SLANT is a management tool for teachers that encourages Positive Non-Verbal Behavior and Active Listening. When a teacher says SLANT, students will learn to do the following:

• Sit Up
• Lean Forward
• Act Interested
• Nod your Head
• Track the Speaker

Directly instruct and model the active listening techniques to students.
1. Sit up – Model for students how to sit up in their seat, hands on desks, legs beneath their desk.
2. Lean Forward – Again show students how to appropriately lean forward to the speaker while sitting.
3. Act Interested – Teach students the importance of “hanging with the topic”. Even if the topic is uninteresting or perhaps confusing, if you act interested by paying attention, you are demonstrating important nonverbal communication skills to the teacher.
4. Nod your head – Demonstrate that by nodding the head, it conveys important nonverbal communication skills that you are listening and that the speaker’s topic matters to your learning. Finally,
5. Track the Speaker – This is the idea of having your eyes move in the direction that the speaker is moving.

Have fun with your students demonstrating these important non-verbal communication skills that emphasize active listening. For an activity, create community in the classroom by having students create a poster with the acronym SLANT and its meaning. Hone their oral language skills by teaching students how to present SLANT and its meaning to classes in primary grades. For instance, a pair of 4th grade students can teach a 1st grade class how to SLANT with the use of the poster and their understanding of how to best model SLANT behavior.

Source: Mediator Mentors

Recommended to calendar by: Christina Cassinerio

CRE Calendar Usage: 2nd Edition