Hi parents,
Were you wondering about the green paper that came home today?
Well, a couple years ago, I decided to put more effort into actually teaching some basic social skills, like listening and sharing. While we talk about this stuff throughout the day, each day, it is easy to get wrapped up in academics and move to quickly past what good behaviour looks like. Therefore, at least once a month, we will devote some time to completing an activity where the only focus is learning skills. We will focus on 3 things each time, discuss them first, and students will know that during the task, that is what I'm looking for. I have found that giving this front and centre attention does lead to students practicing those good behaviours in other contexts as well.
Today we did our first social-skills-only lesson. Students were given a picture starter and with their partner, had to complete the picture any way they imagined it. During the task, students were focused on listening to their partner, participating and staying on task. We discussed what this might look like before beginning.
After the task, each student completed a self-evaluation by circling the face which corresponded to how they felt they had done for each skill. On the other side, I gave my opinion of how each student did. Everyone was very successful and was also very honest and self-reflective when filling out their evaluations.
I will always send these green papers home to you so that you can discuss with your child if you like. If they don't have "All the time" for something, you might want to ask them why. Not that we need to be perfect all the time - not at all - but it's always good to have goals for improvement!
I'll speak about this in person Thursday night. If you have any questions about this initiative, please feel free to ask.
Thanks!!
Tamara