Visible Listening - What is it?
From Expressive Arts - Scribble Magic - an adult class at Wonder Studio
If there is one subject matter that I am continually fascinated by - it would be “Listening”. How can I listen better? How can I listen more deeply?
How does listening impact my life and my relationships?
This Labor Day weekend, my daughter is coming home from college (YAYAYAY!) for a quick visit as well as my niece (who has her 29th birthday!). As I was sitting this morning listening (aka - meditation), I had the thought, I just want to listen to them. A strong desire to be present for them and feel connected through this act of listening.
Then my thoughts travelled to my lunch yesterday with Mrs. Minke (of whom some of you know ;) and I hadn’t seen her in over a month, and I so enjoyed listening to her latest updates and she with mine.
Then my thoughts travelled to my son and I in the car yesterday, on the way home from his school. He didn’t have a lot to say, and yet my heart ached trying so hard to listen to both wasn’t said, and what was said.
So much of our lives is spent listening or I guess - not listening.
Recently, the Wonder Studio teachers had a little Scribbling session as we wanted to more fully explore the art of the scribble. We read some Early Childhood articles on scribbling and compared our notes.
In one of the articles, the author describes the role of the educator as offering the child - “Visible Listening”.
“This idea indicates that the role of the educator in children’s experiences is simply to be present and to truly listen, or to be “in-tune” (Smith, 2021) with their mark-making and meaning-making processes. Within the Reggio Emilia approach, listening is seen as an “active verb that involves giving meaning and value to the perspectives of others,” (de Rijke, 2019) and values “differences, doubt, and uncertainty.” De Rijke (2019) strongly believes that visible listening is a way in which educators can honor the complex and deeply meaningful ways that children make marks. ”
To me, this “Visible Listening” means something about how my body is while I am with someone. Is my posture one of attentiveness? How can I show I am “in tune” with the other person?
Where are my eyes?
What are my hands doing?
Can I quiet my own thoughts so as not to interrupt them?
Wonder Studio has always been a place for me where I am trying to actively listen. It’s that “Wants Nothing” time that I learned about from Janet Lansbury and RIE resources.
On Wednesday night, I had a Scribble Magic class for adults. An Expressive Arts class. In Expressive Arts, one of the things I try to do is listen to how my body wants to express creatively. We moved our bodies to the music of “The Plum Blossom” by Yusef Lateef . It’s quite a thing to let your body speak without your mind telling you it’s wrong. I’m sure we looked pretty funny - a few times, even a giggle escaped me. But, gosh, after class, I felt such a thrill and a deep sense of relaxation.
I think it was a sort of Visible Listening. A felt sense of deeply paying attention. Even of being witnessed.
One of the other Expressive Artists ended up “scribbling” me in my dance.
Maybe that is what “Visible Listening” offers - a witness.
Maybe that’s what we do for our children, our friends, our partners in life - we witness each other - or we don’t.
Anyway, I look forward to my 17th year of Wonder Studio - and to my little project of listening. Join me!
