Listening: A Framework for Teaching Across Differences

Most teachers will probably agree that listening is very important for students’ academic success. Schultz’s approach, however, is not specifically focused on improving students’ listening abilities, but rather on helping teachers locate listening at the center of their teaching. In Chapter 1, Locating Listening at the Center of Teaching, Schultz explains her rationale for focusing on a pedagogy of listening. “Rather than teaching prospective and experienced teachers how to follow prescriptions for blueprints” says Schultz, “I suggest that teachers learn how to attend to and to respond with deep understanding to the students they teach” (p. 2). Schultz defines listening as “more than just hearing….[it is] how a teacher attends to individuals, the classroom as a group, the broader social context, and, cutting across all of these, to silence and acts of silencing” (p. 8). Schultz presents her conceptual framework in this first chapter, but readers will have to stay the course to fully understand her view of listening. Those who decide to read only the chapters that appear relevant.