Students look to their teachers to set a good example of how they should behave. It is essential that you treat others with respect at all times because your students are watching you. At their young and impressionable age, they will mimic your behavior. For example, another teacher may get on your nerves, but you must never lose your temper and call him names in front of your students, because they will think this is an acceptable way to treat one another.
Children learn by doing. Mold social skills into the minds of your students by giving them specific instructions on how to behave. For example, if you have noticed that one of your students sits alone at lunchtime, instruct another student to ask him to sit at her table. This will teach her that it is not nice to let someone sit by themselves at lunchtime. Some students are naturally more social than others, so you will need to work with some students more than others to develop their social skills.
A student needs to practice her social skills to get used to using them. She may know that a certain behavior is the proper way to act, but remembering to put it into action can take time. Assign your students to pay another classmate a compliment everyday for a week. This will teach the children that it feels nice to both give and receive compliments. They will learn that it is nice to compliment someone when they do something good and that you should be graceful when receiving a compliment.
People need to have good social skills to function in their daily lives. When you care enough to instill a solid set of social skills in your students, you are teaching them a lesson that will last a lifetime. To make friends, maintain a job and have a successful relationship, your students need to know how to interact with others.