6. How can you communicate non-verbally that you are listening?
By nodding your head, making sure they know you understand or agree with what they are saying. Have a good posture makes them feel comfortable. Eye contact is essential to make them feel seen, payed attention to. If the audience is leaning in to the speaker, it helps the speaker know that the audience is engaged and attentive.
5. What does an effective listener do with the extra thought process time while a speaker is speaking only 150 words-per-minute?
An effective listener would process the information and actively listen no matter how slow they might speak. Being able to be patient is a great skill to have. It could also be time to write down any questions you wanted to ask during their speech. It is ideal to nod along and non verbally let them know they are being heard.
4. Identify the three main barriers to listening. Which of these barriers is most problematic for you? What can you do about it?
The three main barriers are anticipating, judging, and reacting emotionally. The most problematic would be reacting emotionally because it might feel as if it cannot be controlled. It takes great effort to be able to see the good in the bad when it took a long time to get over it.
7. What are some considerations in offering constructive feedback?
To separate the positive from the negative and draw a clear line in between. Trust is a fundamental part because if the speaker or listener don't have trust, they aren't able to connect. Be considerate of different opinions and point of views. They might take offense to something that was said light-heartedly.
3. Name and give an example of each of the three A’s of active listening.
Attention: when actively paying attention, you are able to focus on that objective. Paying attention to body language is necessary because you are able to decipher the message the speaker wants to be received. It also helps to know what the speaker is feeling. Being attentive to what they say can be meaningful because you are able to see things from a different point of view and able to learn from it.
8. What are strategies that help hold your listeners’ attention during your speech?
Eye contact is ideal to make the audience feel like they are being talked to and to feel comfortable. Body language if used right can send a good message of being confident, professional, and open. Clear projection is essential for the message to be received. It is important to not speak in a monotone.
3. Reflect on a situation in your personal life where poor listening skills created a problem. Briefly describe the situation, then spend the bulk of your reflection analyzing what went wrong in terms of listening and how, specifically, effective listening would have made a difference. Share your observations in small group class discussion.
Scenario/Situation: My dad tells me to clean my room but I forget because I didn't listen correctly.It would have been ideal to focus directly to what he had to say instead of multi-tasking while he spoke to me.
2. Listen to someone you disagree with (maybe a politician from the opposing party) and work to listen actively with an open mind. Try to pay attention to the person’s argument and the reasons he offers in support of his point of view. Your goal is to identify why the speaker believes what he does and how he proves it. You need not be converted by this person’s argument.
A disagreement is how the internet is needed for everyday life. I think that people can survive without electronics, however, it was brought to my attention how we still need it daily for school, work, etc. While this is true, you can ask teachers for a physical copy of the assignment. At work, you could express your thoughts and try to come up with a solution.
1. What distinguishes listening from hearing?
Listening is actively paying attention and processing what is being said. Hearing is when you can hear what is being said, but not processing and interpret the information. Everyone can hear, but not all can listen. Active listening is to be open to other opinions and paying thoughtful attention to the speaker.
2. What are some benefits for you personally from effective listening?
It can make you learn and become a better listener and speaker. Listening makes you come up with ways to entertain and connect with an audience when speaking. Actively listening helps enhance critical thinking when a message needs to be interpreted in a different way.Listening can make the speaker feel heard and important.