If one of your students makes a habit of responding with put-downs, use a nonverbal signal as an alert. It may be some theatrical sign such as shaking your head and then drawing a line drawn across your throat with your finger. This signals an inappropriate response and requires that a respectful one be made instead. With increased feedback, the quality of classroom communication will improve. In addition, you and your students must agree that active listening requires commitment to the work of listening. This means more than silently pointing eyes and ears toward whoever is speaking; listeners must give their full attention, actively hearing all of the message.
It is important for you to monitor your own mood as a way of preparing the listening environment. Before you put yourself in the position of listening, ask: "What am I feeling right now?" If there's an unexpressed emotion inside you, it may create a distorting filter for the message. For example, an angry person will hear differently than a person who just won the lottery. Find a way to move through your feelings so that you can go on and listen without the added filter.
Listening also requires a certain amount of clarity of intention. Do you need to be closer to the speaker to hear better? Are you willing to say, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Would you repeat it, please?" Being ready to listen means that you are in a receptive state, you are committed to listening, and you are clearly ready to dis- cover, not preach.