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Pause! Listen.

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Lesson Plan

Active Listening One-on-One Plan

Enable the student to recognize and apply active listening cues in a recorded conversation, record observations, and reflect on personal listening strengths and goals.

Active listening is essential for meaningful social interactions, helping the student better understand peers, build rapport, and express empathy in conversations.

Audience

8th Grade Student

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Direct instruction, guided practice, and personal reflection

Materials

Prep

Review and Setup Materials

5 minutes

Step 1

Introduction & Objective Setting

5 minutes

  • Welcome the student and explain today's focus: active listening.
  • Present lesson objectives:
    • Identify verbal and nonverbal listening cues.
    • Analyze a conversation for these cues.
    • Reflect on personal listening habits.
  • Ask the student to share a time they felt heard or not heard.
  • Adaptation: Provide sentence starters if needed.

Step 2

Direct Instruction on Listening Cues

10 minutes

  • Use Listening Cues Tutorial to review key cues:
    • Eye contact, nodding, verbal affirmations, summarizing.
    • Tone of voice and body language.
  • Pause after each cue to discuss examples.
  • Adaptation: Offer visual cue cards for each listening skill.

Step 3

Guided Practice: Conversation Analysis

8 minutes

  • Play Peer Conversation Audio Clip.
  • While listening, student completes Cue Collection Sheet to note observed cues.
  • Discuss findings together:
    • Which cues did you notice?
    • How did they help you understand the speaker?
  • Adaptation: Replay sections or slow down audio.

Step 4

Independent Reflection

5 minutes

  • Student completes Reflection on Listening:
    • What listening cues did I use?
    • What could I improve?
  • Encourage honest self-assessment.
  • Adaptation: Offer word bank for reflection prompts.

Step 5

Wrap-Up & Next Steps

2 minutes

  • Summarize strengths and areas for growth.
  • Set a personal goal for the next conversation (e.g., maintain eye contact).
  • Explain how to practice these skills in daily interactions.
  • Plan for follow-up session.
  • Assessment: Use the Cue Collection Sheet and reflection entries to track progress.
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Slide Deck

Listening Cues Tutorial

An introduction to the key verbal and nonverbal cues that help us listen actively and understand others better.

Welcome students! Today we'll explore what active listening is and why it matters. Engage the student by asking why they think listening is important.

What Is Active Listening?

• Paying full attention to the speaker
• Showing you understand through words and actions
• Responding thoughtfully to build rapport

Define active listening. Ask the student to share one example of a time they felt truly listened to.

Verbal Listening Cues

• Affirmations: “Mm-hmm,” “I see,” “Go on.”
• Summarizing: “So you’re saying…”
• Paraphrasing: “It sounds like you feel…”

Explain each verbal cue and model them. Invite the student to practice saying “I hear you” or summarizing back one sentence.

Nonverbal Listening Cues

• Eye Contact: Look at the speaker’s face
• Nodding: Agree through gentle head movements
• Facial Expressions: Show empathy with your expression

Demonstrate nodding and eye contact. Encourage the student to mirror the behaviors as you model.

Tone of Voice

• Friendly vs. flat tone
• Warmth: pitch, volume, speed
• Emphasis: which words sound important?

Play two short recorded sentences with different tones. Ask which tone felt warm or cold, and why.

Body Language & Posture

• Lean In: Move slightly toward the speaker
• Open Posture: Arms uncrossed, hands visible
• Stillness: Avoid fidgeting to show focus

Discuss posture and gestures. Invite the student to adjust their own posture to show interest.

Recap & Next Steps

• Review: Verbal, nonverbal, tone, posture
• Next: Use your Cue Collection Sheet to note cues in a conversation
• Goal: Apply one new cue in your next chat

Wrap up by reviewing the cues. Explain that they’ll practice identifying these in the next audio activity.

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Worksheet

Cue Collection Sheet

Instructions: Play the Peer Conversation Audio Clip and listen carefully. Each time you notice a listening cue (verbal, nonverbal, tone, or body language), pause the audio and fill in the table below:

Cue Type (Verbal/Nonverbal/Tone/Body)Timestamp (mm:ss)What I NoticedHow It Helped Me Understand the Speaker

After you finish, review your notes with your teacher to discuss which cues were most helpful and why.

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Journal

Reflection on Listening

After engaging with the conversation activity, take a moment to reflect on your own listening habits.

  1. Which listening cues did I use most effectively during the conversation? How did they help me understand the speaker?






  1. Which listening cues were most challenging for me to notice or to use? What made them difficult?






  1. In what ways did I show empathy or understanding through my listening? Give a specific example.






  1. What is one clear, achievable goal I will set for myself to improve my active listening in future conversations?






  1. How will I practice this goal in real-life situations (e.g., with a friend, in class, at home)?






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