Social Skills and Language Arts

Sahara is the main character in the book Sahara Special. She hopes to be a writer one day and spends a lot of time writing. Sahara has many difficulties in her social life. She does not understand social cues and isn't comfortable with simple conversations. She is introverted and only has a few people that she considers friends. She doesn't share her writings with anyone. I think her lack of social skills is the reason she is so against sharing her writing.

Similarly, I believe poor reading or writing skills can have an effect on social skills. Students who lack skills in reading or writing often feel left behind and slow. They feel like their classmates are miles ahead of them and that there is no hope. This mindset can carry over to the social aspect of their lives. Feeling "stupid" and slow can cause a child to become less confident in herself and cause her to turn inward. Students who feel like they might get ridiculed because of their delay are more apt to stay to themselves and ignore their classmates.

I have seen situations like this before. Last year I tutored ESL students. Some of these students struggled with reading, writing, or both. The students were all very shy and kept to themselves. They didn't really interact with many of the other students in their classes. This could have been a language barrier problem, but I believe it can also be attributed to the fact that the students felt behind and as a result, felt like they would be ridiculed and thought it was better to stay to themselves.

As a teacher, I think this is a very important issue that is overlooked too much. Its not only our job to teach students core subjects like math, reading, and writing, but is also our job to help students be able to be functioning, confident, citizens. We are responsible for helping students develop a sense of self and an appreciation for their abilities. Students who are having trouble reading and writing need to be encouraged. Instead of setting huge goals for the delayed students and waiting for them to reach the goal before being rewarded, I think it would be beneficial to set small goals and reward the students for ANY step forward they make or try to make. Students who feel like they are accomplishing something will gain confidence and hopefully see improvement in many other aspects like social skills. This is my plan for when I become a teacher and I hope to use it to help every student in my class feel a sense of accomplishment and worth.