Chapter5

__Chapter 5 __ __Instructional Games in Social Development __ __Instructional Games in Emotional Development __ __Instructional Games in Behavioral Development __ __Scenario __ __﻿__ Jeff is a student in Miss Erney’s class who lacks the ability to get along with his peers. Jeff’s inappropriate behavior includes taking toys and food from his classmates’ hands. On the playground, students try to avoid Jeff so that he does not take their things. When Miss Erney talked with Jeff about his inappropriate behavior, he refused to take responsibility and blamed his classmates for the problems. Recently, Jeff has withdrawn from the class, and he frequently can be found walking alone on the playground and after school. Miss Erney wants to help Jeff become more socially mature.

1. Discuss the use of sociometric techniques to assess social skills and related problems. How can Miss Erney use information from a sociogram to help Jeff? ﻿ ﻿Miss Erney can use information from a sociogram to find out which classmates Jeff would like to work with. Then when students are working in small groups Miss Erney can put Jeff in a group with those students, to help him improve his social skills. 2. Discuss the use of social skills training to reduce Jeff’s inappropriate social behaviors. Include the use of direct instruction to increase Jeff’s interpersonal social skills. Miss Erney can start direct instruction by describing how to perform social skills. I would start with how to ask to use another student's toy or asking for food. She should start by telling all her students how to appropriately ask, and then describe how to accept no for an answer. By teaching all of her students these social skills they will all learn how to appropriately use these social skills and they can also help Jeff learn them. Next, Miss Erney should model how to do this skill. Modeling allows her students to see what the skill looks like, so they know when another students does the skill correctly or incorrectly. Miss Erney should then put the students in small groups to practice what they have learned. Students can then help each other memorize the steps to correctly do the new skill. While the students are practices, Miss Erney should walk around the room and give feedback to her students. This should include what they are doing well, and what they need to work on, to perfect the new skill. 3. Describe three social development activities that may help Jeff with his social problems. Predict some of the possible outcomes of each activity. ﻿To help Jeff with his social problems, Miss Erney can use modeling techniques to teach various social skills. Miss Erney should use praise for appropriate social behavior among all her students, so Jeff can see what is appropriate and what is not. Miss Erney can also use role playing to present a variety of possible social situations, especially the ones Jeff is having trouble with. As a class they can discuss appropriate response to the situations. Jeff will then see and learn how to respond when he finds himself in these social situations. Miss Erney should also encourage all of her students to develop a vocabulary that expresses feelings. This way all of her students will be able to express how they are feeling during various social situations, such as Jeff is frustrated when his classmates do not share toys or food with him. When this occurs his classmates will be able to tell him that it makes them mad when he takes things without asking.

4. Instructional games promote positive peer relations and enable the teacher to work on specific social behaviors. Create a game that Miss Erney can use to help promote Jeff’s social development. I think Jeff would benefit from the Best and Worst Game. Miss Erney starts by describing a social situation and instructs each student to write down what would be the best and the worst thing to do in sresponse to the event she described. Each student then reads his or her response, and the choices are discussed. The student who has the best response, which is desided by the presenter of the problem, gets to describe the next social incident and lead the discussion. Jeff will learn what is an acceptable and unacceptable response in social situations. Miss Erney will also be able to find out what social situations her students are struggling with.

5. Discuss the use of life-space interviewing and reality therapy as two interventions to manage Jeff’s behavior and promote his emotional development. ﻿Miss Erney can use life-space interviewing to help Jeff manage a problem. When using life-space interviewing, the teacher becomes a listener and helps the students make decisions about how to handle a problem. Each student involved in the problem is given a chance to tell the teacher what happened. The teacher listens and asks questions to determine the accuracy of the each students' version of what happened. If the students cannont resolve the problem agreeably, the teacher can suggest an acceptable plan to deal with the probem. Together the teacher and the students develop a plan for solving similar problems in the future. Miss Erney could also use reality therapy with Jeff. Reality Therapy is similar to life-space interviewing, in that an interview is used to help the student make decisions when confronted with a problem. During the interview, the student receives emotional support and no judgements. Together the student and the teacher develop a plan to help the student be more responsible for their behavior, and the student is encouraged to carry out the plan.