​Summary

​Our listening skills are on the decline. We may think that as we get older and our brains become more fully developed, we become better listeners; however, research shows the opposite. We tend to think about too many things at once, which makes us poor listeners. Younger children aren’t as easily distracted as teenagers and adults, so they actually retain more information. In addition, modern technology has shortened our attention spans by creating even more distractions and interruptions.

The lost art of listening?

​PRE-READING

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innovative or groundbreaking.

Disruptive

a person who is among the first to study or develop something​

Pioneer

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agreement or sympathy between people or groups: She has a good rapport with her staff.

Rapport​​

estimate (something) to be better, larger, or more important than it really is.​

​​Overestimate

​​The lost art of listening?

PRE-READING

Predicting/Skimming

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Skimming involves reading quickly for main ideas.

​Lenguage note

​To conduct a study or research simply means to do it. The  verb implies that something needs to be organized in order  to be carried out.  

An interruption that happens mid-something, such as  mid-class, happens while that class or other event is  happening. So mid-class means that it happened while the  class was in session. It does not necessarily mean exactly  halfway through the class, but simply an interruption during  the class.   

First and second graders are in the first two years of  elementary school. Usually, a child becomes a first grader  the year they turn six and a second grader the year they  turn seven.   

To be sidetracked means to be distracted, usually from  something important.    A person’s attention span is the amount of time they are  able to concentrate on one task.