Keen ears in class

Today we are going to address the first academic survival skill – LISTENING!

If you think about most of your day as a student, the majority of your time is is spent listening to your professor lecture.  So if you are taking 15 credits of college courses, this tells me you are spending a minimum of 15 hours a week of consistent listening. As a high school student, at least 6 hours of the day is spent in the classroom listening to teachers or participating in class; which equates to about 30 hours of classroom listening.

So as you see, if we are going to spend most of our week listening, it is essential to become an active listener.

Here are a few things you can do to improve your classroom listening skills as a high school student, college student or non-traditional student.

1. Come to class well rested and energized. Your sleep is very important to your grades
2. Be prepared for class. Come prepared by completing any and all previous reading assignments or homework. Its always best to be ahead of the teacher’s syllabus.
3. Move to the front or “energy zone” of the professor. This is the part of the classroom, where the professor focuses most of his speaking energy when he speaks. This normally is the area, where students are giving the professor the most attention. Also move closer to the front so you won’t have any trouble seeing, hearing or paying attention.
4. Focus your attention on what the speaker is saying – not on the upcoming weekend, the sound of the speaker’s voice, or any thing that doesn’t matter.
5. Evaluate what you hear – think about what the professor’s or teacher’s words mean and how they relate to what you already know about the class subject.
6. Take great notes. Since its impossible for even the best listeners to remember all that has been said. Take great notes.

So there are six ways you can improve your classroom listening skills. Since your academic success relies on listening, begin today putting these simple techniques together. I also would like to hear others ways you have improved your listening and retained classroom information.