1. If you have guest speakers visit your classroom, let your students know in advance what your expectations are for being an audience. If you have a career series of speakers, let your students come up with appropriate questions to ask before the speaker even arrives. This is not a time to ask silly questions or waste the speaker's time.
2. Though negotiating and compromising are important skills, students should realize that some things are not negotiable. Some teachers cannot be talked out of a test on Friday, or talked into giving extra points for good handwriting. Students should be aware that for safety reasons there are some things that cannot be changed.
3. Discuss what is meant by the "chain of command" and why this is important when being around others. Why is it better to talk to an immediate supervisor than to try to go directly to the top?
4. Negotiating involves the use of fact. Have students view situations as factually as possible. Although we are often emotional about things we perceive are important, it is a good negotiating technique to explain factually how a compromise would benefit both sides and in what way it would promote fairness for all.
5. Use such terms as brainstorming, responsibility, authority, and division of labor with your class as group tasks come up. Have students assume different roles in a group project, even if you know they may not be the best at something specific. Let them know that jobs will rotate and that every-one can learn something about working with others.
6. To encourage cooperation, try to avoid situations in which groups are chosen by popularity polls. Keep groups random and fluid. If a child can't get along with someone in the group, remind him or her that "the next lime" there will be different people to work with.
7. Demonstrate flexibility within your classroom by having alternative activities for students or backup plans that are known to all. A fire drill, a snow delay, an unexpected guest speaker, a classroom crisis—any of these events can throw off a tight schedule. Flexibility is a social skill that will get you through many a surprise!
8. Videotape a popular TV episode, then turn off the volume and have students observe the characters and try to predict what the characters are feeling, saying, or thinking. Then replay the episode with the sound turned on. What clues were helpful?
9. Look through your local newspaper to find out what current events are being discussed in your area. How are teams of people working together to advance their cause? Is there a building project going on? a retail store opening? Have students think about how the community leaders have to get along to negotiate, compromise, be flexible, and work with others to get things accomplished.
10. Involve your class in a service project in which all participants play a role in selecting, planning organizing, and carrying out a specific community task, idea, or event. This could be anything front a Valentine's Day party at a local nursing home to a community cleanup day around the city courthouse. Reflect on how working together can accomplish something that one person simply would not be able to do very well alone.
Part I: Learning Basic Social Skills