Student Success Skills

Practicing Active Listening

by jennifer

August 31, 2012

Exhibit A

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

What I Do	Sample Barriers
o	Allow background noise to affect listening.
o	Allow daily events or interruptions to affect listening.
o	Have prejudice or negative attitudes toward the person speaking.
o	Don’t make enough eye contact (which should be made 80% of the time) with the person speaking.
o	Lack interest in what is being said.
o	Become defensive when the other person criticizes me.
o	Want to tell ‘my’ story before the other person is finished.
o	Interrupt the speaker before s/he is finished.
o	Respond emotionally to what is being said.
o	Let the speaker’s voice quality of speed influence me.
o	Let someone else distract me.

Meeting People →

This semester I have made a number of improvements that have helped me in class. In my opinion, the biggest improvement I made was going to class more often. This has obviously helped in the classes I’m taking. Another improvement I’ve made is my note taking skills. I take more thorough notes than I did before and that has led to me understanding things much better. This semester I’ve kept track of my time way better. Using a wall calendar helped this cause tremendously while setting multiple alarms helped as well. Another improvement would be using my time between classes for better purposes. This helped give me time to study for tests and get a head start on homework. These are just a few of the improvements that have helped me this semester..