Discovery Learning - 2

"Are you getting the point?"

"Am I clear?"

"Understood?"

Of several questions often asked by a teacher in a classroom, these are a few asked to either conclude what has been said or move ahead with another topic. A few students nod their heads and fewer have really understood the subject matter.

So, what's the story? Perhaps listening is also one of the skills which can be focused upon in a curriculum. Being a student for more than two decades, it has occurred to me while listening to some of the great professors. Learning to 'listen' is of utmost importance when so many of the educational models are based on the lecture method. However, the nuances of listening may vary according to the disciplines and is one of my suppositions.

Like there are reading comprehensions, there can be listening comprehensions as well. How about evaluating and assessing listening skills as well? This may go a long way in developing better learning and reading skills as well.

Since, every time that I have asked my students, "Are you getting it?; Clear?Alright?", I know and shall always remember the faces which communicate through the sound of silence. Saying, loud and clear, "No ma'am, not yet."

Listening to understand has always had its importance. Listening to reply or ask a question may rather hurry up the process of learning and lead to a satisfied teacher-student relationship. But, the content must seep inside the depth of the soil of mind and remain there for sunlight, water, and air to grow into a bud and bloom as a flower of the thoughtful and meaningful plant of "things understood".

When did you last resist asking a question and re-wound the words so as to re-visit and check if answer already lies in what's been said?