Why should I do it?
- Interpersonal skills are an important part of students’ development
- Improves self-esteem
- Increases student buy-in
- Creates a more cohesive class and group
- Helps students help one another
- Increases instructional time
- Decreases time spent repeating directions, rehashing lessons, etc
- Improves students’ moods, affect, and emotional stability
- Helps students to interact with adults
- Helps students to elicit help from teachers and others
- Teaches students important life skills for dealing with others
- Reduces conflicts, arguing, and fighting
- Improves the environment of the room/school
- Helps students make and keep friends
- Improves coping skills
- Increases self-confidence
When should I do it?
- All students can benefit from being taught relationship skills
- With students who seem to be “loners”
- With students that are frequently involved or starting or taking part in drama
- With students that say no one likes them or they have no friends
- With students who have trouble asking for help
- When students seem socially awkward
- When students cannot get along with others
- When students instigate, annoy, bug, etc, others
- With students who are immature
- When other students shun, avoid, or ostracize others
- When students bully or are bullied
- When students create or spread rumors
- When students have trouble sharing, compromising, listening to others’ opinions, etc
- When students seem intolerant of others
How do I do it:
- Use any opportunity to model and role play relationship skills, like when a student name calls and others choose not to play with them, when a student shares, when a student helps another, etc
- Teach lessons on relationships, friendships, getting along with others, tolerance, etc
- Take students aside to discuss and have them reflect on how their behaviors affect others, what behaviors would make others want to be friends with them, etc
- Have students partner up and work on projects together
- Assign work partners
- Help kids set goals with making friends or getting to know others
- Try the supports and resources below
Resources:
- 10 Ways to Improve Your Interpersonal Skills
- 50 Tips On How To Make Friends
- 6 Friendship Rules To Live By
- A Social Skills Lesson: What Is A Friend
- Assign a buddy or partner
- Caring Lesson Older Students
- Caring Lesson Younger Students
- Draw a picture or write in a journal
- Empathy 101: 1o Commandments Of Human Relationships
- Encourage interaction with a more self confident student
- Engage student
- Fact Sheet About Dating Violenc.pdf
- Fairness Lesson Younger Students Activity
- Fairness/Justice Lesson Older Students Activity
- Friendship Lesson
- Getting Along With Parents Lesson
- Honesty Lesson
- How To Build Friendships With Good Listening Skills
- How To Make Friends And Get S Social Life
- How To Make Friends At School: Helping Your Pre-teen Overcome Shyness
- How to Socialize, Be Funny and Make Friends
- Integrity Lesson
- Interpersonal Skills
- Kid’s Health: Friendship
- Kid’s Health: Making Friends
- Kid’s Health: Peer Group Pressure
- Kid’s Health: Peer Groups
- Kid’s Health: Prejudice
- Kid’s Health: Problems With The Teacher
- Kid’s Health: Teasing Others And How To Stop
- Kid’s Health: What Is Diversity?
- Model appropriate language
- Natural consequences
- Preventing Conflicts & Violence Lesson
- Reassurance
- Reflection sheet
- Respect Lesson Older Students Activity
- Respect Lesson Younger Students Activity
- Respecting Others Lesson
- Social Skills Lesson Plan: Initiating Interaction With Peers
- Speak with student in hallway
- Speaking Of Sex Lesson
- Talk one on one with student
- Teach conflict resolution skills
- Teach coping skills
- Teach social skills
- Teaching empathy: Evidence-based tips for fostering empathy in children
- Trustworthiness Lesson Older Students Activity
- Trustworthiness Lesson Younger Students Activity
- Using Empathy Effectively
- Social Skills Stories, Games, Materials, & Resources
- Play dates & Groups
- Social Skills For Middle School Students
- Great Social Skills Training & Tips Geared Toward Adults But Easily Adapted And Applied Toward Children & Adolescents:
- Activities People Do When They Hang Around Each Other
- Anxious Traits That Can Hinder Your Social Success
- At Times It’s Socially Practical To Know Things Other People Care About
- Being Honest With Yourself About Your Social Problems
- Being Too Negative Can Hinder Your Social Success
- Benefits Of Improving Your Social Skills, Even If You Don’t Care About Them
- Coping With Nervousness
- Dealing With Regrets Caused By Your Poor People Skills
- Examples: Starting Conversations, Inviting People Out, and More
- Getting Along With New Groups
- How Being Less Naturally Social Can Affect Your Interpersonal Success
- How To Be More Friendly And Social
- How To Be More Fun
- How To Meet People
- How To Talk To Shyer and/or Less Social People
- How Your Interests Can Affect Your Social Success
- Insecure Traits And Behaviors That Hinder Your Social Success
- Is Bitterness Holding You Back Socially?
- Is It Okay To Hang Out With Another Guy One On One?
- Is Thinking You’re Better Than Other People Holding You Back Socially?
- Learning To Make More Eye Contact With People
- Little Social Annoyances That Will Never Go Away
- Loosen Up To Be More Socially Successful
- Making Plans With People
- Mistakes Lonely People Often Make
- My Experience With Becoming More Self-Confident
- Other People Often Aren’t As Shallow As They Seem
- Reasons People Can Mistakenly Think They Don’t Like Something
- Reflections on Being Defensive and Secretive
- Reflections On Getting Over Low Self-Esteem
- Some Interpersonal Pitfalls More Intellectual Types Can Fall Into
- Some Thoughts On The Point Of Small Talk
- Some Tips On How To Be Less Quiet In Conversations
- Some Ways People Are Mentally Lazy About Judging Others
- The Importance of Getting Your Appearance In Order
- The Importance Of Simplicity And The Basics In Social Interactions…
- Thoughts On ‘Connecting’ With People
- Thoughts On How To Be Funny
- Thoughts On How to Be More Interesting
- Thoughts On How To Make A Conversation
- Thoughts on Seeming Less Weird
- Traits That Help You Hang Out With Other People
- Ways People Can Unintentionally Leave Friends Out Of Social Events
- When People Say “How’s It Going?”, “What’s Up?” or “What’s New?”
- When You Feel Like Your Friends Suck
- When You Want To Do Better With People… But Not Really
- When Your Friends Tease You A Lot