In my current position in secondary education, I spend a great deal of time in classrooms with teachers attempting to understand their instructional needs and partnering with them to help and support them in fulfilling those needs. I have found that one of the most important skills that I have to constantly work to develop is the skill of focused, real listening. When I enter a teacher's classroom, at the teacher's request, to observe students and their reaction to instruction, it is usually because a teacher has some basis for believing that some aspect of their daily instruction could work…