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The question isn’t just academic. When related to education I think it really has some significance. Of course we have all the data driven, test score driven administrative tom follery. I’m not going to discuss this silly stuff. If you can’t see that emperor has no clothes, well, then dream on….. No, I want to look at how teachers make decisions in their own classroom. Are we like Apple, generals and experts that know and with our charts, handouts, videos, textbooks – steering the ship of students? Or are we listening to students and letting them take hold of the wheel and allowing them to steer the ship?

Of course, most teachers will say that they are the later, they are googlites, they listen to their students. This is the mantra of modern education. However, me thinks this is only cosmetic. Look deeper and almost all teachers are governing their class as “experts”. We truly don’t go down to the level of students or listen to them. We all say that we “listen” and are “data informed” but when push comes to shove – I believe we teach as we were taught. We perpetuate a worn and bedraggled and very much irrelevant orthodoxy. All the while propping up and rationalizing our methods, our job, by saying we are listening to the students, we are listening to the data. However, the facts are out there for

all to see.

 I think it is important to give students specific tasks while they are working on a listening activity.  

 I know that my kids love watching movies, and this is a topic that they can relate to.

2. Incorporate listening and drawing activities with Pear Deck: Pear Deck is the perfect way to make your Google Slides interactive. Try using the Pear Deck Chrome extension for listening and drawing activities: Add a Pear Deck interactive “Drawing” slide and read a description aloud.For example, I will read the following description aloud (in Spanish) to my Spanish I classes: “The boy is tall, thin, and has black, curly hair and green eyes. The boy is feeling happy because it is warm and sunny outside. He likes to listen to music and read, but he does not like to study or play sports.”As I read off this description, students draw what they hear. Once their drawings are complete, I ask them to restate what they drew aloud. You can also ask them to write about what they drew. Students are enthused when I project all of their drawings on the board—each student’s drawing is different and has its own style, even though everyone heard the same description.

Also, you can discuss why certain companies make different products for different countries.  I saw one commercial for a lemonade made by 7-Up.  It is always fascinating the different flavors that each company makes worldwide.

“Students should practice picking up key words and extrapolating main ideas using the context of what they hear.” @ChristeyHughes responded, “En français, we often refer to ‘la tolérance de l’ambiguité’ to be able to work through, perhaps not getting each word.”

“…Make sure that you select an appropriate length for novices–small doses of ‘anything.’”

“Multiple choice requires no production of any kind. Really, it’s only good for finding out what they don’t know.” @LauraJaneBarber said, “I like to do listening as input for a writing or speaking task. Can show true comprehension better than multiple choice.”

MovieTalk works because it links meaning between the language used by the teacher to the images on the screen. In other words, it makes the linguistic input comprehensible to the student. “Comprehensible” of course, is a bit of a gray term—meaning that something is reasonably able to be understood by the audience—and it is up to the teacher to employ skills such as teaching to the eyes and using comprehension checks to guarantee that the comprehensible language is actually comprehended.

Sometimes, I select MovieTalks because of their topic: the content relates to something that we are studying or discussing in class. Other times, I select MovieTalks because of the vocabulary: I know that I can talk about the video using the same words that I am working with in class with my students. And still other times, I select MovieTalks because they are just so dang fun and easy and I plop them into the middle of a unit for no reason at all!

Participation typically is demonstrated by the student posting a message, which serves as visual evidence. Posting a message, however, is a limited indicator of student engagement. In and of itself, the act only means that the student struck a few keys on the keyboard. Discussion itself requires a pattern of call and response, with turn-taking and listening being as important as contributing thoughts to the dialogue.

Is it possible that students might engage with the asynchronous discussion by reading, the online equivalent of listening?

(c) to determine whether this non-visible behavior is at all related to high performance.

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