Why Eye Contact Is So Important
If it’s natural and essential why do so many of us find it hard to make eye contact with others?
When we’re wary and unsure of the people around us, if we’re feeling a bit scared, apprehensive, defensive or uncertain, then making eye contact can be difficult.
Fundamentally, some children need to be taught and consciously realise that making eye contact is an important part of communicating with other people.
If you look in your group of children in their nursery, classroom or tutorial settings, you might already see those who know each other well being able to make eye contact. Stronger personalities, confident and more dominant children are probably able to make eye contact with the majority of the group. However, there are also likely to be many other children who are not as confident in class, and particularly when it comes to mixing together and sharing with others.
As a bedrock for trust and a fundamental starting point for bringing a group together, eye contact, as a simple skill, has the potential to transform a group and how they are and feel together.
How Working With Others Helps
So, where to start and how does Working With Others help you to make this happen?
We create a framework with you from which you can help your children to begin building relationships, learn social skills that are key life skills and break down barriers to learning.
With regular use of simple games, strategies and activities. children can practice and develop greater awareness of what eye contact is and feels like.
Using WWO pre and debriefing techniques and talking specifically about eye contact extends this further with your children, to reinforce the learning and remind them that this is an important skill for them to learn and use with each other.
Benefits
Once groups can make eye contact with each other they have taken a major step forward in developing mutual respect, being together and being ready to talk and support each other
- bringing a class together
- building a classroom of respect
- increases learning together
And it’s not just the children or students who benefit from this learning. As the adult leading and teaching the class you have an easier time delivering the lesson, because the children are starting to get on better with each other and feel safer.
This means that because they are less stressed, so are you, with far less managing behaviour and resolving who doesn’t want or can’t sit or be near who.
Being more relaxed with each other they will find it easier to focus and connect with you and they are then on their way to supporting and helping each other, which further frees you to do more of what you came into the teaching profession to do.
Click here to find out more about how easy it is for you to join a Working With Others training group, or here for information on how to set up a WWO Inset Taster Day for your school.
For an informal chat with Cathy Ota, one of the co-founders of Working With Others call 07817 363193 or email cathy@cathyota.com
