Last Wednesday, sixth graders finished the Social Skills Workshop 21/22 carried out by the Unitat de Prevenció Comunitària en Conductes Addictives (UPCCA). With the collaboration of the Associated Center of the UNED of Dénia, 435 schoolchildren from 11 educational centers (Dénia, la Xara and Jesús Pobre) have worked for nine days with the pedagogues and the expert psychologist Lorena Pérez, Sandra Baeza and Cristina Cano.
The objective of the workshop was for students to acquire, develop and improve skills related to social skills. Thus, they were provided with various tools that would allow them to have an adequate interaction in different social contexts. In addition to others that will facilitate the control of behavior in different situations that may be found throughout life.
Through play, visualization, analysis and reflection on real situations, the students worked on their social skills to improve them in different relationships and interactionsboth with equals and with other people. On the other hand, this workshop also will allow them to better handle and manage various conflict situations. So, above all, self-esteem, empathy, decision-making, influence or group pressure and assertiveness were also worked on.
A dynamic and motivating methodology was used that favors group participation with the use of audiovisual material to promote these participatory dynamics.
In the first part of the workshop, held in November 2021, students were asked to write anonymously any concerns and conflicts that might arise in the classroom. These are the most common conflicts that they pointed out boys and girls:
- Teasing
- Insults
- Speaking badly to classmates and teachers
- Talk bad behind the back
- Bother
- The pressure to do things they don't want to do;
- The 'bullies' of the group
- Emotional blackmail
- disrespect
After collecting information, during the second part of the workshop, dynamics were proposed that showed the participants close and real daily situations.
Once each session was over, the teaching staff completed a questionnaire in order to evaluate the incidence of the activity and its practical usefulness. The teachers stressed that working on social skills is essential to help students in their development and, in fact, some have already been working on these concepts in the classroom throughout the course. They give a high score and assessment to the realization of this workshop.
Addiction Prevention Councilor, Melani Ivars, attended one of the sessions given at CEIP Vessanes this week to see the dynamics of this activity and how they permeate student learning.
