Listening

Listening is an important skill in any classroom, but it’s especially important in the drama classroom. From classroom instruction, to game directions, to focusing on their fellow performers on stage, students are constantly required to listen. Active listening is a skill, and just like any other skill it can be improved with focused activities. Here is a simple activity that challenges students to actively listen in the face of increasing distraction. The game is called ABC-123-COLOR. Instructions:• Put the entire class in a circle • Choose one student to start the activity. • That first student will make eye contact with another student across the circle, walk across the circle, say “A,” and move into the second student's place in the circle. • As soon as they hear the letter, the second student will immediately choose a third student in the circle, make eye contact, and start to walk towards them. • The second student will say the letter “B” to the third student and move into that student’s place in the circle. • The third student will make eye contact with a fourth student, say “C” and take their place, and so on. • This will continue until the students have successfully made it all the way through the alphabet. • When the group has successfully made it through the alphabet, reset the circle and tell the students you will repeat the activity, and this time you will be adding numbers to the game. • Choose a student to start with “A,” have them make eye contact with another student, and start the alphabet layer of the game. • Once the alphabet is in play, turn to a different student in the group and say “1.” • That student will choose a different person in the circle, make eye contact, walk towards them and say “2.” • Two will make eye contact, move toward a different student, and say “3.” • Three will continue to four and so on. • If a student is given both a letter and number at the same time, they will make eye contact with one student and give them the next letter, then turn to a different student and pass them the next number, then take the place of that student. • The group will simultaneously continue with both letters and numbers until the letter Z is reached. • Reset the circle and tell the students that you are going to add colors to the game. • Choose a student to start the alphabet. • After that student begins, choose a second student to start with numbers. • After letters and numbers are in play, choose a third student to start with colors following the same sequence: eye contact, move to student, say a color, take their place. Students may repeat colors. • All three layers — letters, numbers, and colors — will continue simultaneously until students reach the letter Z. When you add numbers and colors, the game gets much more challenging. Encourage your student to concentrate on the information that is given to them (letter, number, or color), provide strong and deliberate eye contact, and hyper-focus on what is happening in the circle. Active listening includes eyes, ears, and body, and requires concentration. This game can be repeated on a regular basis throughout the semester. How do students improve their skills? Discussion QuestionsUnpack the exercise: 1. How did your listening change as more layers (numbers and colors) were added to the game? 2. What strategies did you use to stay focused when the activity became more challenging? 3. What role did eye contact and body awareness play in being successful at the game? 4. How might you apply those same skills when working with scene partners or receiving directions in drama class? 5. What caused the game to break down when mistakes happened, and what helped the group recover?

Hearing is a passive, physical act of using the ears to perceive sounds. You can hear without understanding or acknowledging the sounds. Listening, conversely, is an active, internal behaviour, which requires multiple senses and thought. In order to truly listen, you have to pay attention to what the other person is saying. You may have heard the expression “in one ear and out the other;” that refers to the act of hearing but not listening. Actively listening helps students understand others’ thoughts and feelings and encourages respect. Listening is also an important facet of social awareness. Here are some activities you can do with your students to deepen their comprehension of active listening versus passive hearing and help them understand the importance of active listening not only in drama class, but in real life as well. 1. Discussion : Start a discussion about hearing versus listening with your students. Ask them to define the differences between hearing and listening in their own words. How do they feel when they’re being listened to? How do they feel when they’re not being listened to? 2. Demonstration : Have students physically demonstrate what it might look or sound like when they are paying attention and actively listening. Alternatively, have students demonstrate what it might look or sound like when they are not listening. Traditionally, signals of paying attention might include things like making eye contact, nodding, not interrupting, asking clarifying questions, or summarizing what was said. However, be aware that active listening doesn’t always look the same from student to student. A student with ADHD might be able to focus better if they are allowed to doodle while listening to a lesson. A student with autism might be actively listening while looking away or not making eye contact. Allow your students to explain and demonstrate how they can best listen to you and others. 3. Character Study : Analyze a scene between two characters in a play the class is currently studying. Are the characters truly listening to each other? Is one character listening while the other isn’t? What is the evidence in the text? How might students stage the scene to further demonstrate hearing versus listening? 4. Role Play : Have students write or improvise short scenes in which one student is not listening to the other. Have them explore how they felt when they weren’t being listened to. What did they do (or could they have done) to make the other person understand how they were feeling? Have students ever felt like this in real life? 5. Reflection : Why is active listening important in drama class? Alternatively, why is it important during improvisation, scene work, or in a theatrical production — both on and offstage? Bonus : Check out the following articles for even more information about active listening: • Active Listening in the Drama Classroom • Encouraging Active Listening in the Digital Classroom • Warm-Up Activities that Encourage Communication

Keeping students actively engaged while teaching via distance learning can be frustrating at times. It can be more difficult for students to focus in a distance learning situation than in a physical classroom, as there are so many distractions at home. But as we know, students will get way more out of their virtual classes when they are actively listening and participating. Here are some tips and suggestions to encourage active listening and participation from your students during their distance learning drama classes. 1. Keep video screens on.All students should keep their video screens on and focused on their faces, so you can see what they’re doing. If a student needs to turn off their screen, they need to let you know why. You don’t need to demand that they all be looking at their screens all the time (some students might need to look away to focus), but you should be able to see them. 2. Try wearing headphones.Headphones can reduce household distractions and allow your students to hear you better. 3. Ask your students questions.Let your students know that you’ll be calling on them to answer questions to see if they’re absorbing the material. Don’t let them know who you will call on in advance. Keep students on their toes. Try this: Write each student’s name on an index card. When you ask a question, hold up the index card to indicate which student you are calling on to answer the question. See if that student sees that they’re being called on. 4. Keep lessons active.When possible, let your students do the majority of the talking. Ask students to share their thoughts and opinions. Have them give demonstrations. Have them re-state important points in their own words. Encourage them to give feedback to their peers. Have them verbally summarize exercise directions. It will be useful to establish a signal, gesture, or notification for who talks when, otherwise students might just talk over each other. 5. Use a written response sheet.At the end of each class, have students fill out and submit a response sheet about that day’s lesson topic. Similar to a reflection, this will give you an idea of what students absorbed from that lesson, and what interested them. Give them a time limit (e.g., within 30 minutes of the end of the virtual class). See below for a free sample response sheet. 6. Adjust class sizes.If scheduling permits it, you might try holding one large class for the full group of students, and then smaller group tutorial-style meetings to discuss topics and concerns. It can be difficult to monitor large groups on online platforms. Smaller groups lend themselves better to direct feedback and teacher-student interaction. 7. Include a participation mark.This depends on whether your administrators are having you grade your students, but having a participation mark can often affect students’ decision to actively listen to lessons. 8. Be gentle with yourself and your students.Distance learning is still new for most of us, and it can be a challenge to get students to even show up to online classes, let alone actively listen and participate. Praise and thank your students who attend your lessons, and pat yourself on the back for the work you are doing. It isn’t easy, and you are working hard to give your students a great educational experience. For more tips on active listening, check out the following posts: • Active Listening in the Drama Classroom • Round-Up: Warm-Up Activities that Encourage Communication • How to Get Students to Answer Questions in Class

Good communication is all about being engaged and listening. One of my favourite quotes about communication is: “Two monologues do not make a dialogue. – Jeff Daly” Instructions:1. Ask your class to form a circle. 2. Instruct everyone to think about a flower. You might want to throw out some suggestions if you see students with a deer in the headlights look. (Rose, Carnation, Daisy, Tulip, Bluebell, Violet, Buttercup, Primrose, Forget-me-not, Iris, Orchid, Lily, Sunflower, Crocus) 3. Take a large ball. (Something soft, like a nerf ball.) Explain that you are going to throw the ball across the circle. The person who catches the ball has to name a flower and then throw the ball to someone else. 4. When the second person catches the ball, they have to name a flower, and then repeat the flower of the first person. Then they throw the ball to someone else. 5. The third person names a flower, and then repeats the flowers of the second person, and the first. They then throw the ball to someone else and the game continues. 6. By this point, everyone in the circle should be focused on the list of flowers and listening. Make it a rule that you can repeat flowers but not twice in a row. (So you could have rose, carnation, daisy, rose, tulip, bluebell, violet, rose.) 7. Coach students to take their turn with purpose – don’t let them get into a “excuse mantra.” Keep everyone focused on the game and keeping the ball moving. Encourage others to help if someone gets in trouble with the list. 8. Discuss the exercise afterward. Was it easy or hard? Why? What was it like to listen to intently? How can good listening skills be of value during rehearsal or performance? Variations• Colours • Food • Cities • First names/Last names • Numbers