The Importance of Listening
It is extremely important to take some time to listen to our students. Many times they are looking for someone to listen to whatever they feel comfortable sharing
You would agree that a critical factor that affects students decision to drop out is thier perception of the school and their instructors commintment to thier success.
To me, listening is the most important part of communication and if our students feel that we are listening to them, this is school comittment.
I have found that giving the student enough time to fully "tell their story" is a very important part of listening. I try to be proactive to find opportunities to have one one-on-one time with a student so they can share their life with me in a open and caring manner.
Being an attentive listener is an important first step. You also have to be an active listener, providing useful feedback to the student.
To better help students in their struggle for success is to listen to them attentively on every step of the way, if you listen ,you show them you really care and you have the best chances to guide them towards achievement, you also get closer to provide the right push.
Some people seem to be natural listeners; others have to work at the process. Is there any attempt at your school to help staff and faculty develop this skill? Are people evaluated on their listening skills?
I agree. Just haviing someone safe that you can talk to can make all the difference. Reflective listening also helps find out what the problem is.
Being a good listener is extremely important especially when it involves retaining a student. In most cases, not all, the student has decided to come to you because they trust you and they trust that you are the best person to make them “feel betterâ€. Let the student know that you want to hear the issue/concern, but they can not yell, use profanity, or disrespect anyone. Allow the student to lay everything out on the table and let them know that you will do your best to get the issue resolved in a timely manner.
This reinforces to the student that you do care about their situation, you do want to help them, and more importantly it does not make you appear to be combative or make you become defensive. I think it’s also a good idea to have the student to put their concerns in writing and take it through the proper chain of command. It may be helpful to suggest to the student that the letter should only contain the facts and should not be written in an emotional state; this way the issue does not appear to be personal.
Listening starts and ends a conversation. Listening can bring all things to the heart of things.
Do admissions reps use support staff at the school when you uncover barriers to enrolling or are you on your own to work with the student to find a solution?
I totally agree that listening to our students is very important. Sometimes the student may have a very simple problem to solve, but feels very overwhelmed because of other factors. If we listen closely, we may be able to identify the real issue or issues at hand and help them find ways and resources to help them out.
Just like anyone else, the student need to kow that they have your undivided attention when they are talking to you.
I also agree that listening to our students is very important. There are times that just listening seems to help. Does anyone else feel this way?
There must be ground rules. For example, profanity and personal defamation are not acceptable. The conversation must happen in a private place.
Each situation will be slightly different and when emotions are at their peak, most students won't hear a reasoned response. Certainly, you will want to gather the facts. Asking the student to commit their complaint to writing is one way to do this and usually quiets the situation. This process slows him/her down and forces them to identify specifics of the problem.
So, when a student is "venting" do you let them just let it out, regardless of what is being said? Obviously, since we are talking about retention, the student is probably venting about what they don't like about the school. Where do you draw the line between letting them vent and defending the institution?
The student has to listen and let you know if they do not understand simple things like the meaning of the words being taught in the the text.
It is very important to be a good listener. Many times after you have had a conversation with a student about school work or something about them personally you begin to build trust. This can also improve their participation in classroom discussions because they beleive what they have to say is important.
This is extremely important in regards to retention. There are times where students just need to vent, and once they are given the opportunity, they tend to feel better (almost instantly). Think about it, "how many times have you vented to someone and felt better almost instantly?" It is not rocket science to relate these two topics, but it takes time. And the faculty and staff must take the time to allow for students to talk, and have a feeling that someone is listening to them.
Whatever they feel comfortable sharing? Are there some subjects that are out of bounds for you? If so, how do you handle a situation where the students brings them up?
