Teach Social Skills
Why should I do it:
- Many students lack basic social skills
- Increases instructional time
- Improves student interactions
- Increases student productivity
- Helps students improve daily social functioning
- Helps students make friends
- Teaches students essential life skills
- Helps students to fit in
- Helps students to function better in classes
- Teaches students to follow rules, expectations, procedures, etc
- Increases self confidence, self concept, and self esteem
- Gives students a common “language”
When should I do it:
- It is important to teach all students appropriate social skills with any and all opportunities
- When students have poor hygiene
- When students seem out of place, ostracized, or isolated
- When students exhibit poor social routines, like taking turns, sharing, waiting in line, shaking hands, poor eye contact, etc
- When students are rude, short, pushy, etc
- When students demonstrate poor personal care habits, like blowing nose, using a napkin, etc
- When students appear socially awkward, weird, out of place, etc
- When students are perceived as weird and strange by the class
- When students do or say weird, silly, inappropriate, or out of place things
How do I do it:
- In the realm of social skills, there is a broad range of skills and topics, as well as a good deal of overlap with other skills, like interpersonal skills, coping skills, etc
- Some common areas for social skills instruction include:
- Hygiene
- Manners
- Listening
- Being polite
- Being considerate
- Being respectful
- Sharing
- Taking turns
- Appropriate words
- Appropriate touch
- How to behave in the halls, lunchroom, during instruction, etc
- Etc