Find a number of opportunities to practice active listening skills with the people around you, especially using open-ended questioning and reflecting (NOT reflect-IVE!!) feelings. Write a paper describing one of your experiences, including the following:
Summarize the events and dialogue which led up to your active listening feedback.
Quote as well as you can the actual wording of several instances of open questioning and reflecting feelings.
Summarize the effects of using active listening in this conversation.
Draw conclusions about questioning and reflecting feelings based on all your relevant experiences and reading. They should focus on the following:
(a) The effects of active listening on the interaction and those involved, including yourself.
(b) Insights about why these effects might occur in this situation and in others.
(c) The value of the skills to you, including how much you have used them and intend to use them.
(d) The things you would consider before using active listening. (You might discuss how, when, and with whom you would or would not use active listening.)