The Elements of Good Instruction

The authors have discovered that the system of teaching social skills described in this project naturally compliments the Elements of Instruction that educators embrace as a model for their classroom teaching. Social skills lessons actually reinforce learning from the literature. The concepts presented in "A Day's Wait" by Ernest Hemingway, for example, are reviewed and expanded by the role plays of visiting a sick friend and emailing/mailing a get well card.

Classic Pieces to a Lesson
  • Establish Need (What happens without the skill)
  • Sample Applications of Skill
  • Identification of Components (Steps)
  • Modeling the Skill
  • Rehearsal of the Skill (avoid negative examples) with teacher coaching
  • Repetition (five to seven times is ideal) with teacher and peer evaluation including a completion of a rubric followed by class discussion.
  • Independent Behavior with the Skill
  • Extensions (discussion of other applications of the skill)