The Roles of Listening in Fostering Democratic Practices in a Class Meeting

• In Event: Teacher as Listener: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives on the Roles of Teacher-Listening in Supporting Democratic Learning Environments

Abstract

1. Objectives/purposes: This paper considers the roles of listening in fostering democratic practices through the interactions a teacher and her students have during a classroom meeting. I consider the roles of the teacher in establishing listening that supports democratic practices that, as Dobson (2014) describes it, fulfills “democracy’s promise” to practice the right to speak as well the right to be heard as “two sides of the same coin” (p.25).

2. Theoretical framework: Drawing on Dreier’s (2008) work, I interrogate listening as a social practice that grows from the interactions individuals have that inform local participation in local contexts which in turn inform participation in societal structures of social practices and vice versa – not necessarily linearly, but in an on-going back and forth between the different interactions and contexts in which we participate.

3/4. Methods and data sources: I draw from a larger study where I studied three upper elementary classrooms in the urban Northwest Unites States to illuminate the roles of listening in learning. I collected video in each classroom, each day – all day - for a week, transcribed the interactions that occurred throughout the day and then analyzed focal interactions using interaction analysis. In addition, I interviewed children and teachers about their ideas about listening and children kept “listening journals” that captured their thoughts about listening throughout the week I was in their class videotaping. The focal teacher, Ms. Martinez is white and had been teaching for 5 years. A majority of the children are English Language Learners from underserved backgrounds.
(Paper 1, con’t.)

5. Results: By taking a listening stance, the teacher opened up an opportunity for students to share about their lives during a classroom meeting. It also allowed for deepening one another’s understandings of one another’s lives inside and outside of school, as Dobson (2014) observed, “listening prises open the content of speech and opens up new avenues for exploration” (p.99). Every week, on most Friday mornings, Ms. Martinez and her students had a class meeting. Ms. Martinez started the class meeting, by establishing it as a listening space, a place to be heard. She began the meeting by saying, “I'd like to hear from you. [pause] How are things going? [pause] How are things going here, how are things going at home, how are things?” This opening, and knowing that the class meeting was a “safe space,” as many students described it, afforded the hearing of what was on students’ minds and in their hearts, opening up new avenues for exploration. Importantly, it provided a space for students to be heard in unfettered ways.

6. Scholarly significance: If education embodies both the means and ends of democracy (Dewey, 1916/1985), this proposal speaks to the means by identifying practices that help teachers and students develop democratic habits around speaking and being heard. By focusing on listening, my aim is to broaden our ideas around free speech by establishing the other side of speech – being heard – as a democratic practice that educators can foster.

Author

• Kersti Tyson, University of New Mexico