Teaching Manners?

A recent altercation with a very rude person has led me to muse on the place of manners in education. As with so many elements in a young person's social development, the line between the parent's role and that of the teacher is very blurry when it comes to issues such as manners. Of course we can reinforce good interpersonal skills through modelling the 'right' or 'nice' way to interact; but I wonder whether, as with so many other skills, social skills need to be explicitly taught?

Take metacognition, for example. Throughout my teacher education course I've been struck by how often we are encouraged to teach students to think about thinking, to analyse their own learning, be able to characterise it in order to see how best they can help themselves learn. More and more often, skills like this are being highlighted, explicitly identified as something we need to teach students; the implication is that we cannot expect them to think about thinking on their own.

Is there a similar need for expliit discussion of social skills?

RINE Research Journal 3: Teen Pregnancy

I've been on the look-out for an "additional needs" research topic that hasn't received much attention in my studies so far, and I believe pregnant teens and young parents are a prime contender.

What strikes me about our responsibility to pregnant teens in the school system is that the impact of our commitment to inclusive education extends beyond the students in our classroom. If we can effectively inclusively educate teen mothers and fathers, we can have an effect not only on their education and future career prospects, but those of their child.

My initial research has unfortunately turned up mainly journal articles focusing on prevention rather than adaptation. In the past few years both America and the UK have seen a rise in teen pregnancies (Viadero, 2010; and "Education", 2009) and these rises have sparked interest in the effectiveness of sex education programs and the like.

I would rather focus on what we as educators can do for these teens after the fact. I would like to recognise that, for them, their pregnancy is not the end; it is the beginning. Our job as their teacher is to prepare all students for life beyond school, whatever that may involve.

Sources:
Viadero, D. Study Finds Teen Pregnancies On The Rise. Education Week 2010, 29(20), 4. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=48135020&site=ehost-live

Teenage pregnancy rate rises for the first time in ten years. (2009) Education 2009 (345), 1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=36919545&site=ehost-live