Social skills in the classroom

Are teachers responsible for teaching social skills? Especially when working with children with exceptionalities, the answer is yes. This article gives you some strategies.

By Kris Zorigian and Jennifer Job

About this series

Special education: Telling facts from fiction

As a teacher, hearing that students in your classroom have a diagnosed learning disability or other special need can be overwhelming and even intimidating. Preparing lesson plans for twenty students already seemed difficult enough. Now you are expected to provide specialized instruction with no real training or guidance from special education staff!

It’s perfectly natural to feel concern or frustration. And you’re not alone — many teachers have been in your shoes at some point in their careers. This blog is here to help.

Each article in this series considers a commonly held belief about special education, providing special instruction to students with special needs, and the behavior problems you might encounter in an inclusive classroom. Many students with learning disabilities also have underlying behavioral or processing disorders, and researchers have struggled to design ways to reliably identify those problems and to treat them. Here, though, we’ll concentrate on classroom practices. The authors look at each issue, ask what the research says, and offer teacher-tested strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems.

This series is based on LEARN NC’s blog of the same title, which ran during 2009–10.

Learn more

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• Inclusion strategies for students with autism spectrum disorders: This article discusses the characteristics of a variety of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and shares concrete strategies for increasing motivation, communication, and academic success in students with ASD.
• Managing and improving behavior in inclusive educational environments : This article presents research-based best practices in classroom behavior management. Topics addressed include the physical arrangement of the classroom, establishing effective classroom rules, creating a positive classroom environment, and using reinforcement to improve students' behavior.
• Deaf learners and successful cognitive achievement: This article surveys relevant literature on the cognitive potential of deaf learners and asserts that, under appropriate conditions, support, and instruction, deaf students can succeed in inclusive settings. Includes a list of ideal instructional conditions for deaf students in the inclusive classroom.

Related topics

• Learn more about behavior management, classroom culture, classroom management, differentiated instruction, positive reinforcement, social skills, and special education.

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The myth

Teachers are responsible for academics in the classroom; it’s the parents who should be teaching social skills.

The facts

Especially when working with children with exceptionalities, teachers should consider social skills just as important as academics. While we used to believe that students should come to school prepared to behave well and interact successfully with peers, we now know that “behave well” means different things to different families. Some students grow up in households that don’t prioritize what teachers tend to like in the classroom: sitting quietly, listening attentively and taking notes, or following directions written on the board. But we educators often expect students to behave the way we learned to when we were young, and the students who don’t often end up either unsuccessful in class or facing constant consequences for their behavior. Thus, social skills become a “hidden curriculum” — rules that students are held accountable for but are never explicitly explained or taught.

This is not to say that students should not be held accountable for social skills in the classroom! Students with strong social skills are more likely to form and maintain relationships with their peers. Researchers have also discovered a close link between positive social behavior and academic achievement, something we want for all of our students.

According to Dr. Melissa Miller and Dr. Nicole Fenty, special education researchers who have explored the development of social skills in children, teaching social skills in a classroom should occur like any other lesson, with planning, instructional delivery, and assessment.

In planning social skills lessons, a teacher should decide which skills are most important for her students to learn. Educators of younger children may choose to emphasize manners (e.g., asking to share a toy or raising one’s hand before speaking in class), while a middle school teacher may want to ensure that his students collaborate (e.g., encouraging each other in a project or sharing ideas successfully). Then, a teacher should plan when and where the lesson will take place and who will be involved. Dr. Miller suggests using natural environments for these tasks (i.e., an environment where the behavior would likely be exhibited). If a teacher is asking her students to practice kindness, she can use a game on the playground to give students opportunities to be kind to one another. If she wants her students to learn how to have successful discussions in class, she can organize a circle for students to talk about a popular topic while they practice raising their hands or acknowledging each other’s comments.

Successful instructional delivery of lessons in social skills involves modeling and identifying. Some students may need to acquire the social skill, meaning that they may not know how to, for example, appropriately ask for help or take turns. Those students need to see their teacher or another student model the desired behavior so they may imitate it. Other students may know the appropriate behavior but not always perform it. They need to see the behavior identified and praised when they exhibit it (and when other students do as well). The important point is that teachers must be explicit in isolating the desired behavior and highlighting it for the student so that he may model it in turn. In addition, the teacher can emphasize why a certain behavior is important rather than just how (e.g., “We raise our hands and wait to be called on because I can’t hear you when someone else is talking.”)

Assessment of social skill instruction depends on maintenance. Students should be praised when exhibiting the desired behavior (“I’m so glad you asked Tommy to share his blocks instead of just taking them”), but eventually teachers can fade out the praising and quietly monitor the behavior instead. This is a lesson plan that is easily differentiated; some students may need to work on one skill more than others. Behavior checklists come in handy here — as you build social skills instruction into other lessons, keep a chart of which behaviors you want each student to exhibit and tally each time you see that behavior occur. At the end of a week or marking period, you can use the chart to show students that you are still mindful of how they are acting in class.

The model-lead-test method can be used to teach a variety of social skills. Here are the eight steps:

1. Name the skill that you are going to teach, and discuss why it is important to use. Involve students in the discussion so they can feel connected to learning that skill.

   Example: “Why is it important that we push our chairs and straighten our desks when we leave class?”

2. Create a rule for the skill.

   Example: Mr. Joss’s class will straighten up our areas before leaving class.

3. Break the skill components down into steps. Teach each step in isolation and then review as they build on one another.

   Example: On the first day, have all students practice pushing their chairs in. On the second, have them push their chairs in and clean off their desks.

4. Name each step to be taught during the lesson. This is especially important for skills with complex components.

   Example: On the board, write: “Today we will all check the floor for loose papers and trash.”

5. Demonstrate use of the skill and model it often. This involves not only role-playing, but also practicing the skill on your own. It is confusing to a student if her teacher does not display the same behavior she is being asked to do.

   Example: “Because all of you have such clean desks, I have made an extra effort to straighten up mine!”

6. Provide appropriate rehearsal time and assistance. Students should not be afraid of rejection or failure during practice. Encourage them!

   Example: “Malia, have you looked around your desk to see that the floor is clear? Thank you!”

7. Make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for students to practice the skill.

   Example: Every day when students leave for recess, assess whether they have cleared their areas.

8. Assign homework. Let families know what skills are being practiced and ask them to give support and feedback for the same skill at home.

   Example: “Sarah, your mother told me that you are putting your shoes in the closet when you come home. I’m proud of you!”

The bottom line

The classroom is an ideal place for students to learn social skills! Rather than expecting certain kinds of behavior when a student enters a class and then being disappointed, a teacher can save herself time and frustration by emphasizing and giving instruction on how she wants her students to act in her classroom and with each other. Teaching strong social skills will help ensure that her students are not only successful in their academics in the future, but that they also succeed outside of the classroom with their friends, family, and community.