What Do You Mean You "Weren't Listening?!"
How many of you
found yourself in a general education classroom watching your students and
thinking to yourselves, "What are you doing??" You see them zone out,
miss information, get on their phones, and write down only what's on the board and not what the
teacher was saying. You think to yourself, "When I was
in school, the teacher couldn't say two words without me analyzing their
importance and writing down what was meaningful!"
But alas, our students are not us and there they sit… often feverishly
copying the board or staring out the window. It drives me nuts to see students
copy an entire PowerPoint word-for-word and devote so much mental energy to the task of copying that they miss
the entire spoken lecture - especially when many of them have accommodations in
their IEP to receive copies of
PowerPoints or have note-taking assistance!!
But how many of our students are actually aware of their IEP
accommodations? How many can self-advocate for their use? How many students
miss assignments or turn them in half-complete because they failed to get all the
instructions? And how many come to high school ill equipped to
decipher what is important and what’s not over the course of their school day?
Join me for a
two-part series as we look at students who fit this profile and how to help
them make the most of their IEP accommodations, understand the concept of
"critical listening," learn to become self-advocates, and change
their note-taking habits.
Let's Try a
Riddle!
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of lesson plans,
let's examine the basis for why we want to cover critical listening and self-advocacy skills. Let's also examine how good we are at
listening critically. As an activity, I ask my students to watch this riddle as I read along with it and ask them to take notes on what they find important.
Try your hand by watching this YouTube video below...
Did you get the
correct answer? Or had you forgotten the beginning of the riddle by the time
you reached the end? If it stumped you, you’re in good company! Essentially
none of my students write down the statement "you are a bus driver"
and instead, they’re immediately drawn in to the “facts” of the numerals that
follow. It mimics their classroom behavior of stressing to copy down the “facts”
that could easily be located in their books instead of the instructions or
analysis that the teacher is likely providing verbally.
Students have
gotten defensive with me, saying things like, "You never told us the color
of the bus driver's eye!!" Their emphatic frustrations remind me of the
conversations they have with their teachers after failed tests... "You
never told us why the Holocaust is meaningful to life in the 21st century! It
wasn't in the notes!! Not fair!!" And you bet that throughout the unit on
the Holocaust, the teacher was verbally making ties to life in the 21st
century that our students failed to write down (because they weren’t included
with the “facts” in the PowerPoint).
Our students with auditory
processing and language disorders generally struggle with taking in the
auditory stimulus of the teacher talking. On the other hand, writing down notes
off the board or PowerPoint (and in doing so, tuning out the teacher's lecture)
is often something they can do easily. It may be scary and foreign to them to
take a break from the rote copying and focus on what the teacher is actually
saying.
Riddles like the
example above help to highlight the fact that while solely copying down
information may be the key to success in certain classes with certain teachers,
it will hinder them in other
classes where they are
expected to take notes on the information the teacher is presenting verbally.
These skills are also essential
for college and can easily be incorporated into transition plan goals.
And now as high school students, they must be prepared to inform their teachers of their needs. Their teachers work with 120+ students a day and they need to understand what is expected of them. I've noticed that many teachers seem to respond more positively when the student themselves tells them "I need to re-take this test because I got less than a 60% and it's written in my IEP," instead of hearing it from a SpEd staff member and feeling as if a colleague is creating more work for them.
So the take away this framework should be straightforward: As SLPs, it's our job to encourage the development of critical listening skills and encourage our students to stand up for their needs!
So how do we get started on that lofty task? Goals, of course!
Goal Ideas for
Critical Listening
Goals are always my
starting place for designing therapy units, activities and teacher consultation
strategies, so writing
authentic goals is something about which I’m deeply passionate. Here are some ideas
for goals I might write that target critical listening activities and
self-advocacy skills:
- Receptive Language Goal Ideas (Auditory Comprehension)
By 10/17, given verbal directions and a prompt, Bobby will demonstrate understanding of 3- to 4–step classroom instructions by repeating and/or rephrasing them to his teacher with 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities as measured by SLP and/or teacher data.
- Expressive Language Goal Ideas (Self-Advocacy)
By 10/17, Bobby will independently provide an IEP Accommodation Worksheet to his teacher, verbally provide 2 reasons why it must be followed, and provide explanations for 80% of his classroom IEP accommodations as measured by teacher report/SLP observation.
- Transition Goal Ideas (College Awareness)
By 10/17, given minimal clinician assistance, Bobby will identify 3 note-taking and/or critical listening strategies that will lead to success in college-level courses as measured by student work samples.
As you can see, the development of critical listening skills and self-advocacy can be applied to a variety of student needs. I'm sure you all can think of some other awesome goals that target these skills as well!
Join me next week for a continuation of this series - including two lessons plans on engaging critical listening and self-advocacy skills! And as always, it doesn't have to be fancy, just keep it fun and functional!
- Jillian, the No-Frills SLP
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