Social Skills and Face to Face Interactions

By: L. L, B. K., and M. B.

What is a social skill?

What is face to face interaction?

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Why do we need them?

• Academic success
• Participate in academic tasks
• Better understanding of ourselves
• Personal development
• Increased quality of life

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Examples of Social Skills

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We have skills! A brief animated video on skills which shows examples and non examples.

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Why Face-to-Face?

Face-to-Face (Promotive) Interactions

• Students promote learning

through oral explanations & discussion

• Group members become personally committed to one another & mutual

goals

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Skills Needed for Cooperative Learning

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Forming skills: Needed for a functioning & cooperative learning group (taking turns, using quiet voices)

Functioning skills: Needed to manage group activities for task completion & relationships among members

(Johnson, Johnson and Holubec, 1998)

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Formulating skills: Needed to understand material being studied at a deeper level, to stimulate the use of higher quality reasoning strategies, & to maximize mastery & retention

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Fermenting skills: Skills needed to rethink material being studied, manage cognitive conflict, search for more information, & communicate the rationale behind one's conclusion

How To Teach Social Skills

Step 1: Discuss the need for social skills & make sure students understand why we need them

• Why are these skills important?
• Have students develop a list of social skills that are needed to improve group work.
• Illustrate the need for the skills through role play

How To Teach Social Skills

Step 2: Make sure students understand what the skill is, how & when to use it

• Define the skill in verbal & nonverbal behaviors “What does it look like, What does it sound like”
• What does it look like? Thumbs up, clapping, smiling
• What does it sound like? Terrific! I knew you could

do it! I like the way you....

• Demonstrate & model the behavior
• Have students practice the skill
• Why is modeling so important?

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How To Teach Social Skills

Step 3: Set up practice situations & allow for guided practice

• Gradually introduce skills
• Observe groups & record who is using the skill & using it effectively
• Coach students on improvement of their skill

How To Teach Social Skills

Step 4: Give students feedback on their use of the skill

• Help students reflect on how to use the skill more effectively in the future
• In Cooperative Learning - the observer reports to the group with the information gathered and the group members discuss their impressions about their behavior
• Small group processing followed by

whole class process

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How To Teach Social SKills

Review and Reflect

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• How well was the social skill being used on your team? What specific examples do you remember?
• How did you personally use the social skill? What did you do and/or say? To whom?
• How might you improve in using this skill next time?

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How To Teach Social Skills

Step 5: Students practice the Cooperative Learning skill until it is automatic

Four Stages

• Awkwardness
• Phony
• Mechanical
• Integrated

Social Skills Objectives

Condition - Behavior - Criteria

Given small group work, the student will use a quiet voice when communicating with peers four out of five times.

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Given small group work, the student will share materials with classmates four out of five times.

Closure and Assessment

Kahoot.com Pin# 209820

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References

Candler, L. Teaching Social Skills. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from

http://www.lauracandler.com/strategies/socialskills.php

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Johnson, D., Johnson, R., & Holubeck, E. (1998). Cooperation in the

classroom. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

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Johnson, D., Johnson, R. (1999). Learning together and alone: cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

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Teed, R., Rosethm C., & McDaris, J. What is cooperative learning? Retrieved

February, 11, 2015, from http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative.

what is.html.