Contextual Teaching of Social Skills/Journal Writing Page 1 of 7 Pages
Contextual Teaching & Learning
Contextual Teaching of Social Skills/Journal Writing
Being a Special Education Teacher, Social Skills and Journal Writing are very important skills to teach
students to monitor themselves, their feelings, interactions with others and simple writing with meaning.
Any time an ADHD or EBD student can write their feelings with no restriction as to format or content, the
attention they give and the willingness to learn these skills actually lets them have the ownership of what they
learn in doing the journal, incorporating social skills and simple data collection and understanding. Many
skills are learned through journal writing. Social skills, so often neglected as a subject to teach, really give
prominence to journal writing. Through my experience as a teacher of the regular and Special Education
classrooms, children are at their most comfortable when they can be themselves, with no barriers that
cannot be climbed.
April M. Ripandelli
Emerson Elementary School Special Education Department
Research:
Special Education is an area in which there is much informality and less rigidity. The expectations of the
student are sometimes lowered, which strengthens the bond of student with learning. This area lends well to
cognitive learning, giving each child the ability to more easily develop an understanding of objectives chosen
for each task. The smaller class size lends itself to have a more one-to-one social interaction—students with
students, students with teacher. Monitoring of their attitudes, feelings and choices can be done more
effectively by the student and the teacher. Writing is such an important skill that can be difficult for students
that require Special Education. Through the use of journals, the student is “less fearful” of expressing
themselves through writing. Two quotes that fit well here are from