In this Professional Development session, FocusedKids classroom trainer and experienced teacher Suzanne Vitullo presents reflective listening as a powerful tool for classroom management and relationship building. She outlines the four key steps: paying attention mindfully, hearing facts and feelings, feeding back understanding, and expressing empathy. Through engaging role-play demonstrations, Suzanne illustrates how this approach helps students feel seen and heard, ultimately leading to better emotional regulation and classroom cooperation.
The session emphasizes that reflective listening isn’t about solving problems immediately or responding to every student comment with this technique. Rather, it’s a targeted approach for when students present with issues or emotional concerns. Participants will learn practical sentence frames like “I am hearing…” and “You feel…” to implement this strategy efficiently in busy classroom settings. Suzanne explains that this mindful communication approach satisfies students’ need to be understood while creating stronger teacher-student connections that benefit the overall learning environment.
Professional Development Recording
You can find other upcoming professional development opportunities here.
Professional Development Resources
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- Recording: April Professional Development Session
- Feedback Form: April Feedback Form
- Slides: Deck on Reflective Listening
- Printable: Move, Breathe, Think: Focusing Strategies for Test Taking
Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities
Fuel you passion for education and learn new skills that will make your life in classroom easier? Join us for our upcoming professional development series.