Listening is a sociological skill. We can all improve our listening ability. If given the opportunity to concentrate and listen carefully to others, maybe we can be better listeners. This semester I plan to try a listening exercise. One way to do this would be to pair up students and have them chat about prompts like these:
- Describe a pet and what your pet means to you (if you've never had a pet, would you want one some day?)
- Details about a job you’ve had
- What's something in your life that is stressful?
- A hobby or activity in your life
- What’s a value you have, or a family value, that’s important to you?
- Is there an area in your life you’re trying to improve?
Whatever the questions are, we would pair back up a few weeks later to revisit these questions and to see what people remember from their conversation. The spirit of the exercise is to practice deep listening. Maybe we'll recognize we too often "half listen" in daily conversation or come in and out of conversations. We can't be perfect listeners all the time, but surely we can improve.
Thoughts? Ideas?
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