8 Social Skills to Teach Your Students Today
8 Social Skills to Teach Your Students Today
Strong social skills in students lead to greater success in school and life. Here are the eight skills you should be teaching your students today.
Social Skills Defined
According to a 2020 Pew Research study, more than 42% of workers, or 65 million people, had jobs where social skills were the most important factor for employment. That same study found fewer than 19% of workers had jobs where social skills were the least important factor.
Strong social skills in children lead to influential social adults, but understanding social skills can be challenging. Social skills are body language, eye contact, facial expressions, word choices, and non-verbal or verbal exchanges a person uses to navigate social situations.
Learning social skills is vital for effective childhood development, and as an educator, you play a crucial role in teaching students how to interact with each other. By committing to teaching social skills to your students, you can make a positive impact and create a connected classroom.
In this article, we will discuss the benefits of teaching your students social skills and we will explore the eight most important skills every student should know. We’ll also sprinkle in Friendzy freebies along the way that make the work of elevating your students' social skills easy!
Benefits of Teaching Children Social Skills
Teaching social skills during adolescence is critical for students to excel in social situations. When you implement these skills in your classroom, you can bring marked improvement to all students, especially those needing extra attention. These improvements extend beyond the classroom and include benefits like:
Academic success – Teaching kids social skills sets them up for success in high school, post-secondary education, and gainful future employment. The life skills you teach them now can prevent substance abuse issues or under-functioning adults.
Stronger friendships – Young children who learn to navigate social situations are better at maintaining healthy relationships. Students with even basic social skills can make and keep friends easier, which is essential for mental health.
Reduced stress – When you help kids learn social skills, you teach them how to self-regulate and practice self-control. These strategies minimize stress during different situations and support emotional resilience.
8 Social Skills to Teach Your Students Today
There are countless social and emotional skills that are worth developing, but this particular set of skills aids in successful social interactions. When your students develop these important social skills you will also be supporting their development of complementary skills.
Sharing
Sharing requires students to understand and be able to employ manners, have patience, practice cooperation, and understand empathy. Teaching young children sharing and turn-taking can help your students form lasting friendships and reduce classroom disruptions.
To develop a giving environment, praise students for saying “thank you” to build their confidence and self-esteem. Children with higher self-esteem are more likely to be good sports and allow others to join in the fun, too.
Are you looking to transform sharing in your classroom? Check out Friendzy’s “You First” unit designed to teach children about sharing. If you want to learn more, book a demo today to discover this module and other great resources for helping improve social skills for kids.
Listening
Listening is a vital social skill. It aids in problem-solving and conflict resolution and extends beyond simply hearing what someone says. Students with strong, active listening skills are better equipped to engage in conversation, proving that listening and communication skills are one and the same.
You can fortify listening skills by practicing active listening in your classrooms. Have students recap instructions, stories, or other activities to show that they absorb and comprehend what is heard.
Friendzy’s “Listen Up!” unit makes learning fun with activities that support active listening and the development of key social skills. This crucial unit leads students to develop healthy habits that last a lifetime.
Cooperation
Cooperation is collaboration with a shared or common goal. It can be practiced during a class project, the spring play, or a community garden. The act of cooperating helps students develop important skills such as listening, sharing, contributing, and following instructions, regardless of the purpose for which they need to work together.
During activities that require cooperation, it’s essential that there is a respectful exchange of ideas. You can implement more group activities into your lesson plans to foster collaboration and watch the creative results blossom.
We’re more powerful together than alone; at least, that’s what the Avengers say. You, too, can create a classroom of superheroes with Friendzy’s “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work” unit where students learn how to collaborate like a hero!
Following Directions
The ability to follow directions and instructions means absorbing, processing, and executing steps to complete a task. This critical social skill helps support students, leading to success later in life.
Following directions relies heavily on solid listening skills, meaning practicing one benefits the other. Ensure students follow directions by giving one instruction at a time and then having them repeat each step back to you.
Patience
Patience isn’t just a virtue. It’s essential for maintaining healthy relationships with others and achieving long-term goals, like graduating college or saving up for your first car. Encourage patience in your classroom by delaying gratification. For example, acknowledge your students’ achievements but have them wait until the end of the day to claim their prize.
Empathy
Empathy is a social-emotional skill that has the power to solve a myriad of social problems. However, it requires patience, listening, respecting boundaries, and manners. At its core, empathy is appreciating others and the emotions they feel.
Empathy in the classroom looks like playing fairly and students recognizing when they’ve hurt other students’ feelings. Teaching empathy can be tricky, but modeling empathy by vulnerably and authentically sharing your own emotions can activate students’ mirror neurons and support the development of their own muscles of empathy.
Everyone feels complex emotions, and negative social interactions can damage a child’s self-esteem if empathy isn’t at the core of social-emotional learning. That’s where Friendzy’s “Be Kind All the Time” unit can really make a difference in your classroom. Check it out today and discover how!
Respecting Boundaries
Everyone has a physical and emotional bubble, and that personal space is unique to each student. Because everyone’s bubble is different, teaching students how to respect boundaries is essential.
Help your students understand that it’s important to ask for permission when entering someone’s personal space, especially with signs of affection, like hugs. Communicate how to ask for permission while also illustrating how to express boundaries.
There’s nothing wrong with needing more or less personal space than others. The “I Get to Be Me, You Get to Be You” unit from Friendzy covers everything students need to know about personal bubbles and strategies on how to avoid an unintentional “pop”!
Using Manners
Proper manners seem to be a thing of the past, but they go a long way in interpersonal situations and often attract positive attention. This positive attention helps support self-esteem that ultimately fuels other good social skills.
Establishing a polite classroom is possible, but only if you are a role model for good manners. You can help improve manners in your classroom by teaching students to use phrases like “please,” thank you,” and “excuse me.” Be sure to reinforce positive behaviors while reminding students when there’s a slip-up.
Help Your Students Build Social Skills with Friendzy
Social skills are as crucial to a child's development as reading and writing, and educators play a key role in facilitating their growth. Even the most unruly students benefit from lessons geared toward sharing, using manners, following directions, or patience.
Although these skills take time to develop, they result in more successful students, stronger friendships, and overall reduced stress in the classroom. Whether you model these skills yourself or incorporate them into your lesson plans, they are possible to teach.
Give yourself and your colleagues the tools, techniques, and know-how to teach social skills in your school with Friendzy’s social-emotional character development program.
This program guides educators and parents on engaging K-8 children with practical social skills they’ll use for life. Book a demo today and see the difference the Friendzy’s program can make in your school!