to learn. I mean, I have analytics and I have seen that one of the most popular episodes that I. Released recently was about parenting. Um, and it was the hypervigilant, um, parent and that I’m not okay with AI anymore.
Speaker: So maybe you wanna hear more about parenting? I don’t know. Um, so yeah, I do plan to send those that are on my email list a little survey asking about like, what are you most interested in, um, in learning about and hearing about. Okay, let’s go ahead and get started with this episode. Welcome to the Empower Students Now podcast.
Speaker: A podcast about equity, [00:07:00] neurodiversity, mindfulness, and student engagement. There’s a lot that needs to change in our education system. The good news is teachers have the power to make these changes now.
Speaker: So let’s start just by defining active listening and the slideshow does this too for your students. Um, what is it really? So I’m gonna talk about some components, some, some four, four components. Okay. So the first component is about presence, and I do have a lot of episodes in. Um, like past episodes about mindfulness and presence, if you’re interested, you, you should definitely go check those out.
Speaker: ’cause it helps, it does help to have like, um, some background on mindfulness and meditation, uh, for this component of active listening. So presence, what is that? Well, it’s being like, it’s not [00:08:00] just like your physical body is in front of a person who’s talking to you. That’s not. Just what presence is. It’s about like mentally being present.
Speaker: It means like putting down your phone. It means stopping whatever you’re doing. It means, you know, making eye contact that’s comfortable for you. I’ve mentioned in the last two episodes that I’m au autistic, and so I eye contact is very challenging for me. It, it’s uncomfortable, it’s intense. It’s very intense.
Speaker: And, um, now that people know that I’m autistic, I feel like I’ve been giving myself more permission to not make as much eye contact and to maybe look away. But I’m not looking away at my phone. I’m not looking away at like, something distracting. You know, I might be looking at the ground and just because someone’s not making eye contact, I do wanna put this co caveat in.
Speaker: Um, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not listening or they’re not being present. [00:09:00] Um. And so there’s other ways that you can show people that you are actively listening, even if you’re not making full eye contact the whole time. Right. And sometimes like autistic people might make eye contact too intensely ’cause they’re trying too hard, right?
Speaker: So there’s like this like balance that you have to strike with eye contact. That can be very challenging for people. With autism, so we need to keep that in mind. But like eye contact is a sign of you being present with another person and like really actively listening. But it’s not like a requirement.
Speaker: Okay. It, you could also show you’re listening by positioning your body toward the person who’s speaking, but maybe you’re looking at the ground. Um, if you’re autistic, if you’re comfortable with eye contact, then definitely use eye contact to show that you’re present with the person who’s talking. And I definitely, with my students, you know, like.
Speaker: I tried really hard to make eye contact with them, um, [00:10:00] because they mean so much to me and I want them to know. That I care about what they’re saying and I want them to know that I’m, I’m attending to what they’re saying. It communicates respect and, and just a readiness to receive what someone else is saying.
Speaker: So if you’re able, eye contact is a great way to show presence. But again, there’s other ways to do that by putting your phone down, by putting distracting objects down, by put like centering your body towards that person who’s talking. Okay. Second, what’s the second part? Of active listening. Um, it’s about comprehending what someone is saying.
Speaker: So not just hearing the words and thinking about like, what do you have to say about those words, but understanding the meaning behind those words. What’s this person actually saying? What might they be feeling? What are they asking for? Um, even if they’re not stating it explicitly. Okay, so like [00:11:00] this second part is just like comprehending what someone’s saying and sometimes like we’re so distracted that we can’t comprehend, right?
Speaker: And so like just noticing that in the moment of like practicing active listening Third. Is reflecting. So checking that you understood what the person said, maybe paraphrasing what you heard them say. Asking clarifying questions, making sure that what they said and what you understood them to say. Making sure those align.
Speaker: And I do this with my husband a lot, like, um, because we’ve been together for so long. We’re we’re 43 and we’ve been together since we were 21, and so a lot has changed in our relationship. A lot of understanding has arisen, you know, over the, especially over the course of like five or the last five or six years, we’ve gone through like really dramatic changes and [00:12:00] shifts in the way that we communicate.
Speaker: And one thing that we both. Started to realize was that I was doing all the talking and he was doing all the listening, and it was really imbalanced. And so we’ve really gotten a lot better, and I have gotten a lot better at asking clarifying questions and just asking him more questions and, and to get him, because he’s very introverted and shy, and I’m very extroverted.
Speaker: And talk a lot. I love talking. It’s how I process with the craziness of my brain, right? And so like I, I try and get like really curious about him and his experience. And there’s like, a lot of times I’ll say, like, I’ll try and I’ll say, so what you’re saying is, and then I’ll tell him what I think he means and then he’s like, no.
Speaker: It’s, it’s not, that’s not what I’m saying. And so it’s really helpful, you know, [00:13:00] to like, ask clarifying questions and make sure that what you, that that what you heard is what they meant. Right? Or yeah. That your interpretation isn’t getting in the way of understanding. Um, ’cause a lot of times we jump to conclusions and we try and guess what someone’s.
Speaker: Trying to say and, and we make the wrong conclusions. And so acting, asking, clarifying questions, uh, is really, really helpful. Um, sometimes it feels weird to kind of repeat back what someone else says. Sometimes it’s a little awkward, but it is very helpful. Okay. And then the fourth component of active listening is realizing that.
Speaker: Active listening doesn’t mean you have to agree with what the person is saying. And this is so important, um, because I think a lot of people shut down, um, they’re listening when they don’t agree with what the person’s saying, or they get really [00:14:00] triggered and wanna like, you know, give their counter or argument and start thinking about what they wanna say.
Speaker: Right. Um, so just. It just means you’re responding to what they actually said. Like when you’re repeating back what you think they, they mean, or what you think you, you know, like when you’re trying to paraphrase what someone else has said, um, it doesn’t mean that you agree with what they’re saying, right?
Speaker: You’re just trying to, um. Show the person that you’re listening, you know, and that you’re hearing them and that you’re trying really hard to understand our point of view, even if you would disagree with it. Okay? And so this is. Like a really good example of this, okay, is, um, talking to my parents about politics.
Speaker: Oh my goodness. Some people in our country, the United States, um, don’t just, they just avoid it, right? [00:15:00] Like a lot of people have just been like. I’m drawing a boundary. I cannot talk to this person about politics anymore because they disagree so much and for a very, very long time. That’s kind of the agreement that my parents and I had.
Speaker: But with the way things are right now in our country, and I love my parents deeply, they, they mean so much to me. Um, and I want, I want a, a close relationship with them. You know, I don’t, I don’t want to have to. Avoid conversations right with them. And so one thing that I’ve realized, um, is that like I’m never gonna convince my parents to believe what I believe, you know, or like, and, and I don’t think they’re ever really gonna convince me to believe.
Speaker: Um, what they believe, right? Like neither one of us is ever gonna really convince the other. And so that’s where active listening can be really, really powerful. [00:16:00] Like I can, like when I have the bandwidth, and I think it’s very interesting when I take the stance, um, instead of when I’m communicating with my parents, um.
Speaker: Thinking, I really need them to understand this thing, this point that I’m trying to make. And that’s usually the way that I would approach it, you know, like, and I think that’s what they were trying to approach with me too, instead of thinking of it that way. I actually, when I engage in conversations with my po, my, my parents, which has been very rare, um, but we did end up having a very heated conversation and after that I, I realized like, you know what?
Speaker: Every time that I talk to them from now on, it’s only gonna be about me. Practicing active listening, just understanding their point of view. I just wanna understand where are you coming from, where are you getting your information? Share these articles with me, share [00:17:00] your perspective. And it might be very triggering for me.
Speaker: And it, and it, you know, it’s a practice, it’s like a meditation practice. And so I, um, instead of approaching it. In that way of like, I need them to understand me. I’m approaching it in a way that’s like, I wanna understand them and. It’s okay if we disagree. It’s okay if what they say is totally opposite of what I think.
Speaker: And like what I’ve heard and what I’ve read and researched from my news sources, and that’s another thing that’s really hard, is like everyone’s getting their information from different places. And so we’re all just really siloed, you know, in our like information, you know, like agro algorithmic, like.
Speaker: Just little bubbles, right? And so of course it’s gonna be hard for us to really understand each other. And so I just approach it in this [00:18:00] way of like, I am meditating when I’m talking to my parents. I wanna understand their point of view. And what I found is the more open I am. To their point of view, the more that I ask clarifying questions, the more that I, I show curiosity about their, um, they, they feel very, very passionately about some of these things, about their passions when it comes to politics or their, like, what’s really getting them upset.
Speaker: I, I think the more that they reciprocate. And the more that they wanna understand me and wow. Cool. Right? Like how did I, how did I open up that, like, um, that door, right? Like I just, it’s because I think like people, I. When they feel heard, they’re more willing to hear, you know? And so this [00:19:00] is really, really helpful.
Speaker: Um, it’s a helpful skill. Uh, and I’m not saying that’s gonna happen with every conversation that you have with someone when you practice active listening, but I just think that, and this is actually when you start to teach this skill, let’s move into that like. What we have to do is model it. The more that we model it, the more that other people start to think like, oh, like she’s giving me this.
Speaker: And they start to feel sort of like this need to give this, this active listening. It is a gift. It’s a gift you’re giving someone and this person feels more safe maybe. Practicing active listening to and, and hearing you and your point of view. And I found this really, really helps with my kid as well.
Speaker: Like I can’t just come into my kid and start demanding things, you know, like I have to like sit with my kid and like [00:20:00] show curiosity, genuine curiosity about what they’re doing and like spend like true quality time with them before they start opening up to me. Right? Um, okay. So. Students, kids, they learn by watching.
Speaker: They learn. They don’t learn by listening to us. They learn by watching us and seeing what they do. Like are we present with them or are we checking our email on our phone, thinking about our next lesson, right? Looking around the room, like body language is so powerful and so. Making this commitment with when you’re talking to your students or your own children like, or your spouse, like just making the commitment, like when someone’s speaking to me, I’m gonna stop what I’m doing.
Speaker: I’m gonna put my phone down, I’m gonna look at them. I’m gonna really, really try to listen to what and understand and not interrupt. And it sounds so simple, but it’s [00:21:00] actually really, really hard because there’s so many things demanding our attention these days. But when students and our families start to notice that we’re actually listening, that we genuinely wanna hear them, they start to notice, you know?
Speaker: And they start to act a little different around us. So the second thing you wanna do in your classroom, if you’re teaching active listening. Um, is to teach specific behaviors, right? This is like direct instruction and the slides will help you with this. So you can teach the practices of, and this is, there’s a bulleted list here, um, for students, right?
Speaker: Put down distracting electronics. Make appropriate eye contact. If you’re neurodivergent, it’s okay to not make eye contact, but just look. Look at something. You know, you’re not looking everywhere, right? ’cause that shows like you’re distracted. You might just look at one spot, you know, in front of you, or at the ground or at the wall, right?
Speaker: [00:22:00] Um, use body language to show engagement. So you might nod or you might lean into the person. Try not to interrupt, ask clarifying questions. Like, can you tell me more about that? Or what do you mean by, um, paraphrase to check understanding? So you might say, so what I’m hearing is it sounds like you’re saying, is that right?
Speaker: Um, and then acknowledge. The emotions that are coming from the person, like, that sounds really frustrating, or, wow, you seem really excited about that. So just validating how they’re feeling. So these, this is like, you know, like these are behaviors that we have to explicitly teach, right? And, and model. Um, so third, you’re gonna wanna create opportunities for students to practice, right?
Speaker: So you teach it, you direct teach the behaviors, and then have them practice. So, um, all of us teachers know about, like, think, pair, share, right? [00:23:00] Um, so you might do this activity, um, which is called paired listening. So you pair students up, one student talks, and you can set a timer for two minutes about a topic.
Speaker: Any topic, something they’re interested in, how is their day that, you know, whatever. Um, and so the other person just listens. They don’t talk at all. They don’t interrupt. They just listen. With no distractions around, then the listener has to summarize what they heard without adding their own opinions or stories, and then they switch roles.
Speaker: It sounds really simple, but students find it incredibly difficult to do this. Like some students who don’t talk very much might not talk the whole two minutes. And so, you know, and I’m gonna talk a little bit later about like. Challenges with this activity and challenges with like practicing active listening.
Speaker: Um, but other students, like, who talk a lot, they might wanna keep talking after the two minutes, or they might have trouble with [00:24:00] interrupting or they might disagree or, you know, it, it, they might be distracted by their phone. Like a kid is on their phone when they’re supposed to be practicing listening, right?
Speaker: So. Um, I, I’m gonna talk about these things and what to do about them in a little bit, but here’s another activity you might do to practice active listening. Um, it’s called the question marathon. So students practice asking only questions in response to someone sharing, no statements, no advice, just questions that help them better understand this, helps ’em learn that listening isn’t passive.
Speaker: It’s an active engagement through inquiry. Okay. Uh, let’s see. Another thing you might wanna teach students is different types of listening. So like we listen for different reasons, right? So there’s listening for information. When you’re learning facts or instructions, it requires you focus and possibly take [00:25:00] notes.
Speaker: There’s listening for understanding when you’re trying to grasp someone’s perspective or reasoning. This requires. Curiosity and suspension of your own opinion, suspension of your own judgment. This is kind of the type of listening that you would have to do if you were talking to someone who differs politically from you.
Speaker: Um, there’s listening for emotion when someone just needs to be heard and validated. This requires empathy and presence and often. We want to give advice like immediately, and that’s usually not very helpful in this type of listening. Um, for emotion, listening for emotion, it’s actually better not to offer advice, um, at least initially.
Speaker: And then like once you validated the person’s emotions and just like really made space for that. Um. Then you might ask like, so did you want advice or did you just want me to be here to, [00:26:00] to listen and support you? Um. And then they can tell you whether or not they want advice. I actually, sometimes with my friends will say like, I don’t, I don’t want advice.
Speaker: ’cause sometimes when pe, when I vent to someone and then they just like start giving advice, it really, it annoys the heck outta me. You know, ’cause like they start giving advice and I’m like thinking, rolling my eyes, like I already did that, or I already tried that. Or just stop giving me advice. Right?
Speaker: Like, it’s annoying. So like sometimes I will explicitly say like, I don’t want advice, I just wanna vent. Um, okay. And then there’s listening for collaboration when you’re building ideas together with someone. And this requires just being open to other people’s advice or not advice other people’s like.
Speaker: Approaches to, to a project, right? Um, and so I think it’s good to help teachers or students [00:27:00] understand that there’s different types of listening and different situations, um, that require different types of skills. Okay, so what are some challenges to this? So I’m gonna talk about three challenges. So one is my students don’t want to listen to each other.
Speaker: They only want to talk, and this is really like, this is. Very valid because in school kids have so little time to socialize. They’re going from one class to another. They’re just like listening to learn all day long, you know? And they, they wanna socialize and. So I think that talking about that, like maybe building in time to socialize in your class could be helpful for a group like this.
Speaker: Um, and you know, also directly, explicitly teaching about active listening can be helpful. ’cause when you develop a classroom culture where people actually are [00:28:00] listening and understand different types of listening and understand the power of it, students actually start to crave. This type of communication because it feels so good to have someone actually listening to you.
Speaker: You know? Uh, it’s rare. So when they have that experience with an adult or a peer, they want more you. So, um, so I think that if, if students just wanna talk, these are some things, strategies you can use. So you can, um. Talk about how hard it is to spend all day long listening to learn and, and maybe build in some socializing time, time that they can just talk and talk and talk and talk.
Speaker: Um, and then also just teaching these skills explicitly. Okay. Another challenge might be some students are just really quiet and they really don’t want to talk. And I think it’s important to remember that active listening [00:29:00] isn’t just about speaking, it’s about receiving. And quiet students are usually the most extraordinary listeners.
Speaker: And I think that saying that, you know, because I think shy students, introverted students, they are, I feel like a marginalized group. Like they’re a group of. Kids and people who have been marginalized and, and they’re not, you know, they’re ignored. It’s sad. And so I think like boosting their competence and saying out loud, guess what?
Speaker: If you’re someone who’s shy, who, who doesn’t talk very much, you have a superpower. You are an extraordinary listener, right? Like, wow, it’s amazing. Um. And so you also wanna just like for these kids wanna create multiple ways for them to participate. So if they don’t want to talk a [00:30:00] lot, it’s okay. Right?
Speaker: Like they don’t need to speak in every single discussion. Right? Like it’s to be shy. It’s okay to like not talk too much. And some kids who are autistic, one, one of the diagnostic. Um, in the DSM five, one of the traits is, um, communication, like struggles with getting your words out. And some autistic people are, um, are non-speaking.
Speaker: But that doesn’t mean they can’t communicate, right? Like they can communicate in various ways. If you’ve ever visited another country, like we communicate a lot with our bodies and our facial expressions and non-speaking autistic people might, you know, use tools to, to type or talk, you know, and text, text to speech kinds of tools.
Speaker: So I’m just saying like, be flexible with these kids [00:31:00] and boost their confidence by complimenting them on how amazing they are at listening. Okay. The third challenge is. Well, I have 30 plus students. How can I possibly listen to every single one of them? You can’t like really, not individually all the time, but you can create a classroom environment where students listen to each other.
Speaker: So using pair work, small group discussions, and just like structured, um, systems that ensure everyone gets heard by someone. And honestly, like not all 30 of those students are gonna wanna. Talk to you all the time, right? Some of them are shy, some of them are like avoidant. You know, some of them are scared of you even though you’re not that scary, right?
Speaker: Like adults can be intimidating. So just in reality, like, you know. You don’t have to talk to every single student one-on-one. Um, but when you do, when you do talk one-on-one with students, make it count. Give them [00:32:00] your full attention model, active listening. Okay. Um, and not being in a hurry, which is so hard as a teacher.
Speaker: I know, I know, I know. I’m asking you to do these hard things, but it really is necessary in this world we’re living in. Okay. Something else. Um. Like if a student. Someone disagrees. And I just really wanna emphasize that you don’t have to agree with a student or anyone to really listen deeply to them.
Speaker: Okay? It’s important, um, when you disagree because it’s the only way to have a productive conversation across differences. And I think this is just like a vital skill right now. Um, so teaching students that listening doesn’t mean you have to like. Believe what the person is saying or endorse their views or like agree with them, but you can respect them enough to just try [00:33:00] to actively listen and understand their perspective.
Speaker: This is crucial for civic discourse. Ah, I wish we could practice this more like in our country, like in our politics. Okay, so like here’s a, here’s something that happened in my classroom. I think this was last year. We, we read Animal Farm and what a book to read and the climate we’re in right now. If you haven’t read Animal Farm, I highly recommend it.
Speaker: Oh my goodness. Okay. So I facilitated a lot of discussions like with my whole class, novel units. About controversial top topics, you know, where students had different viewpoints and um, and the conversation like sometimes would get really heated where people were talking over each other, making assumptions, getting defensive.
Speaker: Does this sound familiar? So when this happens, you, you have to [00:34:00] stop the discussion. And introduce a new rule. So this rule is before you can make your point, you have to summarize the previous person’s. Argument to that previous person’s satisfaction, like prove you actively, you were actively listening.
Speaker: And this can completely change the dynamic in the room and it can really challenge kids. So because they have to actually listen to understand the previous person, not just rebut what that person said. And what happens is really remarkable, like students will maybe even start changing their positions because they’re understanding each other better.
Speaker: And so, and some students can, you know, still disagree with each other, but then they might, but, but they have a better understanding of the other viewpoint, which actually is helpful. In arguing your viewpoint, when you can understand the counter and, and you can make counter arguments, right, it just [00:35:00] creates the conditions for real true dialogue.
Speaker: And this matters so much because active listening is the foundation of empathy. You can’t truly empathize, empathize with someone if you haven’t truly heard them. Active listening is the foundation of learning. You can’t learn from people. Who know things you don’t if you’re not listening to them. Active listening is the foundation of relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, working relationships.
Speaker: They all depend on the ability to really hear each other and stop making assumptions about what the other person thinks or. About the other person because of what they think. Active listening is the foundation of democracy in a diverse society. We have to be able to understand perspectives different from our own.
Speaker: We have to be able to engage in dialogue, not just debate. And none of that [00:36:00] is possible without listening. So here’s what I want you to take away today. Active listening is a skill that needs to be taught explicitly and practiced regularly, not just by your students, but by you too. It doesn’t happen automatically, and it’s getting harder, not easier for this generation, but it’s also one of the most powerful skills we can give our students because a person who knows how to truly listen.
Speaker: Has access to wisdom, connection, and understanding that aren’t available any other way. And it really does start with us teachers. We have the power to change things if we want students who listen, we have to be teachers who listen. Not just to hear, but to understand. Not just to respond, but to receive.
Speaker: Because when our students feel heard by us, they learn what it means to hear others, and that [00:37:00] might be one of the greatest gifts we can give to them. Thank you so much for listening today, and I mean that literally the fact that you’ve listened to this entire episode says something about your commitment to this skill.
Speaker: So next episode, we’re gonna explore another essential skill our students desperately need and we need two, and that’s collaborative problem solving. Until then, here’s a question that I’d like you to kind of reflect on. When was the last time you felt truly heard by someone? What did they do that made you feel that way?
Speaker: And how can you create those conditions for your students? Thanks so much. I’ll see you next time. If you feel the urge or the need, share this with someone that you think could benefit from. From hearing it. Thank you so much for sharing and writing [00:38:00] review. I would love some more reviews. It helps my podcast rank, it helps more people become aware of this podcast.
Speaker: This is a tiny little baby podcast and I’ve been doing it for years and it continues to be a Tiny Baby podcast. It’s not like, you know, top ranked or anything. But with your help, maybe, maybe someday I’ll get there. Thank you so much for your support. [00:39:00] Bye-bye.
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