Active Listening By Mark Lipton Reflective Essay Writing Help
Writing
READ: “Listen! The revolutionary way to have a conversation!” (from “Performance Breakthrough”) by Cathy Salit, “Active listening” by Mark Lipton (located under files/week 7).
DELIVER: Reflective piece in writing, ca 600-700 words.
Prompts for writing:
After completing the assigned readings, go out and practice the techniques to become an active listener/performer of curiosity in conversation with a friend, partner, family member, acquaintance or complete stranger.
The conversation should seek to understand someone else’s relationship to the collective identity you focused on for last week, and offer a perspective that is notably different from yours in some regard. When performing the conversation, try to steer it away from opinions and interpretations, by asking the speaker for specific examples of moments, feelings, settings, impressions, interactions and possibly dialogue.
Please summarize their story into max 2 paragraphs. Also ask the speaker for feedback on how they experienced the conversation. Did they feel understood? Did your active listening help them see their experience in a new light? If they know you well, did they notice a difference in your listening skills or approach?
Finally describe your experience of practicing the active listening techniques. What specifically did you do differently from how you normally hold a conversation? Was there anything you struggled with? Anything that came easy to you? Do you think the conversation would have unfolded differently if you had not done the readings before?
Please image the experiences by your own
