As a parent of a child with autism, I practice teaching a student how to develop social skills, emotional literacy, and self-discipline every single day. I recognize that these important life skills are teachable, and that neurotypical kids sometimes lack these skills too. These skills are all important to my educational philosophy, which requires a classroom environment in which all participants treat each other with respect.
I found Lawrence Shapiro’s book 101 Ways to Teach Children Social Skills: A ready to use, reproducible activity book (2004) highly instructive. I would like to teach, or at least model, several social skills identified in that book in my classroom. They include:
These skills serve many different purposes. I want to teach some of these skills to help create a sense of community (e.g., remembering names, getting to know others’ unique preferences and experiences, cooperating and compromising). I want to teach others as for recovery (e.g., controlling anger, apologizing, accepting responsibility and consequences).
As a social studies educator, I also want to students to learn these skills for educational purposes—i.e., to gain a greater understanding of history. How many wars and confrontations could have been avoided if nations could control their anger and solve problems peacefully? How much oppression could have been avoided if oppressed people had the courage to stand up for themselves? How do we, as citizens, express our values when we vote? In my classroom, we may talk about hot-button issues (slavery, immigration, etc.), and students may get emotional, so empathy and respect for diversity will be necessary for a civil discussion.
I found Lawrence Shapiro’s book 101 Ways to Teach Children Social Skills: A ready to use, reproducible activity book (2004) highly instructive. I would like to teach, or at least model, several social skills identified in that book in my classroom. They include:
- Remembering names;
- Getting to know each individual’s unique preferences and experiences;
- Recognizing personal values and why they are important to an individual;
- The importance of asking questions (which is a valuable life skill as well as a learning tool that can be used every day in the classroom);
- Cooperating/compromising/making decisions together
- Identifying positive role models
- Appreciating diversity/individual differences
- Empathy
- Understanding the impact of your behavior on others
- Problem solving
- Learning from mistakes
- Standing up for yourself
- Controlling anger
- Apologizing
- Accepting responsibility/consequences
These skills serve many different purposes. I want to teach some of these skills to help create a sense of community (e.g., remembering names, getting to know others’ unique preferences and experiences, cooperating and compromising). I want to teach others as for recovery (e.g., controlling anger, apologizing, accepting responsibility and consequences).
As a social studies educator, I also want to students to learn these skills for educational purposes—i.e., to gain a greater understanding of history. How many wars and confrontations could have been avoided if nations could control their anger and solve problems peacefully? How much oppression could have been avoided if oppressed people had the courage to stand up for themselves? How do we, as citizens, express our values when we vote? In my classroom, we may talk about hot-button issues (slavery, immigration, etc.), and students may get emotional, so empathy and respect for diversity will be necessary for a civil discussion.