Cooperative Learning: Improving Social Skills in the Classroom

To begin, Students need positive social environments to grow healthy relationships between other students and staff. Not only does socializing play to common sense, but it has also been studied and proven by numerous institutions. For example, an article written for the Journal of Counseling and Development found that, “[S]tudents’ relationships and emotional connections to their teachers are highly associated with academic success” (qtd.in Bryan). Teamwork and critical thinking are spawn from interaction between those with whom we mingle on a daily basis, i.e. school mates and teachers. What better time to interact with others, than lunch time. Lunch time allows for a comfortable environment where children can interact with each

Students in the classroom come from a variety of backgrounds. Their lives are shaped by their families, their communities, but also their peers in school whom they will spend hours a day with throughout their educational career. The ability to form relationships with others, to create lasting friendships that grow and evolve with time, is detrimental to all children and their development. Lacking the ability to do so, whether it is directly because of their conditions or because of how other students perceive them, can dramatically harm them emotionally and mentally.

What are several principals for teaching social skills to students with learning and behavior problems? The text expresses many key principals that educators may employ for teaching social skills to students with learning or behavior problems. Teachers are encouraged to develop cooperative learning activities and groups. Students should be encouraged to work with their fellow peers in supportive and structured activities. Teachers should employ effective instruction strategies such as identifying target behaviors, modeling, rehearsing, role-playing, and providing students with positive feedback. Learned and target social skills should be taught and modeled in a way that students are able to transfer these skills from the classroom to outside of the classroom. Teachers need to empower students and help them identify their strengths. Students should feel that they are actively involved with their learning, as well as, understand the consequences to their

I agree with the authors, “It is precisely through information of these kinds of social activities that we identify funds of knowledge that can be used in the classroom to help improve academic development” (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005, Pg. 80). We start teaching at the beginning of the school year holding biases towards certain students. Sometimes we heard in the office or teacher lounge that student XYZ is a “nightmare”, we are scared of those students because we are afraid they will ruin our classroom environment. This was my mentality when I first stepped into a classroom as a tutor.

In this essay, we will identify and describe the seven goals for teaching appropriate social skills. First, helping children develop empathy and to learn to be generous, altruistic, and able to share equipment, experiences, and people with other children. Furthermore, helping children learn that being kind to others feels good and teaching children that everyone has rights and these rights are to be respected by all. While also emphasizing the value of cooperation and compassion rather than stressing competition and winning. Finally, helping children discover the pleasures of friendship and helping children with special needs fit into the life of the group.

Before starting preschool, my subject, who has two older brothers, had been accustomed to acting aggressively in order to get what he wanted; therefore, he was unaware of how to interact and play with other children without becoming aggressive. His aggressive acts lessened as his time at preschool lengthened. He began to ask to play with other children’s toys, instead of taking them by force, he began to share, and he was no longer seeking to be alone, as he slowly found his place playing next to the other children. My subject’s new interactions with other children could be defined as his first friendships, as he found it enjoyable to spend time playing with others and sharing toys (Berk, 2012). The forming of friendships during my subject’s transition from home to preschool was integral in his development because of the social skills of cooperation he was developing, as well as the formation of friendships for future social support

What are the educational pros and cons of incorporating social learning ideas into the classroom? Incorporating social learning in the classroom allows for students and teachers to discuss learning with interactive dialogue and instructional conversations. This approach can promote positive student interactions among peers and teachers. It will also allow for different interpretations and explanations of classroom content and material that may aid in the student understanding. For example, a peer explanation or discuss of classroom content may be better understand by a student will learning problems than we a teacher, or “expert” explains the material. A con to social learning would be if a student didn’t feel comfortable participating in these group discussions because of the lack of knowledge of the subject or because of the social pressures involved with speaking in front of their

This way, the school can get a sense of whether this will benefit a higher graduation rate or not. Students are able to recognize the importance of school through the influence of each other. Evidence of successful change can be seen through making a difference in the student’s everyday life. After the first month of testing the improvements, peer learning should have boosted up a student’s confidence and learning style. Throughout the months, students should be asked about how their peer learning is changing their learning style, this way the school can see the beginning and end result of student’s working together. With this being said, peer to peer learning should help students in improving their self-esteem and make them become a stronger individual. As a whole, these improvements will have a positive impact on the previous and future community. All in all, encouraging peer learning leads to a better community surrounding and trust between

Children need to be taught to be social. As a young child, they are taught to interact with others and how to get along with other children. They are taught how to be confident and how to talk to other people without being nervous. If being social was such a natural process, would people not be born able to interact without being nervous? If socialisation was natural then it should not be a skill to learn. Admittedly there is the exception with some children being more outgoing than others. However, again there is the situation where being social does not come naturally to most. Due to this, it can be argued that being social is not natural, something that is taught, is synthetic and fake. It is not at all natural to be social. It cannot be reasonable to force people into situations that makes them feel uncomfortable, particularly involving other

“Nearly all the human social behavior we consider natural and normal is learned. ” Socializing is a lifelong process that we go through to be able to connect with different kinds of social groups but is most important during those early developing years. Imagine for just a moment if one were to be isolated from any human contact. It is hard to phantom what that would even look like for a person when humans are surrounded by people daily.

Interactions with adults are a common and regular part of infants’ daily lives. Infants as young as three months of age have been shown to be able to differentiate between the faces of unfamiliar adults (Barrera and Maurer 1981). The foundations that describe Interactions with Adults and Relationships with Adults are connected. They equally give a picture of healthy social-emotional development that is based in a supportive social environment traditional by adults. Children develop the ability to both respond to adults and engage with them first through anticipated interactions in close relationships with parents or other caring adults at home and outside the home. Children use and build upon the skills learned through close relationships to

Social interaction plays an important role in people’s life starting from the early childhood as infants interact with their caregivers and build the emotional attachment that is the base for future relationships. By social interaction with others children learn how to communicate, play and behave in particular situation. Berk (2009) proposed the overview of the literature that concentrates upon the early attachment and its importance. Knowing the influence of social interaction on child development in the first few years, the essay is going to elaborate upon the implication of social interaction on the development of cognition. Cognitive development as Lee & Gupta (eds.) claimed is the term that refers to acquisition and development of

As a result of this type of evidence the Federal Government and the department of education (DEET) have developed a set of Australian curriculum standards that are aimed at educating students about positive social interaction and socialization as a whole. (Australiancurriculumeduau, 2015)

Social skills are the skills or tools a person or people use to communicate and interact with one another, both verbally or non-verbally, through gestures, body language or personal appearance. Although, human beings are sociable creatures and have developed many methods to communicate our messages, thoughts and feelings with others. Developing social skills is about being aware of how we communicate with each other.

Social interaction is a complex area of study because of how multifaceted it is. Social stability starts at an early age when the child or adolescent learns how to develop trust, take initiative, and achieve a sense of identity. Erick Erickson is a great example of showing the importance of completing the psychosocial stages of development (Erikson 1994). One can glean how crucial these psychosocial stages are and the support needed around the developing child to meet these checkpoints in their life. Children are incredibly malleable; however, instilling a negative light toward social interaction can affect how they manage their later years. Being aware of the crucial beginning steps of social interaction can set the stage on how one will be throughout their adulthood.