C58: Social Skills (PK-K)

This past week, I’ve had the experience of helping to take care of my nine month old niece.  I’ve been reminded all over again of the natural tendency for young people to want to bond with others.  Even without language skills, my niece shows her needs through sounds, body language, and gestures.  When she doesn’t get her way, you know it through waving of hands, raised voice, and the distant disgruntled look on her face.  As she grows, she will learn how to advocate herself through appropriate social skills. 

Every time I enter an early years classroom, I feel the same energy.  The room is full of young people trying to figure out the correct social cues and behaviors to properly participate in the classroom and school.  They make mistakes, they make others cry, they cry, and the cycle repeats itself until self-awareness sets in.  This is the magical part of being an early years teacher.  You get to watch all of this self-awareness take place and you get to see these young people take more ownership through social skill development.  It’s part of creating good humans. 

“Social development also takes shape in these early years as children are naturally inclined to explore, to discover, to play and to make connections between self, others and their entire surroundings. Through these interactions, children form their perception of themselves and others in the world (Rushton, Juola-Rushton 2010).”  PYP Principles into Practice: The Learner (2018).

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​In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that early learners need in order to operate within the world.  
But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.

• Provide explicit opportunities for students to practice and develop these skills, including (dramatic) play and games.
• Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills.
• Reflect and provide feedback on different interactions and other moments they observe.
• Offer students opportunities for taking perspective.
• Use the language of the learner profile in conversations and discussions, and in the development of essential agreements.
• Model the social skills and language needed to greet, solve problems, share resources, and so on.

The social sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other.  The social skills are divided into two criteria:
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• Interpersonal relationships
• Social and emotional intelligence

The sub-skill that pops out to me the most is social and emotional intelligence.  This is one of the growing areas for most early learners, since they are just beginning to interact with others outside of their family and home community. 

This time, I am matching the learner's social skills with what educators can do to support their learners. We are always trying to find ways to innovate and take learning further!

Social and emotional intelligence

As we enter school, we have to learn how to engage with others respectfully, while advocating for our own needs.  This process takes a lot of time, reflective practice, and communication.  Let's explore some ways that the IB focuses on social and emotional intelligence. 

Be aware of own and others’ feelings

This is a challenge for young learners, since they often don’t understand their own feelings and how to express them to others.  

What teachers can do:  Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills.
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• One thing we can do as educators is provide opportunities for our learners to reflect on their social skill development.  This can happen through social stories, storyboards, and whole class discussions.  The repeated opportunity for students to reflect in different ways will allow them to see how their behavior has an impact on someone else. 

​​Manage anger and resolve conflict

For many learners, they come to school with limited exposure to other children their own age.  They have difficulties expressing their feelings, managing their anger, and resolving conflict.  

What teachers can do:  Provide explicit opportunities for students to practice and develop these skills, including (dramatic) play and games.

• Role-plays and games are such a great way to get learners to practice social skills through play.  By teaching social skills through dramatic play, learners disconnect themselves from experience and they can be corrected in a safe manner.  Learners tend to not take it personally, since they were playing a “part” in the social story. 

Be self and socially aware

As an educator, this was always a struggle to get older students to be self and socially aware of their actions.  As a coordinator, I noticed that my early years team navigated this with ease.  They were able to teach their learners through routines, songs, chants, and within their units, how to be self and socially aware.  

What teachers can do:  Reflect and provide feedback on different interactions and other moments they observe.

• Timely feedback is so important to our learners as they are developing their social awareness. By providing feedback in the moment, learners are able to make easier connections to their actions and the outcomes of other members of the class community.  If you wait even 20 minutes, the learning opportunity is lost. 

What teachers can do:  Offer students opportunities for taking perspective.
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• As I reflect on this practice, I think of teachers providing situational prompts to their learners and asking them how they would react in the situation.  This allows them to share their perspectives based on their prior understanding and social awareness. By allowing them to express themselves, others are able to add and counter their reactions in a respectful manner.  This process will need to be heavily modeled and scaffolded with response prompts.

Be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a group

Ooh...I think this is the hardest one.  Our little people don’t understand fully the impact actions have on a learning community.  They are still so me-centric that their point of view is skewed.  

What teachers can do:  Use the language of the learner profile in conversations and discussions, and in the development of essential agreements.

• To get learners to better understand their role in the community, use the language of the learner profile to express how their actions impact others.  “Shayla, when you took Emily’s pencil, that was not very honest or principled.”  Additionally, establish social behavior expectations by developing class essential agreements.  The learners help to co-create the agreements that are essential so all learners can thrive.  By co-creating these agreements, they take greater ownership when they misbehave and will more readily accept the consequence that has been pre-determined by the class. 

What teachers can do:  Model the social skills and language needed to greet, solve problems, share resources, and so on.
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• Modeling has always been the greatest tool in my kit.  Modeling is how expectations become a part of practice, so it’s important that our learners understand the necessary social skills and language that is needed.  The modeling can be applied to various learning situations and learning contexts to deepen the understanding. 

That’s it for now my friends as I try to apply these ideas to grades 1-6.