Are you looking for strategies to teach kids to share with others? If so, keep reading.
1. Give the student many chances to both borrow and lend to help the students in learning the concept of sharing.
2. Make sure that every student gets to use learning materials, take a turn, etc., and that there is no chance for selfishness.
3. Highlight to the student the natural rewards of sharing (e.g., personal satisfaction, friendships, having people share in return, etc.).
4. Make sure that those students who are willing to share are not taken advantage of by their peers.
5. Make sure that other students are sharing with the student so a reciprocal relationship can be achieved.
6. Provide a realistic level of expectation for sharing.
7. Practice sharing by having each student work with a particular school content for an established length of time. At the conclusion of the period (e.g., 10 minutes), have each student pass their content to another student.
8. Give students sufficient time to finish learning activities requiring sharing, so the selfish use of school learning materials is not appropriate for success. Learners are less likely to share if sharing reduces the likelihood of finishing on time, being successful, etc.
9. Minimize the requirements for the student to make oral exchanges when sharing (e.g., shyness may inhibit sharing if the student is required to orally connect with others). Learning materials should be placed in a central place when not in use so they can be obtained by the students. This will enable the aspect of sharing that makes learning materials available to others when not in use.
10. Do not force the student to interact with other students with whom they are not entirely comfortable.
11. Create rules for sharing school learning materials: • Ask for learning materials you wish to use. • Exchange learning materials carefully. • Return learning materials when not in use. • Share learning materials with others. • Take care of shared learning materials. Examine rules often. Praise students for following the rules.
12. Intervene early and often when there is a problem to prevent more severe problems from happening.
13. Teach the student to respect others’ belongings by respecting the student’s belongings.
14. Embody sharing (e.g., by lending pencils, paper, etc.).
15. Teach the student to take turns sharing learning materials (e.g., each student may use the colored pencils for 15 minutes, one student cuts while the other student uses the glue, etc.).
16. Consider using a classroom management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
17. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
18. Consider using Alexa to help the student learn to behave appropriately. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the subject.
19. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.
