Long-Term Support: Life Skills Level
My philosophy wants the students to be able to be successful in my classroom as well as in the real world. Sometimes students are not properly equipped with the life-skill tools needed to succeed in the classroom. For whatever reason this may be, these students need a little more effort by the teacher to help them to be successful. Instead of pushing these students away, teachers should model appropriate behavior and give the students the opportunity to acquire the tools to be successful in school as well as in life.
Strategies
- Collaboration - An important skill is about being able to work as a group and in social situations. By providing students with opportunity to build on these life skills, they will be able to be more successful when they are out of school. Examples of collaboration in my classroom would be lab work, investigations, and group projects.
- Model appropriate behavior - Some students have not had great models of appropriate behavior in their life. It is important that the teacher knows how to express their emotions in a positive way and to show students what is a more acceptable way to act in the community. (Bracket, Kremenitzer. 2011. pg. 51).
- Use of Self-Control Scripts - having the tools to engage a student who is having difficulty controlling their emotions can be very beneficial for the teacher. Using these scripts will open a dialog with the student to help them to understand what they are feeling. (Villa, Thousand, Nevin. 2010. pg. 179).
- Cool-down procedures - Gives individual students or the whole class a quick minute to decompress and cool off. Sometimes students need that minute to breath and relax before returning to the activity or lesson. (Villa, Thousand, Nevin. 2010. pg. 182).
- Being able to apologize - It is important for the class as a whole to know how to apologize to each other. Mistakes do happen and feeling will get hurt. It is important as members of a community to be able to recognize that they have hurt someones feelings and to be able to apologize to them appropriately.
References
Brackett, Marc & Kremenitzer, Janet. (2011). Creating Emotionally Literate Classrooms: An introduction to the RULER approach to social and emotional learning. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources, Inc.
Villa, R.A. Thousand, J.S. & Nevin, A.I. (2010). Chapter 9: Students as Collaborators in Responsibility, Collaborating with Students in Instruction and Decision Making, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, p. 171-188.
Villa, R.A. Thousand, J.S. & Nevin, A.I. (2010). Chapter 9: Students as Collaborators in Responsibility, Collaborating with Students in Instruction and Decision Making, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, p. 171-188.