I have one of the best jobs around; every day I get to speak to young men who are full of ideas, aspirations and opinions. It’s why I love being a teacher. Over the past fortnight, however, I’ve had several occasions where I have had to deal with discipline matters that perhaps could have been avoided if our boys used their social awareness skills.

The term might seem a bit vague, but it’s really a fairly easy one to grasp: put simply, it’s the ability to consider other people or groups, think about how they might respond to a situation and then react appropriately. Being socially aware involves being aware of your environment, understanding what is around you, and being able to accurately interpret the emotions of the people with whom you interact.

It won’t be a surprise to many of you to know that teenage boys can lack awareness – of themselves, in their classrooms, or just in general. They can say things or do things that upset other students … but then don’t understand why. They often don’t recognise the impact of their words. 

How do we build social awareness in our boys? Here are two tips you might like to share with them.

Say it to yourself internally first.

We need to get our boys to think before they react. They need to speak to themselves silently and imagine how their words will impact those listening.

The social-emotional competency for this is called ‘perspective-taking’. It happens when we pause to consider others’ viewpoints then consider how ours will impact theirs.

Count before you say it aloud.

Once they have silently thought about what they are going to say, it would be great if we could teach our boys to count to five. This will hopefully allow them to reflect on what they are going to say and perhaps foresee how it might impact on others. It prevents reacting out of impulse.

I hope you will take the opportunity to discuss this with your boys.  Social awareness is something they will take through life.

Our swimmers are counting down to the AAGPS Swimming Carnival tomorrow evening. It is a big event and one they have all trained hard for. Good luck boys. We know you’ll do the black and white proud. 

Enjoy your weekend.