OBSERVING AND REFLECTING: LISTENING IN ON ADULT/CHILD

INTERACTIONBy: Ruth Ann Dapkus

Professor Olien (READ 515)Fall 2015

(All names used are pseudonyms in the following dialogue…)

1.)

Dialogue/Scenario: ■ Parent and child walking side by side

at a grocery store in the cereal aisle.Child: Mommy look!Cocoa puffs! They have Cocoa puffs!Parent: That’s nice dear.Child: Mommy can we get Cocoa puffs?Parent: That’s nice honeyChild: I like Cocoa puffs and Devin likes Cocoa puffs.Parent: We will eat dinner when we get home.Child: Cocoa puffs?

My thoughts: (poor listening)■ The parent is obviously distracted here

and not paying attention or actively listening to the child. At one point the parent is not even responding to what the child is saying and answers with a completely different response such as “we will eat when we get home” and “That’s nice honey”.

■ The parent is also holding a list in one hand and has a cart full of groceries. I assume this is why they are pre-occupied. I would like to have seen more acknowledgement and responses to what the child was saying.

2.)Dialogue/Scenario*Small group of students and a teacher at a school in the morning. Teacher: What do you see in this picture?Child: I see a mommy and a daddy and a baby Teacher: Thank you! Could you tell me more about that?Child: They are outside…and a dogTeacher: Yes, I agree that they are outside. Now, where do you think they are at?Child: on the grassTeacher: Yes, now let’s think more about this. Do you remember anything from the story that might tell us where they are at? Child: The park!Teacher: Yes! Thank you Shawna.Teacher: Does anyone else have anything to add?

My thoughts: (good listening)■ The teacher is eliciting responses from the

group. She focuses in on one child to extrapolate information. In this case, its from a picture similar to a story they just read.

■ I thought this was an excellent example of an adult actively listening to a child’s responses. She’s trying to get them to tell respond with as much description as possible. In a classroom setting this is exactly what I would expect from a teacher-student interaction. The teacher also asks other students if they have “anything to add”. This helps other students as well. The other students are ‘listening’ as well.

3.) ■ Child 1: Mrs. P! Mrs. P!■ Aid: What is it Sammy?■ Child 1: Umm I was just on the swings and Bobby

kicked me with his shoe and said ‘I don’t know’■ Aid: Are you OK? Where is Bobby?■ Child: Well, I, yes I’m ok. It’s right here (points to

his head on the side) and he is over there!■ Aid: Where?■ Child: Over there in the blue shirt and blue jeans.■ Aid: Ok, let’s go find him and ask him what

happened.■ Child 1: OK■ Aid: Bobby, did you kick your friend in the head?■ Child 2 (Bobby): NO! I, I was swinging and I told

him to move and he stood there■ Child 1: I was asking him to play ball.■ Aid: Ok, it sounds like it was an accident. Bobby

can you tell him you are sorry for not seeing him.■ Child 2 (Bobby): I’m sorry■ Child 1: It’s ok……do you want to go play?■ Child 2: ok

Dialogue/Scenario (good listening)*Second and third grade students are on a short recess in the morning. I observe an teachers aid and a child speaking.

My Thoughts: This is an example of an adult listening actively and trying to understand the interactions of two students. She listens to the first child’s concerns. I believe the aid wants to help clarify the situation and make sure both parties are doing alright and communicating properly. One child came to her in distress.

4.)Dialogue/Scenario*Observations in an ESL class at local middle school. Teacher: What did you do during the weekend?Student: I went to IllinoisTeacher: Where were you? Were you at the river?Student: YesTeacher: Class, how can we say that so everyone understands where Mikey was at?Student: (Same student) I mean I was at the Illinois River.Teacher: That’s better. How about saying….On Saturday, I went to the Illinois River.Student: Yes….On Saturday, I went to the Illinois River.Teacher: Good!

My thoughts:■ The teacher does a good job to

elicit the present past or ‘I went’ by helping the student add details and expand on what happened over the weekend. The student knows what he did but he needed to clarify and use the present past to explain his whereabouts over the weekend..

■ The clarification or active listening on the part of the teacher made the student question whether or not his response was correct. I liked the way the teacher did this.

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5.) Dialogue/Scenario (good listening)*Parent talking to a two year old in a car seat.

■ Parent: Where is your bottle?■ Child: da…baba…■ Parent: Yes, will you please hold your

juice bottle?■ Child: Ah….zee oooh ahhh do do do■ Parent: I know you are thirsty. You just

played with all those kids at the gym. ■ Child: DA! Da da da!!! ■ Parent: Ok, we are going to get going

now. If you get thirsty you can take more drinks..OK?

■ Child: baba…zee oooh!■ Parent: Ok, great! Let’s finish getting

buckled in…■ Child: Oh da

My Thoughts: This is an example of an adult listening actively and intensively. The two year old is not able to make full words but I still feel that they are comprehending what the parent is saying.

I really like the way the parent is speaking in full sentences and modeling the type of speech that she wants her child to someday use in dialogue with her. This is a good example of active listening. I even heard some words like “baba” from the child that sounded similar to ‘bottle’. The child is trying to respond.

6.)Dialogue/Scenario*Observations in a 4th grade classroom. The class has the overhead on and are working on Math problems.■ Student: May I come in, Mr. D ?

■ Teacher: Yes, stand here. Why do you always come late?

■ S: It is the bus that made me late.

■ T: What time do you leave home?

■ S: I always leave home at quarter to eight.

■ T: How far is your home from here?

■ S: It is about three miles.

■ T: That is why you are late. You leave home very late.

■ S: I have breakfast at 7:30.

■ T: What time do you get up?

■ S: I get up at 7:00

My thoughts: (poor listening)■ T: Do you think you should get up earlier?■ S: Yes

■ The teacher is putting the student on the spot. The fact that the student is tardy is not something new. He appears to have come in late before many times.

■ The teacher is very much listening and responding to what the student says and how he says it. However, the student did say the bus was late. He is trying to figure out why the student comes in late. The student has a problem with being frequently tardy. The speech and interaction is direct.

7.) Dialogue/Scenario (good listening)*Observation in a Kindergarten class during free play time.

■ Teacher: What are you working on Suzy?■ Child: I’m building a train.■ T: I see that. Where does the train go?■ C: It goes through here (points to a tunnel)

and over here (points to a tree) …that’s the forest.

■ T: This is good Suzy. I like that you added the forest.

■ C: uh huh■ T: It is like the story we read with the

forest animals.■ C: yes and here is the raccoon over here.■ T: That’s great to see Suzy! You

remembered our story well. You even have animals by the side of the forest.

■ C: I like raccoons.■ T: Keep playing Suzy… you are doing great

with the train tracks

My thoughts: *It was a busy classroom and many children were playing with different toys. The teacher went over to many children individually and asked them what they were doing. She asked them specific questions about what they were building or playing with. The specific questions she asked Suzy helped clarify what she was doing. They were not just generic observations or comments. The teacher also recognized she was using elements from the classroom story in her free play. This was good for Suzy to be acknowledged with her train set up.

8.)Dialogue/Scenario (poor listening)*Child and parent walking to school holding hands. Child appears to be in first grade or Kindergarten.

Parent: Do you have your lunch?Child: Yes P: Do you know what you are doing at school today?C: We go to the pumpkin patch.P: I forgot that was today.C: Yes! Mom I told youP: I know honey but its been a busy week.C: uh huhP: I bet you will have lots of fun with your friends and your teachers. C: I will sit by Suzy on the bus.P: Oh that sounds great! Suzy and you are good friends.C: Yes, I want her to come over for HalloweenP: Ok, we will talk about it some more. It sounds like a good day for you. I will see you after school.

My thoughts:

The parent’s attention to the child is good to hear. There was a time the child got frustrated the parent did not remember what was happening at school. The parent reinforced their concern with “I bet you will have lots of fun with your friends and teachers” which was also a way of showing interesting in what the child was doing that day at school.I only heard this short dialogue between the two but the parent was showing interest in the child’s activities. They were actively listening to what the child had to say.There were times I also observed the parent bending over to get closer to the child in order to hear better. This is a definite sign that they were listening to the child’s speech.The parent listened poorly or did not hear the child the first time they said they were going to the pumpkin patch. However, I liked the attention to detail in their conversation on the way to school.

9.) Dialogue/Scenario (good listening)* I was in the office at an Elementary school when I heard the secretary asking a student what happened on the playground. The student is in 5th grade.

■ Adult: Why did you hit Jeremy?■ Child: He said I was copying off him ..off the

test.■ A: Were you copying off him?■ C: NO!■ A: You know that you are not supposed to hit

another student?■ C: Yes , but…■ A: You are in 5th grade here you have known

the rules at this school for a long time.■ C: I know but he said something …it was not

true!■ A: That is not a reason to hit him on the

shoulder. You need to use your words and keep your hands to yourself.

■ C: Ok,■ A: Who is your teacher?■ C: Mr. B■ A: Do you want to go tell him what happened?

My thoughts: The adult was listening to what the child said. They were also trying to elicit information about what had happened and why.

The adult asked several closed questions including one last one that I heard that was possibly an open ended question prompting the child to think about his behavior and whether or not it is something he wanted to disclose to his teacher.

10.)Dialogue/Scenario*Teacher is asking a student to explain how they got the correct answer to the math problem in a small group of students.

Teacher: One, two, three…show them to me.Child: (Holds up whiteboard) D!T: How did you get that answer Brian?C: I divided 56 by 7…T: Ok, why?C: because there are 56 baskets and it says that I have to make even pieces.T: Even groups?C: YesT: OkC: 6 divided by 7 is 6….so T: So six even groups of candyC: yesT: Ok! Great …did everyone see how he got that answer?T: Why do I see some C’s as the answer to that problem? .. Suzy explain your answer….

■My thoughts (poor listening)

The dialogue was short and direct between the teacher and the student. It was most likely because the class was short on time. The teacher also probably wanted to extract the necessary information from the student because he was the one that answered the problem correctly.I thought that the teacher could have given more time but again by asking “even groups” he was clarifying for the rest of the group about how to arrive at the correct answer. Also, the child used different terminology when explaining his answer and the teacher corrected him so the rest of the group was not confused.