Beefing Up Class Discussions with Listening Tasks

In classes, we often give our students speaking prompts during discussion activities but neglect to give them listening tasks.

Here is a simple set of tasks from ABE teacher Kristine Kelly that can be used to encourage listening and reflection during class sharing and discussions.

Example speaking prompt: 

What do you need to hear, see or read to be convinced an argument is valid?

“ Something that convinces me an argument is valid is ___________.”

Listening Tasks:

Record original or thoughtful ideas from other students.

Compare and build upon ideas.

• My idea is similar to _______’s because ________.
• My idea is different from _______’s because _______.
• My idea builds upon _______’s because _______.

Full Group Follow Up Discussion Prompts:

• Something original I heard was _____________.
• Something thoughtful I heard was ____________.

Make sure to model and guide learners through several examples of how to answer the questions.