C60: ATL Social Skills for Specialists & Support

​​Social skills are so pertinent in the specialist and supporting classes.  They reinforce what is being done in the rest of the school, so we need to find some consistency in modeling them to our students.  

In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that learners need in order to operate within the world.  We will be using the same social skills as the grades 1-6, but apply them to our unique roles. 

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
• Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills.
• Reflect and feedback on different interactions they observe.
• Offer students opportunities to see that “other people, with their differences, can also be right”.
• Use the language of the learner profile in conversations and discussions, and in the development of essential agreements.
• Model the social skills.

The social sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other.  The social skills are divided into two criteria:

• Interpersonal relationships
• Social and emotional intelligence

The sub-skill that pops out to me the most is interpersonal relationships.  I will only focus on the ones that resonate, but are still a growth area for me.

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!

Interpersonal Relationships

When we think about interpersonal relationships, we think of interactions where all people involved are invested in the feelings and needs of others.  We will explore different ways that the IB has outlined as building interpersonal relationships. 

Practice empathy and care for others

Empathy is one of the hardest things for children and adults to understand.  It’s one thing to show compassion to another who is in pain, but it’s another thing to show empathy.  Empathy is the ability to see a situation from another’s point of view.  This is hard stuff.  It requires us to truly listen, observe, and listen some more.  

“Empathy represents the foundation skill for all the social competencies important for work.” I love this quote by Daniel Goleman, because it highlights how empathy is the foundation of everything we do in the PYP.  

What teachers can do: Provide explicit opportunities for students to practise and develop these skills

Say what?  I have to support empathy development in my class too?  Yes, siree.  We want our learners to see that social skills transcend throughout the school as part of our transdisciplinary approach to learning. How can we possibly do this?  Here are some possible ideas:

• EAL:  we can show empathy while we are practicing language development.  We recognize that not everyone grows at the same rate, so we celebrate the growth.

 

• PE:  we can show empathy when acquiring new skills.  Not everyone is sporty, so we can learn how to show support to others who are struggling. 

What teachers can do: Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills.

How often are we getting students to reflect on learning and social situations during the day?  This is how we grow in our understanding of empathy and how to use appropriate social skills in uncertain situations.  

• Science:  we can show empathy by reflecting on our own social skills and identifying strengths and areas of growth.  

 

• Art:  we can examine how artists used light, color, shape to evoke feeling within their works and reflect on how they might apply to us.

Listen closely to others' perspectives and to instructions

I remember in teacher’s college being taught the difference between hearing and listening.  Hearing is the simple act of hearing information coming at us.  Listening is the active participation of receiving ideas and giving them value.  Simply put, it means to be curious.  

How do you engage your learners to be actively engaged in listening and developing their curiosity? 

What teachers can do: Offer students opportunities to see that “other people, with their differences, can also be right”.

• Most students think their way of looking at the world is right.  We need to help them to understand that there are multiple possibilities and they are equally right. 

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• Special Ed:  we can look at different texts of a similar theme and examine what the characters are feeling.  Look at how we might react in a similar situation.  Discuss how all people feel and react in different ways and they are all right based on where we are on our emotional journey.  There is no right way to feel. 

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

• Applies to all:  The next step in the process of actively listening is reflecting on the process.  This is so crucial in developing confident listeners and identifying possible misconceptions along the way.  How does your schedule allow for regular reflection of the learning process?  If it doesn’t, where can you possibly take some time to incorporate it into your practice? 

Advocate for one’s own rights and needs, and those of others.

When we are learning social skills, we tend to bumble and violate a lot of cultural norms.  This is normal, but sometimes awkward.  How do we help our learned to manage these situations with grace, so they don’t repeat them very often?  

One way I see a lot of bumbling is when trying to advocate for the rights of self and others.  If done without careful thought, it can come off rude, disruptive, or inappropriate.  What are we doing to help our learners to know what is the correct way? 

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

• Applies to All:  One possibility is using the language of the learner profile to scaffold the process.  Model the learner profile attributes throughout the day to make requests and redirect student behavior.  This will demonstrate a variety of ways to look at the attributes and how to use them in future social situations.  

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• Applies to All:  Creating essential agreements with the learner profile attributes sets the tone for social behavior within the classroom.  By co-constructing them with our learners, they take more ownership of the process.  They are more willing to own their mistakes and accept the predetermined consequence more easily.  The learner profile attributes are more than a list of character traits, but a way to govern our lives, so we are open to the thinking of others.  If we use them to develop social skills, it will be easier to support international mindedness in our schools. 

That’s it for now my friends as I try to apply these ideas to specialist and supporting teachers.