Active Listening at a Parent-Teacher Association Meeting Essay

Active Listening at a Parent-Teacher Association Meeting - Essay Example For this particular meeting, the teacher's table was set off to a side of the room to hold the laptop and projector that would be used for the power point presentation later on. Anticipation built up as to who would be the speaker for the night as the parents and teachers began to trickle into the classroom. There were rumors that the school Principal, Ms Berry would be addressing the parents directly due to the need for financial pledges in the improvement of the private school facilities. I noticed that most of the parents seemed to have been coming in directly from work, some still dressed in their official uniforms or looking haggard as they ran from an office meeting to the PTA conference. I chose to attend this particular event because I knew that the people who would be in attendance would already be distracted by either their exhaustion from a busy day at the office or their desire to get home as soon as possible in order to attend to their household and parental duties. From what I observed of the attitude of the people gathered in that classroom that evening, they wanted to be anywhere but at the school at that very moment. It seemed obvious to anyone observing the group such as myself, that this was one group that was not in the mood to listen to anything the speaker of the night had to say. Once the school principal arrived, it became fairly obvious that the rumors were true and she would be taking to the stand in order to address the parents. Knowing very well that I would have to report about the meeting to my cousin upon her arrival, I began preparing myself to become an effective listener based upon the principles outlined in our book. DeVito clearly outlined the principles of listening within the pages of our textbook.