The Circle of Learning

Learners will listen with empathy in order to improve daily interactions.

Minimize auditory and visual distractions before listening.
Adjust body language to ensure that it is appropriate for the audience.
Identify in mind your personal feelings, bias, or prejudice related to the topic under discussion.
Mentally set aside your personal feelings, bias, or prejudice while listening to another.
Be silent and give the other person time to think as well as to talk.
Pay attention to what is not being said (e.g., facial expressions, gestures, body language and other nonverbal clues).
Know how to listen to another's problem. [See instruction tip #2.]

Examples of applying this learning outcome outside the learning environment:
Family	Community	Work
Listen as an adult or child tells you about a problem. Ask questions to make sure you know what that person is saying. Sit close and put your arm around him/her if it is appropriate.	Listen to an Aboriginal woman talk about the role of Aboriginal women in the past as compared to now. Identify any bias you may have regarding this topic.	Be aware of any uncomfortable feelings you have about a topic brought up at work. Name the feeling to yourself. Then put it to the back of your mind as you listen to what your co-worker is saying.

Discuss and identify appropriate strategies to use for the purpose of listening.
- Use what is already known from past experience, and from other sources, to help in understanding.
- Use pre-listening strategies before listening for formal purposes.
- Make predictions as to speaker's message before listening and confirm or adjust predictions as speaker presents. Use the KWL (Know, Want to know, Learned) chart to check your understanding.
- Listen for key words or phrases that are repeated to help in understanding.
- Listen to the words and try to picture what is being said.
- Recognize changes in tone, volume, and pace, which may be clues to the key points of a presentation.
- Allow time to reflect and think about what was heard before responding.
- Check for understanding by restating key points in your own words or asking questions.
Know how to listen to another's problem.
- Help the speaker understand the problem by paraphrasing or summarizing.
- Ask questions for clarification.
- Suspend judgment as you listen.