LISTENING:
Listening is such an important factor no matter where you are. Whether its school, work, home, or even out on the road driving listening is what allows us to communicate and respond to the world around us. The definition of listening is to be able to communicate with another being and understand the meaning of what they are saying. The four different types of listening are discriminative, aesthetic, efferent, and critical listening. I can personally say that I have used each one of these types of listening on a daily basis. For example, discriminative listening is kind of the one I feel a little guilty about as I simply pick and choose what I want to hear. I sometimes tend to do this to when my sister calls me and tells me about all of the ‘drama’ and exaggerations she makes about her situations. I simply choose to hear bits and pieces of information but I never manage to hear the whole story. Within aesthetic listening, I find that I use this type the most. I prefer to listen to particular songs or music and I’d much rather listen to my friends than listen to the news on television. While I prefer aesthetic listening it also ties in with discriminative listening as I’m choosing what I like best to listen to. Efferent listening seems to be what calls for more determination and focus in my point of view. If I’m watching the news and listening about Obama and his new ideals, then I’d be practicing efferent listening; however, I’d also have to fight falling asleep as in this particular example I find my self not interested at all. Lastly is critical listening, and here I think the best example of this was the debate we had in class. It was amazing how this section of listening was tested as I had wanted to find every way to come up with the best responses for our team in the debate, yet I still had to listen carefully to what the other team said to prove that our candy was still the best.

DEBATE:
The most challenging part of the debate was being able to listen to what the other team had to say. This was similar to how many people react when they get into an argument. The main reason why this is so tough is because no matter what the situation either a debate or an argument each side wants to be right and wants to win. I can definitely say I used the discriminative aspect of listening as I heard just enough of what I wanted to turn that into a point that could be argued. It was taking a small piece of information, proving it wrong, and discharging whatever else was being said. The one thing that made it so difficult was wanting to win the debate…even though the other team still had some really really really good points about why their candy was the best.

CHAPTER 2:
“Remember the first week when we had to really work at walking quietly? Now you guys do it automatically”
This is the teacher talk I found most important. The reason why is because it reminds students of their past actions or learning abilities and still gives them room for improvement to see that they have made progress. This also allows the students to reflect on their past abilities such as reading or writing and ask them how they have seen that have improved. More than anything, this give the students a boost of self-esteem and in a sense leaves them only wanting to continue doing better. Lastly, this not only gives students a chance to reflect but it also gives them the opportunity to set goals for their short and long term futures.