Teaching the Social Skills of Academic Interaction, Grades 4-12. Harvey "Smokey" Daniels

toward one another? Work productively with partners and in teams?

      • Sustain lively and thoughtful discussions in small groups?

      • Maintain focus and productivity?

      • Help each other dig deep into curricular topics?

      • Show classmates respect, not aggression and put-downs?

      • Create a classroom climate of curiosity, focus, and fun?

      • Get good test scores and be good human beings?

      Us, too. Creating supportive classroom communities has been a subtext of seven books we have previously written together. Here, we bring it to the foreground.

      Wherever we work in schools (twenty-three states last year) the number one question teachers ask is: “How can I get these kids to work together?” Sometimes, they say this with emphasis on the word these, accompanied by a subtle eye-roll, as in, “You have no idea what I am up against here."

       Wherever we work in schools, the number one question teachers ask is: “How can I get these kids to work together?"

      No matter how politely we phrase it, a perennial problem is that our kids don't all get along. They don't work together easily. Too often, they hassle, disrespect, and put each other down. When we place them with partners or in groups, they goof off, waste time, careen off task, or pick on each other. We watch this with rising levels of discomfort, trying to put a lid on the fractiousness, the negativity. After a while, we may feel compelled to abandon our dream of an interactive classroom, push the desks back into rows, and hand out some worksheets, just to calm the kids down. If we get frustrated enough, we'll cast blame upon last year's teachers, or the kids' parents, or their neighborhood. “Maybe next year,” we think to ourselves, “I'll get a class that can collaborate."

      But no one is born knowing how to be a good friend, a supportive partner, or a responsible team member. These skills have to be learned. Or, to put it another way, we have to teach this stuff] It's not fair for us to complain about chaos or low morale in our classrooms before we even try to fix it.

       No one is born knowing how to be a responsible team member. These skills have to be learned … we have to teach this stuff!

      Now, we are not completely denying the reality of what we teachers call “good groups" and “bad groups.” Sometimes, the district computer sends us a real doozy of a class list. You start to wonder, are they punishing me for something? But mostly, good groups—classes of kids who work well together—are made, not born. That's one thing that this book is about: taking command of the interactions in our classroom, not being victims of the luck of the draw.

What's Been Missing in School Reform

      After decades of academic-based reforms like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, school people are realizing that we have indeed left something crucial behind. The vital social skills of successful academic work are being neglected in today's classrooms, despite their centrality in college and career readiness. Kids are living in (and leaving) schools without acquiring the habits of effective collaboration with others. They aren't learning how to be respectful, friendly, cooperative, and empathic. They aren't growing as responsible team members, supportive partners, and reliable workers. They aren't practicing the social skills that lead to success in school, college, or anywhere else they might wind up.

      Some call this overlooked domain “emotional intelligence," or “soft skills," or “interpersonal skills," or “positive behavior," or even “twenty-first century skills." Under these various banners, school districts across the country have belatedly begun addressing the issues of student emotional states, school climate, “positive behavior interventions and supports,” social skills, and collaboration. A stunningly diverse (and otherwise polarized) assortment of school people and vendors are jumping aboard.

      It seems fair to say that we are enjoying a boom in “social-emotional learning,” commonly shorthanded to SEL. This diffuse movement encompasses a wide range of both commercial and nonprofit programs that teach kids how to manage their emotions, build relationships, and work effectively, both as individuals and as teammates. Early research on these models has been very promising: a major meta-analysis of 213 studies showed an average 11 percent gain in academic performance for kids receiving such instruction (Durlak et al., 2011).

Why We Must Teach Social-Academic Skills Now

      A variety of factors has emerged to drive the awareness of SEL, to raise our sense of urgency, and to fuel its implementation in today's schools.

       The Common Core State Standards Requirements

      The CCSS standards for Speaking and Listening (2010) explicitly call for all students to develop the social skills of academic interaction. The anchor standards require students to collaborate effectively “in pairs, small group and large group discussions” from kindergarten through high school. Grade-level standards get more precise and challenging as kids move up. In kindergarten, the CCSS expects children to:

      • Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups

      • Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion)

      • Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges

      • Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood

      • Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood

      By grade 5, kids should:

      • Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly

      • Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material, and explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion

      • Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles

      • Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others

      • Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions

      • Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally

      • Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence

      And, by grades 11 and 12, students are required to:

      • Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 11—12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively

      • Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study, and explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas

      • Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as needed

      • Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence;