Preston Online - Study Tips

LISTENING IN THE CLASSROOM

Have you ever listened to someone only to realize later that you cannot remember what the person said? You heard the person's words but you didn't listen to what was said.

Hearing and listening are not the same. You hear with your ears but you listen using your ears and mind.

You stand to gain if you listen well in the classroom. We are not born with good listening skills. However, we can learn these skills. Below are some ways you can cultivate good listening habits:

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1.	Go to class with an eagerness to learn
	Sit in the front of the classroom.
	Pay attention to the teacher.
	Follow the outline of the lesson if it's on the blackboard or on a piece of paper.

2.	Listen for the main points
	Ask yourself these questions:
		How does the teacher organize the lesson?
		Is the teacher giving you points from the most important to the least important and vice versa?
		How does one idea lead to another?
	Listen for words and phrases like "The three most important factors...", "On the other hand...", "Now let's turn our attention to...", "Finally...", etc. These words help you to follow the sequence of the lesson.

3.	Be an active listener
	Summarize the main points of the lesson during pauses.
	Draw conclusions for yourself.
	Make connections between ideas in the lesson and real life. You will remember better this way.

4.	Go to class with an open mind
	Pay attention to what the teacher is saying. Below are some poor listening habits and how you can correct them.

Poor listening habits	Don't...	Do...
Label a subject boring	decide that the lesson is going to be boring and shut your ears to what the teacher has to say.	listen closely for information that can be useful and important.
Allow yourself to be distracted	fiddle with your pencil and eraser during the lesson. Neither should you allow your thoughts to wander.	cast away all distractions and concentrate on what the teacher is saying.
Only listen for facts	just concentrate on the facts and think that everything else that the teacher says is unimportant.	understand how other ideas and examples support the facts.
Pretend to pay attention	look at the teacher and pretend that you are listening. Don't expect to find everything that the teacher has said in the textbook.	know that a good lesson may not contain the same information as the textbook.