The ultimate goal of education is to help each human being develop in the healthiest and most balanced way possible so that in his adult life he can enjoy an independent, capable, and happy life.
To succeed at a social, personal and professional level (and I am not talking about being the cover of "Hola" or "Time" magazine, no, I am talking about fully enjoying these areas of your life) it is important to teach Children from small the importance of sharing, collaborating, cooperating and working in teams.
Some children have difficulty working in a team because they do not have well developed social skills, and in those cases children need our guidance and accompaniment.
Teacher Laura Candler proposes six steps to teach social skills in the classroom, but they can also be extrapolated to homes, camps, playgroups, children's orchestras, etc. Are these:
1. Discuss the need to develop social skills. Before you can help a child improve his social skills he has to understand why it is important to have them. Propose to your students (or your children, sports team you train, etc.) to work from time to time to improve any of these:
- Accept the differences
- Ask for help
- Communicate clearly
- Praise others
- Show disagreement politely
- Cheer up others
- Follow directions
- Listen actively
- Participate fairly
- Resolve conflicts
- Share materials
- Stay focused on what you are working or doing
- Respect shifts
- Take risk
- Use a moderate tone of voice
- Wait patiently
2. Choose the social ability to work. You can choose a tea for your classroom or you can let them choose which one they want to work on first. It may be good to start by praising, so by the way you work on not machacar the opinion of another when they comment, etc.
3. Teach social ability. This step is not as obvious as it might seem. It is not enough to say: You have to be nice You have to help students identify exactly what they have to do and say in order to improve their chosen social ability. Ask your students for a brainstorm of what should be done and said when this social ability is being shown.
4. Practice the skill. It provides environments and activities that favor the use of the social skill you are working on: Roundtables, debates, work on team projects, cooperative games, etc.
5. Pause and reflection. During class activities, take some breaks to highlight and reflect on how someone is using that skill and that everyone can comment on it.
6. Review. After a while, review and reflect on how you worked together. They propose a brainstorm in this case about the good things that have been happening and that have brought these new skills that everyone has worked on.
Azucena Knight
PS: I passed this article as a press release to Gema Lendoiro, an editor at ABC and he has taken me out on his blog. You can read it HERE.
Source: .com / 2014/05/07 / 6 tips to-teach-social-skills-in-the-classroom /
6 tips to teach social skills in the classroom
