Alternative Teaching Techniques for Low Achieving Students:

Teaching Listening Skills to the Inattentive Student

The Psycho-Educational Teacher

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Generally speaking, all students benefit when they understand that hearing and listening are two

different behaviors, and that, like reading or spelling, “good listening” is an academic skill that

they can learn. Students also need to be aware of how poor listening behavior negatively affects

their learning. Inattentive students in particular benefit from a scaffolded or supportive approach

coupled with the explicit teaching of strategies to become better listeners. Some things that

teachers can do to help the inattentive student are:

Help the Student Pay Attention to Specific Auditory Information or Key Words

You can scaffold this skill by slightly exaggerating and/or changing your voice’s inflection

(pitch or tone) when you are presenting key auditory information.

You can slightly increase and/or change the volume of your voice (speaking rate).

Help the Student Distinguish the Most Important Information from what is Less Important

When you first introduce a concept, present the new information slower than you would do when

speaking about familiar concepts.

Focus on the essential information. Eliminate the information that is not relevant, or that the

student does not need to be able to understand the new material or concept.

Decide what you want the student to learn from the lesson, and tell the child exactly what you

expect her to remember.

Directly tell the child which points are important. For example, say, “These are the three points

you need to remember…”

Present the information in a way that highlights what is important, that is, what the student must

pay attention to.

Teach the student to prioritize (e.g. listing) the more important information from what is less

important.

To help the student focus, use verbal cues to alert the child that you are going to say something

important. For example, you can say, “This will be on the test” or “Listening now. This is

important.”

Verbally organize the information, e.g. “First… second… and now the most important point…”

Divide Complex Auditory Material into Smaller, More Manageable Parts

Use number or steps.

Reduce the amount of verbal information that you present at a single time. Break down one

longer lesson into two or more mini-lessons, and deliver it in smaller chunks.

Cut the lesson in half. For example, rather than discussing the seven major religions in a single

lesson, split into four and three, presented in separate lessons.

Present the oral information reduced into chunks. Examples:

What did the character, Anna, say that disappointed Brian: _____ or _____?

Can you figure out who broke Grammy’s window: _____, _____, or _____? How do you

know?

The main idea of this article is _____, _____, or _____.

The student can reduce the amount of information she needs to remember by organizing the

information into categories. For example, orange, apple, celery, banana, carrot, pineapple,

spinach, and beet are easier to remember if the student categorizes the list as four fruits (orange,

apple, banana, and pineapple) and four vegetables (celery, carrot, spinach, and beet).

To help maintain focus, explicitly transition the student from one task or topic to the next. Say,

“Okay, we are done with _____. Now we are moving to _____.”

Directly Speak with the Student about the Skill of Active Listening

Make students aware of poor listening behaviors that inhibit learning, e.g. fidgeting, being

distracted by other noises or sights, faking listening by simply staring at the book, or

daydreaming.

Make sure your students understand that listening is an active and purposeful process. Active

listening has a goal or intention for listening, pays attention to main ideas, pays attention to

details, follows the sequence of the speaker’s ideas, and pays attention to transitional or signal

words.

Give your Students Strategies for Active Listening

Some strategies that you can discuss with students are:

Look at the speaker.

Pay attention to the speaker’s facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice for clues to

meaning.

Echo (repeat) what you hear in your mind.

Mentally paraphrase what you hear.

Ask yourself, “Do I understand this?” Ask questions or write your questions if you are

confused.

Mentally summarize (or write or sketch) the speaker’s main points.

Make sure that students understand that active listening is not about word-by-word

memorization. It is not necessary to hear, understand, and remember every word that the speaker

says. One of the most important skills that children can learn in school is to listen for meanings

and to remember key information.

About the AuthorCarmen Y. Reyes, The Psycho-Educational Teacher, has more than twenty years of experience

as a self-contained special education teacher, resource room teacher, and educational

diagnostician. Carmen has taught at all grade levels, from kindergarten to post secondary.

Carmen is an expert in the application of behavior management strategies, and in teaching

students with learning or behavior problems. Her classroom background, in New York City and

her native Puerto Rico, includes ten years teaching emotionally disturbed/behaviorally

disordered children and four years teaching students with a learning disability or low cognitive

functioning. Carmen has a bachelor’s degree in psychology (University of Puerto Rico) and a

master’s degree in special education with a specialization in emotional disorders (Long Island

University, Brooklyn: NY). She also has extensive graduate training in psychology (30+ credits).

Carmen is the author of 60+ books and articles in child guidance and in alternative teaching

techniques for low-achieving students. You can read the complete collection of articles on Scribd

or her blog, The Psycho-Educational Teacher. To download free the eGuide, Persuasive

Discipline: Using Power Messages and Suggestions to Influence Children Toward Positive

Behavior, visit Carmen’s blog.