Um... what am I supposed to do again??

Directions... are they just decoration, or do they serve some kind of purpose? Do I have to read them, or will they tell me what they say?

Being a person who reads and uses directions every single day, and especially if I'm trying to put something together, I don't get how some people just choose to ignore them. It makes me wonder sometimes how they get through the daily grind.

I'm convinced that these questions actually run through some kids heads when there's work to be done or a test to be taken. What I don't think will ever be made clear, is whether or not the kids figure out the answers to them. And of course, there are my two personal favorite phrases: "What?" and "I don't get it." - both of which are said immediately after directions are given- either to the general population or specifically to the individual.

Now, I know when I was a kid I used to say "what?" all the time... so much so that my parents had my hearing tested. Wasn't a hearing thing. Today processing would be questioned... wasn't that either because I could basically repeat what I had questioned only a few moments before. So it must have been a listening thing. Which I got over. But how do you teach that to a group of students? How do you stress the importance of listening the first time, and make sure they've all heard what's being said?

I'm trying an experiment in my class: giving the directions only once. So far (and it's only been a day) it's failing miserably. Whether it's selective hearing, selective listening, or something else altoghether, some things just don't compute. Volume doesn't help, and speed can only help some. The thing is to find a trick that will catch them all at the same time so they're all listening attentively to you... not their neighbor. I'm still looking.