Classroom Social Dynamics
in Remote Rural Schools
A Professional Development Program
Promoting Positive Peer Interactions
through Social Dynamics Interventions
Allen Murray
Project REAL (Rural Early Adolescent Learning)
National Research Center on Rural Education Support
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
What are
Social Dynamic Interventions?

In short, these are purposeful actions by the teacher that
impact the social dynamics of the classroom. Instead of
intervening with the behavior of an individual the teacher
uses interventions with the social fabric as a method of
dealing with behavior in the classroom.

It holds a view of student interactions that goes beyond
(but doesn’t conflict with) more typical behavioral models.

Methods teachers and other staff will find useful in dealing
with more complex classroom (as opposed to individual)
behaviors.

Interventions that have as their ultimate goal the
promotion of positive peer interactions for all students.
Social Dynamics Interventions

Add to the interventions which school personnel
most commonly use already.

Give teachers more ways to proactively promote
positive peer interactions.

Give teachers more ways to respond to problem
behavior or negative peer interactions in the
classroom.

Are particularly helpful with students who are
isolated or rejected.
Social Dynamics are Influenced by:

Social roles and interaction patterns of children.

Social status of individual children and peer
groups in the classroom.

Affiliation patterns & peer groupings (with whom
children hang around in the classroom).
Social Roles

Children take on social roles when interacting with
their peers in the classroom. These social roles
can support positive and/or negative behaviors or
interactions, of both themselves and of other
students. Typical social roles include:

Leaders - can support either positive or negative behaviors.

Followers - to gain favor with a particular peer or group, a follower
will engage in either positive or negative behaviors.

Victims - are chronically picked on by others in general, or by
specific bullies.

Bully - a way to establish power and dominance in the classroom’s
social structure

Bully/Victim - a bully who is also a picked on.
Interaction Patterns:

Interactions between individual children;

Interactions between an individual child and
a group of children;

Interactions between two or more groups of
children;

Interactions between self and an individual
child;

Interactions between self and a group of
children.
What Are Interaction Patterns?
There are 3 primary kinds of interactions:

Imitation - copying behavior;

Reciprocity - exchanges are more equal and
similar to one another (i.e., friendships);

Complimentarity - exchanges are unequal,
and are dependent on the existence of the
other (e. g., without a follower there is no
leader).
Interaction Patterns and
Social Synchrony

As interactions between students become synchronized,
distinct patterns of behavior form which sustain the
social relationship.

As social roles become entrenched it may become
difficult for a student to change roles (in rural remote
schools this can be very complicated due to small size of
age/class cohorts).

For teachers, it’s critical to identify the interaction
patterns and look at how it may sustain the relationship
and support specific behaviors.
Social Status

A child’s status within any group works to
support behavior – positive or negative. A
child’s social status consists of key features
reflecting their position and popularity.
Position and Centrality are two important
components of social status.
Confusion in Terminology

Rejected (as a sociometric status) vs.
Social Isolation.
Rejected status is not synonymous with social isolation. Students who are
rejected by a majority of peers may still have some close friends and be well
adjusted.

Popularity, Prominence, & Social Influence
Sociometric popularity vs. perceived popularity.
Students who are neither sociometrically popular, nor perceived as popular can
still have great social influence.

Rejection (process) vs. Rejected (status).
It is important for people to know which of the two they mean as they are not
the same. Students can experience (from time to time) the process of
rejection, and not wind up with rejected status.
Position & Centrality

Social Position refers to how children form distinct
groups within the classroom structure and takes
into account both centrality and popularity. In this
way, we see how some children and groups have
higher status and more influence than others.
However, we all know that a child can be isolated
or have no friends.

Centrality is important when looking at classroom
social dynamics. Centrality refers to a child’s or a
group’s reputation or power. Think of it as
influence. Because it can be positive or negative
it is different from popularity.
Centrality and Popularity:
How are they Different?

Centrality refers to a student’s reputation or
power within the classroom or within a particular
group.

Popularity refers to how cool others think a
particular student or group is.

A student can have high centrality (power or
influence) but still be unpopular.

A student can be perceived as popular yet have
no friends.
Affiliations Matter

“Birds of a feather flock together” is a cliché with
a lot of truth. But so is the cliche “opposites
attract”

(healthy) Groups are dynamic, fluid and mixed,
especially in elementary grades.

A child’s social role, interactions with others, and
their social status are important. But considering
with whom the child hangs out can give a
teacher additional important information about
what/who is supporting either positive or
negative behavior.
Erroneous Assumptions

Aggression Leads to Rejection
Aggressive children often have high centrality and high perceived
popularity. The common assumption that aggression correlates to
rejection simply is not true.

Peer Rejection Leads to Problematic Outcomes
Students rejected by peers in elementary/middle school often
“reinvent” themselves in high school (for students in remote
schools this often takes place later). Children rejected as peers do
not always have poor outcomes.

All Friendships are Good
Teachers need to be careful of when encouraging friendships by
socially isolated students. Friendships between socially isolated
students and other students of rejected status can often be a
impediment to more positive relationships.
What Is The Teacher’s Role?

Foster social relationships in the classroom.

Facilitate positive peer interactions and
friendships in the classroom.

Directly teach social and academic skills.

Remediate social and academic skill deficits.
Key Things Teachers Should Watch:
1.
The kinds of interaction patterns they see
(imitative, reciprocal, complimentary)
2.
The child’s social role or roles
(leader, follower, target, bully)
3.
The child’s social status
(popularity, centrality)
4.
The social status of the child’s primary group.
Friends and Groups
Are there kids in your class who hang around together a lot?
Circle YES or NO
Please write their names on the lines below. Name all the groups you can think of.
People can be in more than one group. Don't forget to put yourself in any group
that you are a member of.
Group 1
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Group 2
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Are there some kids who don't seem to have a particular group, who tend to stay by
themselves a lot?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Sometimes groups have a leader. Go back and look at each group. If that group
has a leader, underline that person's name.
Brief Assessment of Social Supports (BASS)
Status in Classroom Social Structure
Position
At-risk
Student
Centrality
High/Avg/Low?
Isolated
Yes/No?
Popularity
Liked, Neutral,
or Disliked?
Popular, Neutral,
or Unpopular?
Peer Behavioral Assessments

Students were asked to nominate 3 peers who best
fit descriptors for 10 items. They were told that they
could nominate themselves and that they could
nominate a person for more than one role.
Cooperative
Starts fights
Athletic
Disruptive
Acts shy
Seeks help
Leader
Good Student Gets in Trouble
Creating a Student Plan Using a
Social Dynamics Approach

Identify a student in need of intervention.

Examine his/her interaction patterns with others
including the social role he/she takes on.

Identify the group he/she is a part of, if any.

Identify the status of the group.

Identify the social climate of your classroom
including individuals or groups that have more
centrality than others.
Three Types of
Social Dynamic Interventions:

Social Dynamic Interventions can be either
universal, applied, or focused.

Universal Interventions are used to support the
entire class and are a “mild” form of intervention.

Applied Interventions are done with intention, but
are decided upon “in the moment”

Focused Interventions are planned out and are
aimed at a specific skill and a specific child.
Universal Interventions

Set up a classroom structure that supports cross
group interactions between students with and
without a disability or between students in
different peer groups.

Use developmentally appropriate activities like
learning centers where groups are flexible and
change periodically.

School wide and classroom use of proactive
inclusive practices of at-risk students and
students with disabilities.
Applied Interventions:

“Real-time” teaching of social behaviors while in
learning centers, out at recess, at lunch, or
during transitions.

Coaching students on how to join in to activities
as well as how to accept a new person into an
activity.

Use different criteria when grouping students so
that children work with different peers in “natural
ways” or without drawing attention to low status
children.
Focused Interventions:

Explicit teaching of social skills when paired with
other strategies that foster acceptance and
permeability of groups.

Create specific activities that support peer
interactions between students at-risk or with a
disability and students without a disability.
Contact Information
Allen Murray
National Research Center on Rural Education Support
University of North Carolina
200 North Greensboro Street
Carr Mill Mall; Suite C-4
CB# 8115
Carrboro, NC 27510
(919) 962-5924
allen.murray@unc.edu