Teaching the Core Skills of Listening and Speaking

219 Pages·2013·4.86 MB·English

by  Erik Palmer

Education
With the Common Core State Standards emphasizing listening and speaking across
the curriculum, these long-neglected language arts are regaining a place in schools.
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For teachers, this means reexamining practices and rethinking expectations. How
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much do we know about teaching listening and speaking as the complex communi-
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cation skills they are? How do we teach students to discuss appropriately, integrate IN
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and understand the mountains of information they receive, and express themselves
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clearly and effectively? H
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In this lively and practical book, 20-year teaching veteran Erik Palmer presents O
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an approach aligned to the six Common Core Anchor Standards for Speaking E

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and Listening but focused on preparing students for 21st century communica-
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tion inside and beyond the classroom. You’ll get concrete guidance for teaching L
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and assessing S

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• Collaborative discussion • Speech presentation F

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• Listening and media literacy • Effective multimedia use S
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• Questioning and reasoning • Adapting speech to different
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content and tasks N
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With due respect to reading and writing, we do most of our
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communicating—in the classroom, and in life—through listening

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and speaking. Filled with classroom examples and specific activi- P
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ties targeted to a variety of subjects and grade levels, this A
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book is an essential resource for all teachers interested in I
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helping students acquire core skills that cross the content G

areas and support long-term success.
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$26.95 U.S.
Alexandria, Virginia USA
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TeachingListeningSpeaking_cover_Final.indd 1 3/7/14 2:03 PM

ERIK PALMER
®
Alexandria, VA USA
1703 N. Beauregard St. • Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USA
Phone: [phone] or 703-578-9600 • Fax: [phone]
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Kalyan, Production Manager; Valerie Younkin, Production Designer
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All material from the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts &
Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects and from the
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics © 2010 by the National Governors
Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All
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PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-4166-1756-3 ASCD product # 114012 n3/14
Also available as an e-book (see Books in Print for the ISBNs).
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Palmer, Erik, 1953- author.
Teaching the core skills of listening and speaking / Erik Palmer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4166-1756-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Oral communication--Study and teach-
ing--United States. 2. Listening--Study and teaching--United States. 3. Language arts--
United States. 4. Education--Standards--United States--States. I. Title.
LB1572.P35 2014
302.2242071--dc23
2013046269
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Acknowledgments ...............................................................................vii
Introduction............................................................................................1
1. The Most Fundamental Skills for Success ......................................9
2. Core Skills, Core Standards ............................................................24
3. Collaborating/Discussing ..............................................................30
4. Listening/Media Literacy ................................................................56
5. Questioning/Reasoning ...................................................................84
6. Speaking Well .................................................................................106
7. Incorporating Multimedia .............................................................131
8. Adapting for the Occasion ...........................................................151
9. Assessing Listening and Speaking ...............................................166
Final Thoughts ...................................................................................188
References ..........................................................................................190
Index ....................................................................................................194
About the Author ...............................................................................201

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So I’m sitting in my office and the phone rings. It’s Stefani Roth, an
acquisitions editor for ASCD. She makes it clear that ASCD wants me
to write a book for them. I explained that I had published two books
with Stenhouse Publishers and I love the people there and what they
have done for me. Stefani could not have been more understanding
or more accommodating: “We will do whatever it takes to make you
and them comfortable!” And she could not have been mo re insis-
tent: “You are the only person who can write this book!” Thank you,
Stefani, for promoting this project and for believing in me.
I also have to acknowledge, then, Holly Holland, my editor at
Stenhouse, and Dan Tobin, the company president. While perhaps a
bit disappointed that my next book was not going to be a Stenhouse
book, they were supportive and more than willing to wish me well.
Thank you both for your understanding and encouragement.
Only by getting input from a great editor can you discover the
brilliant tweaks, suggestions, and additions that can dramatically
improve your words. Katie Martin offered many insightful comments
and helped me clarify many key concepts. As an author, I think it
is great fun to find an improved way of saying something. So many
times Katie provided that better way. Thank you, Katie.
vii
viii • Teaching the Core Skills of Listening and Speaking
I have to acknowledge, as always, my wife, Anne. She encour-
aged me to move from the classroom to a somewhat bigger stage.
She puts up with the light going on in the middle of the night so I can
write down an idea that’s popped into my head. She celebrates all
of the accomplishments, trivial and important. She holds down the
fort while I am off speaking or leading workshops. Thank you, Anne.
You help make many possibilities reality.
I also have to thank some people I don’t know. First, I’d like to
acknowledge the unknown person who heard me speak at some
conference and excitedly communicated to the folks at ASCD that I
had an important message that needed to be shared. Without that
person, this whole process might never have started. And I’d like to
thank you, the reader. It is your interest in what I have called “The
Forgotten Language Arts” that will bring a renewed emphasis to
these most important skills. The work that you do to develop listen-
ing and speaking skills will be the single greatest gift you give to your
students, and this gift will last a lifetime.
INTRODUCTION
How do you teach listening and speaking?
There are two ways to approach this question. The first is in
a global, impersonal sense. The focus is procedure. Think of it as
similar to questions such as “How do you copy a paragraph in a MS
Word document?” and “How do you find a common denominator?”
Many of us could quickly rattle off the process for finding a com-
mon denominator, but how many of us are prepared to describe the
process for building strong oral communication? How do you teach
listening and speaking?
My sense is that when many teachers consider the question,
their first thought is, “Well, you really don’t have to. Speaking? My
kids are always talking! And teaching listening? We are always doing
that—always reminding them to sit still and be quiet.” But is this
true? Are all of our students well spoken? Have they all mastered lis-
tening to each other, entertaining diverse points of view, evaluating
evidence and supporting arguments, collaborating with others, and
analyzing the media they are exposed to daily? Do they all commu-
nicate effectively in conversations, discussions, and presentations?
Obviously not. Listening and speaking are skills, and like all skills,
they can be improved significantly with deliberate instruction and
purposeful practice.
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