Tips to foster friendships for the students in your class.

In order to form healthy friendships, students must develop interpersonal skills to learn how to communicate and engage with peers. It is important to remember that children learn best through example. Teachers should remain to be a good role model for their students, expressing positive attitudes and values towards other people. Children will be more likely to do the same with their own friends.

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Tip 1 – Encourage play dates

Communicate to parents the benefits of students visiting other student’s houses to play. Students will be provided with multiple opportunities to listen to their friends and their friend’s family and sharing toys. They will also be exposed to different family dynamics and cultures that the students will learn to accept and value. Try to observe the social dynamics in class and discuss with parents with students their children are compatible with.

Tip 2 – Teach the essential ingredients of a healthy friendship

Explain to your students how honesty, trust, respect and loyalty are the essential ingredients to a healthy relationship. Make sure you provide your students with easy to understand definitions to these things, as they may not truly know what they mean. Role playing scenarios are a great way to involve students in the learning process of what makes a good friend.

Tip 3 – Group involvement in tasks

Program lessons that involve students’ in group work. This will provide students with the opportunity to spend time with their class peers and to develop communication skills. Especially for students that are shy, group work will help them develop socialisation skills with peers they are familiar with.

Tip 4 – Positive values and attitudes

When students are encouraged to interact with peers, they will form better values and attitudes about school and learning. When their friends are present, they tend to enjoy the school environment more.

Tip 5 – Piaget’s theory of play

Piaget’s theory of play explains the important link between child’s play and cognitive enrichment. It is integral to students’ social development that they are provided with the time to simply play games. This is a great way to teach them important social skills such as taking turns, listening, cooperation, leadership and sportsmanship. The more that can practice and understand these concepts, the better friend they with be. The good ‘ol saying, “treat others the way you want to treated” is an important mantra to be expressed with your students (Red Chair Press 2012).

Tip 6 – Learn to live in someone else’s shoes

It is important for your students to realise how another person is feeling, especially in their friendships. Discuss with your students the different situations their peers may be placed in and how this makes them feel and how they think their friends feel. Teaching them how to recognise how others may be feeling or another person’s point of view is an important milestone to building friendships.

Tip 7 – You must crawl before you walk

You must not force your students to interact with particular children or form friendships. This sort of pressure will not do any good and will only overwhelm your students and may turn them off the idea of making friends. Instead, provide your class with a little advice and encourage them to interact independently. Let them figure out what works for them at their own pace (Red Chair Press 2012).

Tip 8 – Clubs and Sports

Research social events of the local area that may be of interest to your students. Activities such as visual art classes, performing arts workshops, sporting teams and Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts are an effective way to include students in a social setting where they already have a common interest in the extracurricular activity. Provide this information in class newsletters so the parents are informed. If there are families who may not be able to afford the registration of these activities, organise a round robin event with the involvement of other schools competing.

Tip 9 – Social Skills Rule!

Collaborate with your students in the making of a class behaviour agreement that consists of a list of social rules that the students believe negatively impact friendships. For example: not to snatch things off others, keep your hands and feet to yourself, don’t call people names e.t.c.

Tip 10 – Be a good role model

Remember to be a good role model. If your students see you engaging in conversation with other teachers, the children’s parents and talking to the class about friends of your own, they will begin to learn what friendship means and what it takes to maintain one.

Reference:

Dray, S. (2011). How to teach children healthy friendships, last accessed: 19/10/2012, http://www.livestrong.com/article/512426-how-to-teach-children-healthy-friendships/

Red Chair Press (2012). Tips to Foster Friendships for Children, last accessed: 19/10/2012, https://www.redchairpress.com/blog/tips-foster-friendships-children

Steuber, E. (2012). Activities Promoting Friendship Between Children, last accessed: 19/10/2012, http://www.ehow.com/info_7954424_activities-promoting-friendship-between-children.html

Classroom Management Plans

The purpose of a classroom management plan is to outline your current beliefs about classroom management. In this plan, you will mention the theories and practices that will help guide your approach for collaborating with students. This plan is a “working document” and you will make changes to it throughout its implementation in the classroom as they occur. Below is a link to a PDF which covers multiple aspects of developing a classroom management plan including:

• Class Situational Analysis
• Philosophy
• Procedures and Routines
• Responsive Strategies
• Preparation for the Special Case
• Crisis Intervention Plan
• Strategies to deal with bullying
• Communication with parents

A Classroom Management Plan

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Creating and Maintaining Class and School Rules/ Routines

Rules

The “Rules within the classroom should be based on mutual respect and safety, and the consequences should fit the cause” (Rogers, B. 1995. Pn 76).  Rules that are developed for the classroom must be clear, few in number and above all enforceable. Having rules within the classroom that are consistently enforced with the same consequences every time allows the students to always know what to expect, where they stand I relation to the rules and what is expected of them (Rogers, B. 1995). Positive reinforcement should also be used as an encouragement and support, to empower the students to achieve positive behavioral goals and outcomes within the classroom and school environment.

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Routines

Rogers states that during the “ Establishment Phase” of the year, this being mainly at the beginning of the year but also reestablishing at the beginning of the term and when ever the teacher deems necessary, ‘teachers work hard to set up positive rules and routines which assist in the smooth running of the classroom’ (Rogers, B. 1995. Pn 22). It is important that a routine is always view as a positive experience within the classroom and that reminders are used to help the students negotiate through new routines or in times of forgetfulness.(Rogers, B. 1995).

Routines are important in assisting teachers to encourage good behavior choices as they help a student build confidence in themselves by allowing them to predict what will happen next (Glasser, W, M.D. 1998). Self-confidence is important in preventing behavioral issues and routines can assist both the student in gaining self esteem and self confidence in the classroom. When a teacher has a routine established within the classroom, it allows the students to know what is expected of them and how long they have to complete the set work or task. This will it will help the students to manage their time and as well as their behavior. Children thrive on pleasing people, in this case their teacher and in most cases, work hard to do so. When you have routines it not only benefits the individual student, but the entire class as a whole, as the students experience less stress are confident in their environment and everyone is prepared.

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Effective Teaching Strategies

Effective teaching techniques assist teachers to encourage good behavior choices and redirect undesired behavior. Positive reinforcement should be used to redirect the student way from the negative behavior displayed and toward a positive and more welcome or appropriate behavior. To assist in the monitoring of the negative behavior, the teacher should reset the rules and expectations of the classes’ behavior at the beginning of each day and whenever the teacher feels the class or the individual may need reminding. In order for the reinforcement to work the student needs a reachable goal for them to work towards. The student should be rewarded for the desirable behavior when it occurs with praise. For praise to be effective it should be said immediately following the desired behavior, frequently or every time the desired behavior occurs, be said enthusiastically whilst describing the desired behavior the student is exhibiting whilst making eye contact with the individual. The teacher should try to look for a variety of positive behaviors or occurrences to praise. The positive feedback the student is getting will encourage them to display the behavior again in order to receive the positive response from the teacher. (Maag, 2010)

How to develop interpersonal communication skills in the workplace

In order for a professionally organised and managed workplace, one must develop effective communication skills. Competent interpersonal skills consist of knowledge and understanding about communicating with fellow team members. We must visualise ourselves on an interpersonal skills continuum where we are constantly self-assessing our social composure and disclosure to evaluate the effectiveness of our verbal and nonverbal responses within our workplace; and to improve where necessary.

The following skills are required to communicate effectively:

1.     Refer to the person you are talking to by name. People are complimented when they know that you are making the conversation personal.  It also enables you to store this personal information into your long term memory. For example, when someone introduces themselves, reply with “hello, nice to meet you (insert name).” as next time, you shall be able to refer to them in a much more interpersonal way.

2.     Make messages specific and complete. When speaking, include all of the necessary information the receiver needs to comprehend your message. Repeating your message more than once and using other skills such as pictures and nonverbal cues will help transcend your message across.

3.     “Own statements” involve using first person singular pronouns such as: I, my, me. Ownership means taking responsibility for the ideas and feeling that you express. Be descriptive. Describe your feelings by saying: “I feel angry when…”, “I feel disappointed because…”

4.     After you have disclosed a message, you must continually ask for feedback to become aware how the receiver is interpreting and processing your message. Listen with an open mind, accepting that you have plenty to learn. If you ever have any doubts, ask the receiver questions.

5.     Avoid jumping to conclusions about what your team member is saying. Listen to the whole message or reply before you make a comment. If you ever have any doubts, ask the receiver questions or paraphrase their message to clarify the information they have just given you. Your team member will appreciate that you are listening to what they are saying.

6.     Try to control your defensiveness when communicating to team members at all times. Fear of hurting your feelings or being confronted by defensive behavior makes people hesitant to socialise and communicate with you. If you do find yourself becoming defensive, practice stress management techniques such as deep breathing and exhaling slowly.

7.     The reading of a person’s body language, such as their facial expressions, gestures and posture, is one of the most significant skills of communication. Nonverbal communication not only portrays how a person is feeling but also how they are coping with their emotion. Being able to identify the following clues may ease the process of finding the right time to confront a fellow team member. For example, a person may appear angry when: they have frowning eyebrows and mouth, clenched fists, flailing arms, slamming doors and stamping feet (Bolten 1997).

8.     Just because a team member gives you feedback, doesn’t mean their feedback is right. Check with other members to receive a different perspective of the matter and to determine the reliability of the feedback.

9.     If you are being bullied or harassed by a fellow team member, tell the person face to face how their behaviour is impacting your work and what feelings their behaviour evokes. If the team member’s actions still persists, document all confrontations and report privately to the school principal.

10.  If you are approached by a negative person and they ask for help, provide advice or ideas for how the coworker can address the reason for their negativity. Be sure that you set limits so the team member’s negativity does not overpower your energy and positive outlook. Walk away or tell them you would prefer to move onto more positive subjects.

Reference list

Bolten, R. (1997). People Skills: How to assert yourself, listen to others and resolve conflicts, Simon and Schuster, Australia

Healthfield, S. M. (2012). 10 Tips for Dealing with Difficult People at Work: Dealing with difficult coworkers, bosses and friends at work, last accessed: 28/09/2012, http://humanresources.about.com/od/difficultpeople/tp/dealing_difficult.htm

Robinson, M. (2006). How to Improve Your Interpersonal Communication Skills, last accessed: 28/09/2012, http://voices.yahoo.com/how-improve-interpersonal-communication-skills-55208.html

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