space.discussion.Listening+to+Others+with+Understanding+and+Empathy.



This document is an example of our class's notes and attempts to convince eachother each of us was right. (Im sorry for it being up side down, the computer would not allow me to change it. The point of the document is to show how hectic the arguments were.)

Listening to Others with Understanding and Empathy.
The ability to understand, comprehend, and acknowledge the ideas, situations, and thoughts of those around you.

October 18 2009

During our "layered curriculum" unit in science class, I was quick to notice that much of the learning we were experiencing depended heavily upon communication with other classmates. Given a list of concepts to discover individually, it was truly in our best interest to not only rely on our own research, but the research conducted by peers. Thus I was busy teaching other students, while other students were busy teaching me. During these class periods, I felt growth in being able to truly understand and repsectfully take in what knowledge my classmates could offer me. However, one specific moment remains in my mind as an exceptionally clear herald to the growth and development regarding this habit of mind:

It was October 8th. Our class had hit a tricky spot on the list of concepts- and the only thing we all agreed on was that we all disagreed. None of us understood the lewis dot diagram of carbonate, and we all had contrasting theories. This can be illustrated through the document above. I had just conducted very careful research and was so very sure that my ideas were pristinily perfect. But no one else agreed with me. After rereading through my ideas, to my dissappointment I no longer agreed with myself either. I realized at that point that such situations require you to be open minded to other people's criticism and ideas- and that you must be able to see from another pair of eyes than your own. I learned that in our hasty hope that we are always correct in everything we say, we forget that we really honestly aren't. Grudgingly, I gave my peers' ideas a shot. Though none of us turned out to be right (we consulted higher authority and realized our mistakes), I still took away this knowledge. I hope to apply this realization in future situations- when I am just so convinced that there is no way the world is right and I am wrong. :)

Home.