Learning Links:
Noise / Signals / Telecommunications / Music / Radio/TV / Conversation / Theatre / Animals / Humor / Conscience
Demonstrators should be read from bottom to top, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Recognize the purpose and effectiveness of a message.
• Apply a variety of listening strategies (e.g., predict, check, revise, question) for a specific purpose.
• Recognize meaning from verbal cues (e.g., tone of voice, pitch, volume).
• Select and summarize the key points from a message.
• Listen for a specific purpose (e.g., information, entertainment).
Middle School Demonstrators
• Analyze the purpose(s) and effectiveness of a message.
• Interpret a message and support your interpretation.
• Adjust listening strategies for a specific purpose (e.g., information, persuasion, imagination).
• Construct meaning from verbal cues.
High School Demonstrators
• Evaluate messages for a specific purpose.
• Exhibit effective listening strategies for a specific purpose (e.g., information, persuasion, imagination).
• Interpret the impact of verbal cues on a message.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies:
Collaborative Process:
Cooperative Learning, Peer Tutoring, Reciprocal Teaching / Community-Based Instruction: Mentoring / Continuous Progress Assessment: Conferencing, Interviews / Problem Solving: Brainstorming, Debate, Interviews, Questioning / Whole Language Approach / Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources:
• Attend a folk music festival, professional or school concert, opera, or church choir presentation.
• Perform songs, speeches, or sketches for special audiences (e.g., youngsters in childcare programs, senior citizens, songs in sign language for the hearing impaired, or songs in other languages).
• Interview a court stenographer.
• Invite a local biologist, naturalist, or individual knowledgeable about bird calls to class.
Core Concept: Accessing Sources
Sample Elementary Activities
• Listen to an instrumental recording then artistically interpret (e.g., draw a picture, create a dance, develop a skit) the emotions experienced. PE
• Create a variety of sound effects to accompany a dramatic presentation. Select and refine the most effective. PE
• Construct a model from oral directions. PE
• Listen to a story and draw an interpretation. PE
• Present a mock trial to a jury. Have jury members explain the reasons for their verdict. PE, OE
• Prepare a sound map of your school, home, or neighborhood. P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Record your voice in different situations and with different people. Analyze your speech and record your interpretations. P
• Choose a nature scene and describe the sounds to a person who is hearing impaired. PE, OE
• Analyze the placement of laugh tracks in a sitcom. PE, P
• Listen to regional dialects; analyze origins and patterns. P
• Choose music to accompany an oral reading of a poem. PE
• Darken the picture on a television and record what information is received. PE, OE
• Create a sound montage using common environmental noises. P
Sample High School Activities
• Prepare a diary of the most important sounds in your life. P
• Listen to songs which make a social statement.
- Identify social messages delivered through the recordings. OE
- Create a song with a current social message. PE
• Listen to advertisements; identify persuasive language or music and determine its impact on you, your peers, and on people from different backgrounds. PE, OE
• Record outdoor sounds for 30 minutes; present the information you heard in a creative medium (e.g., hypermedia, video, poem). PE
• Record an aural journal at a specified place and time throughout the year. P
• Create a video drama and accompanying soundtrack. PE, OE