SOCIAL SKILLS
Good communication depends upon the ability to interact in a positive manner based on gaining and exercising social skills appropiately. Having good social skills builds confidence. The ability of talking to and interacting with people from different backgrounds and walks of life and making them feel at ease, is something we need to learn and teach in the classroom. We also have to be open to learning intercultural social skills as these vary from country to country, even within different social classes of one country . We have compiled some exercices challenging pupils to listen, help, be aware of how others act and adapt their own behaviour accordingly.
NORWAY: SOCIAL SKILLS IN THE CLASSROOM Expected Standards of Behaviour 9th Grade 2010-2011 1.
A Good Start Respect your teacher and teaching periods. Stand beside your desk and pay attention to the teacher at the start of every period. The period starts after we have greeted each other. Pupils who arrive after this are late. Listen to and follow messages. Wait with questions until all the messages are given. 2. Irrelevent things which are not allowed during lessons: Outdoor clothes, hat, i Pod, cellphone, food, drink (except water), sweets. 3. Respect the property of others and their need for a quiet working environment. Do not ÂŤborrowÂť things from others without asking permission first. Keep to yourself, do not annoy others. No wandering, throwing things, tilting of chairs or making unnecessary sounds. Do not destroy or draw on others or school property. 4. Do not get involved when the teacher is talking to others. Quarrelling will not be tolerated ! Wait your turn- put your hand up to get your teacher`s attention. Talk about disagreements during pupil/teacher talks. 5. Include your classmates. Negative body language, looks, laughter, comments, name calling, bad language, ignoring fellow pupils, teasing or threatening others is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. 6.
Fighting, hitting, kicking and play fighting are not allowed.
7. At the End of Each Period Put your books in your lockers and take out everything you need for the next period. Tidy up the classroom. Nobody leaves the classroom until the teacher says you can go.
POLAND: Social skills and Public Achievement SOME SOCIAL SKILLS THAT OUR PUBLIC ACHIEVEMENT TEAM DEVELOPS: 1. Active Listening 2. Being imaginative and creative 3. Civic organizing 4. Connecting problems to larger issues (seeing the “big picture”) 5. Consensus Building 6. Constructive criticism 7. Creating strategies for action. 8. Critical thinking. 9. Defining a problem. 10. Defining a project. 11. Deliberating. 12. Evaluating public work, individual transformation. 13. Exercising public judgment. 14. Facilitating meetings. Setting an agenda. Taking records of meetings. Taking different roles: facilitator, timer keeper, record keeper, evaluator, encourager. 15. Fact finding. 16. Fund raising. 17. Having an open mind (suspending pre-judgment). 18. Holding others accountable. 19. Interviewing. 20. Learning and creating public language (throughout). 21. Learning to overcome setbacks (discipline frustration). 22. Learning proper protocol for acting in public. 23. Making a mission statement. 24. Mapping out stakeholders’ power and interest in problems (analyzing a political culture). 25. Negotiating. 26. Professionalism (writing business letters, making phone calls, dealing with automated phone systems, public speaking, interviewing, preparation for all of the above). 27. Public celebration. 28. Public speaking. 29. Recruiting people around public work. 30. Responsibility (to self, to others, for work in group, for work outside of group, for problem solving, for assessing situation and coming up with a plan, to school, to community).
31. Sharing stories. 32. Storytelling. 33. Taking strategic action. 34. Teamwork (willing to work with others, flexibility, ability to listen to others, ability to work with adults, ability to work with peers, encouraging, supporting, ability to share ideas). 35. Using the media strategically. 36. Working with and through diversity. 37. Writing (minutes, proposals, formal letters, journals, grants, etc.).
SKILLS THAT COACHES DEVELOP Public Achievement 1. Adapting to new environment. 2. Communicating with colleagues. 3. Communicating with students. 4. Conceptualizing project through guiding. 5. Conflict resolution skills. 6. Encouraging progress. 7. Facilitating. 8. Holding self and others accountable. 9. Learning responsibility to youth. 10. Modeling positive behavior. 11. Problem-solving skills. 12. Professionalism. 13. Recognizing when something is not working and figuring out how to change it. 14. Reflecting with a group. 15. Strategic questioning. 16. Teaching students new skills and development of skills already attained. 17. Working with a different age group. 18. And all of the above skills for team members.
DENMARK: - Inspired, almost copied from Steven R. Covey’s book: “7 good habits”:
HABIT 1 : BE PROACTIVE Be Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. You can't keep blaming everything on your parents. Proactive people recognize that they are "response-able." They don't blame genetics, circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. They know they choose their behavior. HABIT 2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND Begin with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen. HABIT 3: PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST First things are those things you, personally, find of most worth. It is about life management as well-your purpose, values, roles, and priorities. What are "first things for you?". HABIT 4: THINK WIN-WIN A person who approaches conflicts with a win-win attitude possesses three vital character traits: 1. Integrity: sticking with your true feelings, values, and commitments 2. Maturity: expressing your ideas and feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and feelings of others 3. Abundance Mentality: believing there is plenty for everyone HABIT 5: SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND, THEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD Because you are focused on being understood, you tend to respond in one of four ways: 1. You judge and then either agree or disagree. 2. You ask questions from your own frame of reference. 3. You give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems. 4. You analyze others' motives and behaviors based on your own experiences HABIT 6: SYNERGIZE Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. Synergy lets us discover jointly things we are much less likely to discover by ourselves. It is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Physical: Social/Emotional: Mental:
Beneficial eating, exercising, and resting Making social and meaningful connections with others Learning, reading, writing, Spending time in nature, music, art
HABIT 7: ”SHARPEN THE SAW”
SLOVENIA:
HABIT 1: SET GOALS I often ask students to set their own goals for the term and think how they want to achieve them. HABIT 2: THINK ABOUT YOUR LEARNING AND PROGRESS Especially after the test, what did I do wrong, what could I do better. Have I accomplished my goal and if not why. HABIT 3: DON’T SPEAK WHEN OTHERS TALK If you do this, you are like a train, that runs over the person. You don’t feel good when others do it to you either. HABIT 4: THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTION You almost always have the choice to do this or that. But before you decide to do something think about the consequences of your action not just for you but also for others. Ask for advice. HABIT 5: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS If you do something wrong be a man and take responsibility for your action. Be able to admit your mistake and apologize.
AUSTRIA: Social Skills in the classroom
Just few Austrian schools have regular classes focusing on social skills such as communication skills, problem-solving strategies and conflict management. Unfortunately, we do not have such classes at every level at our school, yet we are lucky to have the subject Communication Skills in year 6 for two lessons every week, where social skills and communication skills are part of the curriculum. Students need to understand the importance of using effective social skills, such as, for example: Cooperation Being Patient Taking Turns Accepting Differences Listening Praising Others and Refraining from Put Downs Positive Communication and Interactions Furthermore, the curriculum for German puts a lot of emphasis on teaching communication skills and on raising awareness with regard to self-perception and self-judgement as well as how one is seen and perceived by others. Using appropriate social skills is very important to us and belongs in every classroom regardless of grade or subject. We are in the process of developing rules for interacting with each other in our daily school life, which apply to teachers, students and parents. There great emphasis is put on respectful interaction and the following aspects among others are important to us: Being Polite and Courteous Using Good Manners Respecting Ourselves, Others and Items
LATVIA: Social skills in the classroom The school subject “Social Knowledge” is included in school curriculum for 1-9 classes since 2005. The students are provided with workbooks for every class. The teachers acquired additional professional education in order to be teachers of this subject. The students of 1-9 classes have one lesson per week. The motivation and aim of introducing this subject in the school programme – as we live in the modern society which has the tendency to change very quickly and these changes influence the person’s life in the personal and professional aspects. These changes could be positive or dramatic; they depend on the political and economical situation in the country, in the world. One of the most important problem for the young generation is – to be informed about the new social relations and tendencies in the society (especially in the past-soviet society), to find the proper place in the labour market, to be able to offer own knowledge and skills, to integrate in modern political and economical interrelations. At the same time the new generation should not lost the ethical and moral traditions and values. The civil society is formed of socially responsible and at the same time critically thinking personalities. For realization of the conception of “Social Science” as a school subject it is necessary: The professional competence of a teacher His/her readiness to master the variety of study methods applied during the lessons or out of class activities. The teachers of our school are sure that it is very important to give students possibilities to express their point of view, to use their experience, to demonstrate their skills in analysing, making conclusions and to formulate their own position. The teachers’ task is to create positive, friendly atmosphere during the lesson, be tolerant, to accept various values (student’s social background, religious belonging, race), to stimulate students to express their own vision of the world. These are main principles when planning and organizing activities during the lesson and after it. The teachers applied various interactive methods of teaching during the lessons such as: Role-plays Brain-storms Discussions Projects Essays Interviews Excursions PP presentations Participation in events organized by school Parliament, City organizations Student’s portfolio Student’s diary Self-evaluation Student’s Portfolio – is a very popular activity among young students; they include drawings, photos, lists of literature, important notes etc.
PP presentations, Projects, Self-evaluation, discussions – these forms are very popular with students of forms 7-9. Offered topics for the discussions: 1-3 classes
4-5 classes
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My school, my classmates. We and Latvia. Me and my time. What I wish and what I could. How to understand myself and others.
- The rainbow is beautiful. My family. How to understand other persons and live together. How to live long.
6-7 classes -
I am a part of the world. My rights and duties. We are the same and different. The place where we live and work.
8-9 classes -
My inner world. I in the world of values. I am not alone. The rules and laws of the labour market. I and my responsibility. My country in the world.
BULGARIA: "Dobri Hristov" National School of Arts, Varna, Bulgaria, Some good and interesting practices, demonstrated through action and enthusiasm: Student School Council summarized the students’ problems and announced them at a meeting with the School Administrative Management ; Students not only indicate problems, they want to participate in resolving them; The most talented students perform as soloists of Varna Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the best in Bulgaria; There is a joint participation of teachers and students in various cultural events. The teacher not only teaches but he/she is also a partner of his/her student. Talent is not dependent on age; Class musical concerts are performed on various occasions. The education in the professional field is individual. They learn more about each other by these class concerts; General classroom meetings are organized - students, parents, teachers. The discussions are open. Sometimes it becomes very noisy; Each year at Christmas and Easter students collect appropriate clothing and shoes for children in need; There is a sick child at seventh grade with a severe diagnosis. The students collected 7870 leva (4000 euro) to support her treatment in Germany. Continuous reading of extracts from the world greatest children's books was held among younger students; A team game took place in 10-th and 11-th grade. Through tips and questions, that can be answered after a hard study, students found a famous building, associated with important cultural events. Our students learn that: there is a deep need of thinking about future and having dreams and goals; the quality of one's life depends on the quality of communication with others; If you give love, you will receive love; trust produces trust; If you want only to receive, then you will be strongly disappointed ; if the message does not reach the addressee, the recipient is not guilty, but the one that sends the message; there should be no fear of the gap between dreams and reality; there should be a harmony and balance between: 1. work and pleasure; 2. spiritual and material; 3. mental and emitional.
ITALY: Teaching style: The preliminary remark of my didactics concerns the big “code” of classical culture at the base of the “italianity”, requesting a kind of myth of reference in classical knowledge. Having said so, I think that is very important to structure the lesson on some clear basics:
1. The class is not only a microsociety, but also an hermeneutic community in which we daily express ourselves by actively applying the principles of democracy. 2. Non-judgemental listening. 3. Respect for differences 4. Never trying to impose one’s thesis just for self-importance: thesis are to be confronted. 5. To respect one’s turn to speak. 6. To plan the didactic goals taking in consideration the potentialities of each student according to the European qualification framework (as Plato says: to engrave on the soul of each one according to the receiving skills of each one). 7. To produce, at the and of a didactic project, a joined work that highlights the mobilized skills and qualifications.