The advice Aaron Burr gives to Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton applies to the best practices in teaching. Speak less and listen more. If we recorded the audio only for one week in a school classroom, what would be the ratio of teacher speaking to listening? On the other hand, don’t make such a recording. The ratio of adult to child voices may be too embarrassing.
Instead, read and consider the following statements. Don’t talk about what you are reading – read and listen to your own thoughts about each statement.
- The algorithm of speaking and listening related to educational outcomes begins with an understanding that what a child says is much more important than what a teacher says. Education is about children learning not adult’s telling what they know.
- Listening to children allows us to know the quality and quantity of their learning and understanding. Listen for both.
- Listening to children informs us that a child may know and understand her learning much better than can be displayed in on demand testing. Listening is your best formative and summative assessment.
- Listening to children helps us to know what the child needs to learn next in order to have a more complete understanding of the lesson. After listening, you can clarify, correct, redirect, expand, and extend a child’s understanding. If you don’t listen, all you can do is tell them the same things you already told them.
- Listening to children shows us how a child is processing new learning and integrating new with prior learning. Listen to how a child thinks not just what a child tells you.
- Listening leads to questions you ask the student that leads to more listening and to more questions. Listening leads to causing students to learn.
- Listening to children is one of the most respectful things adults can do. It says, “you are important to me”. Consider how many times a child passes through an entire school day without being heard. What does silence tell a child about how we value her?
- Listening is interactive. The best teachers know when to listen and when to speak. Listening before speaking assures that speech is focused and purposeful for the listening child.
If a teacher is consistently speaking too much and listening too little, advise the teacher to change professions and become a broadcaster. That is what broadcasters do, not teachers.