Using audio in your classroom can be beneficial for all types of students as it allows for honing of listening and analysis skills.
You may already know about the Levels of Listening (
if not click here to find out more). The Levels of Listening breaks down into five categories that should be practiced by the listener:
- Discriminative
- Precise
- Strategic
- Critical
- Appreciative
Though the approach is about using the inquiry process to examine how we listen, some students have trouble understanding what exactly each of the categories mean. That’s why we have created questions to go along with each category than can be seen by
clicking here.
Consider breaking the students into groups of 3-4. Ask the students to choose one category, listen to a piece of audio (perhaps from the
Alan Lomax Recordings collection), and answer the questions asked in the Googledoc above. Once they have had a chance to listen to it 2-3 times, ask them to discuss in small groups.
Photo source: [Alan Lomax playing guitar on stage at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, N.C.] | loc.gov/item/2007660160/
