In the staffroom awhile ago, I had had a particularly rough day with one of my students and I was blowing off steam to my colleagues. I made a statement out loud which I immediately regretted. I insinuated that this student would one day grow up to be a notorious underground crime boss and that he will have peons like students A, B, and C, working for him. He is so sly and clever he will never get caught. Then I proceeded to yell out: "How can I get him to use his forces for good and not evil?" while shaking my fist at the sky.

We are all guilty of saying something like this, or at least thinking it. Afterwards, I was disgusted with myself. Who am I to pigeonhole this child so early on? How could I have given up hope on him so fast? The truth is, he is here with me right now, and it is mostly my responsibility to teach him how to behave in school with his peers. I may never have that chance again. If he becomes a crime boss, I can at least say I tried. If he becomes the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize at least I can feel I played a tiny part.

Teaching social skills in the Primary Classroom is crucial. It is easy to intertwine them into academic lessons once you have done it a few times.

I recently saw a calendar that stated something like: "We need communities to build our schools and our schools to build our communities." This reminded me that teaching social skills in the classroom is every bit as important as any academics. When my Kindergarten students pop out of the end of this machine we call the public school system twelve years from now, I like to hope we, myself and their future teachers, have had an influence on what kind of citizens they will be. It is easy to think otherwise, sloughing if off on the parents, peers, or families, of these students. Face it, we only have them for a few hours a day, 190 days a year. That really isn't much time to make a difference in how someone will "turn out." However, when you add it all up, a student will spend 2470 days in public school, which amounts to about 12,000 hours (not including lunch breaks). Not so insignificant, if only all the teachers were on the same page, working for the same goals. Call me naive, but I do believe teachers are teaching for the same reason: to make a difference.

Here are some skills from Lorna Curran's excellent series, Lessons for Little Ones, (1998) to focus on during academic lessons in the primary classroom:
-Active Listening - Agree/Disagree Politely
- Ask for help/assist politely - Encouraging Statements
- Being a "Helpful Teacher" to others - Paraphrasing
- Please and Thank-you - Polite Passer
- Polite Suggestions - Polite Waiter
- Giving Positive Suggestions - Quiet Voices
- Stay in your Place - Speaking Clearly
- Praising Others - Working Neatly
- Working Quickly - Waiting for your Turn
- Being ready for your Turn - Working with a Group
- Cleaning up After you are Done

Learn more about this author, Erica T.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Teaching social skills in the primary classroom?
We want to hear your view. Write now!