Active Listening

Troy Primm

7/9/2016

HWS 350

Active Listening #1

1. I sat down with my 10 year old niece and spoke with her about her day at summer day camp. I was trying to find someone to speak to and immediately thought about my niece when I hear her walk in the house talking about how much of an awesome day she had today. I sat down with her while she was eating because I didn’t think she would have stayed focused if she was in her room watching cartoons while talking to me about her day.
2. Of the active listening skills presented in the class material, the two active listening skills that I found east to do were, “show that you’re listening” and “deter judgement”. Being able to show that I’m listening was relatively easy because I was curious to see why she was so happy about her day at camp, so she had my undivided attention. Listening to her day allowed me to follow the rule to deter judgement. With her telling me about her day, there was no reason for me to have to interrupt her with many questions or counterarguments. As my niece was telling me about her day, I noticed there wasn’t a break in between her talking to me, which denied me from being able to provide feedback. I wouldn’t know how to provide feedback in this situation if I had the chance to, since she’s just telling me about her day and not asking questions or seeking advice.  
3. Of the empathetic listening skills presented in the class material, I listened empathetically by letting my niece dominate the discussion, tried not to interrupt and was sensitive to no niece’s exposed emotions as she was telling me about her day at camp.
4. The experience was much different from my day to day conversations with my family and peers. It felt like I was interrogating my niece by asking questions whereas in a day to day conversation, we all take turns sharing out opinions. My 10 year old niece was more than happy to answer the questions that I was asking her.
5. I feel like I can use some improvement with finding opportunities to provide feedback. I have trouble finding ways to provide feedback without cutting the speaker off. In the future, I will try to look for key words said by the speaker that will allow me to provide feedback.
6. I liked this activity a lot! It’s a great way to assess myself, focusing on strengths and weakness Active listening is a new experience for me.