Most of our students are not listening as much as we hope they are. This is clearly a problem – if students are not listening, then they are less likely to understand our explanations, more likely to ignore our instructions, and will miss opportunities to learn from their peers.
In the Tips for Teachers guide to Checking for listening, Craig Barton shares concrete strategies first to ensure that our students can listen to our explanations, instructions, and contributions from their peers, and second to provide an incentive to listen. Each strategy can be implemented the very next time you step into a classroom.