Teaching Tip Tuesday: Soft Skills Students Should Learn


Teachers are tasked with providing an opportunity for their students to learn lots of skills:  content subject skills, testing skills, listening skills, reading skills - and the list goes on.  But along the way, there is another set of skills that students (and adults) need to succeed in life - soft skills, or "people skills."  While it may be hard to predict what technical skills our students will need in life beyond school, soft skills will always serve them.
So what exactly are these soft skills? Here a just a few they should learn:

  • Learn the names and/or faces of the people you meet
  • Listen - show interest in what others are saying, don't always control the conversation
  • Take responsibility for what you can control such as your appearance, homework,behavior in class
  • Don't ramble - others may avoid you if you are always doing the talking 
  • Don't argue - try to see the other person's perspective 
  • Be tolerant and patient of other's ideas


Model these skills with your class and discuss how important they are.  Stress that no matter what they may be doing in school or life, if they learn to use these type of skills, the results are almost always positive.


Comments