Chapter a role of interaction in teaching process

2.3 Promoting classroom interaction.


In order to create a structured learning environment that encourages positive social interactions among all students, you must incorporate a few teaching strategies into your daily routine. Teaching strategies such as implementing classroom jobs, carving out time for students to just interact and play, and utilizing learning centers are all great ways to encourage positive social interaction among students. Here we will take a closer look at how the teaching strategies mentioned can help foster a classroom atmosphere where all students interact with one another in a more positive manner.Teaching Strategies to Promote Social Interaction - to increase the likelihood of your students interacting with one another in a positive manner, you must incorporate a few teaching strategies. Here are a few teacher-tested ways that encourage positive social interaction among classmates. Classroom jobs -classroom jobs are great for social interaction because they force students to work with one another. As you know, not all students get along, but when they are forced to interact with all different types of people, they must learn how to interact with everyone regardless of if they get along or not. Having the ability to work well with others is a skill that all children need to have. So, the best way to prepare them for the real world is to give them classroom jobs. Here are a few ideas. Choose two children be the door holders or assign two children to work together to pass out or collect papers. Try and choose two students who normally wouldn’t gravitate toward one another. This will force them to learn to work with students different than themselves. You can also assign your students a job that requires them to interact with the other classmates as well. For example, you can have two students be the morning greeter. One child would welcome their classmate into the classroom by saying “Good morning” and giving them a high five or a handshake, while another child would ask them, “How are you doing today?” These types of jobs require social interaction among all of the students, there is no way around it. Not only is this a positive way to start the day off, but it will also help to build a sense of classroom community. Free play - Free play is an essential part of a child’s development because research shows that it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of a child. It’s not only good for their body and mind, but it’s also great for developing their social skills. Many teachers are inundated with the pressures of having to meet the needs of the curriculum, that they do not make time for play or leave it for whenever they have a few extra minutes to spare. What happens when you do not incorporate play into the curriculum is that students tend to lack communication and problem-solving skills. When children play, they learn to work together and figure things out on their own without help from a teacher or an adult. It is a time when children learn to become leaders, learn how to listen to others, and even learn how to stick up for themselves. There are many ways that you can incorporate play throughout your day to promote positive student social interaction. You can create a dramatic play area for primary students where they can dress up or learn how to work together to run a grocery store, a veterinarian’s office, or even a hospital. You can use classic board games and change them to suit what students are learning about. For example, you can use the game Candy land to work on site words. All you have to do is attach a site word to each colored card and students must try to say the word when they choose a card. For older students, you can use a deck of cards to have students work together to build a house or play memory. You can even have students work together to build a car out of Lego, then test the velocity of the car. These are just a few of the many ways that you can incorporate play into your day. Be creative and you willl see results.