Using Listening Journals in Math Methods
Source: The Teacher Educator, Volume 43, Issue 1, January 2008 , pages 59 – 71.
The purpose of this teacher action research was twofold: to learn more about preservice teachers' preconceived notions related to listening and to investigate how a listening journal assignment impacted preservice teachers' views of listening as an important aspect of discourse.
The participants were enrolled in a mathematics methods course for PreK-3 (early childhood) majors during their last semester of coursework prior to student teaching. Data in the form of final reflections from participants' listening journals and researchers' field notes were analyzed.
Findings suggest that the preservice teachers entered the course without truly considering listening as an important component of teaching methods related to facilitating classroom discourse. The listening journal assignment helped them begin to think more deeply about listening and the different definitions and modes of listening; however, at the end of the semester, many still wrote about their own personal journeys with listening and not about the role of listening as a key element in promoting classroom discourse and learning.