blog post week 10

When I was first introduced to this assignment I did not realize how many different parts of literacy there was. I thought of the literacy definition, as one is able to read, write, and speak. I also thought a little bit about being able to use technology in the sense of reading online, and writing a paper. At the beginning of this class and of this lesson I was illiterate and had a very basic understanding of what literacy truly was. However, throughout this project and class I began to develop a greater understanding of what literacy truly is and that literacy involves many aspects like social, cultural, technology and many other areas. When working on social literacy I learned that it is not only face-to-face interaction but also the interaction through technology. It was very interesting to learn the new forms of social literacy and the importance of teaching students how to appropriately communicate when using technology. Cyber bulling is happening all around us with millions of students being affected around the world. I believe it is teachers and parents job to make sure students are being aware of how to be socially literate when using technology. When I was growing up my mother always reminded me of the social cues that were expected of me when introducing myself or going into another persons house. Now that more social interaction is happening online it is still important to educate students and young adults on how to appropriately act when interacting with others.

Through interacting and exploring other classmates’ projects I have now realized the importance of becoming a more literate person, not only is it important for myself but as a future teacher it is my job to learn how to communicate with a range of people and to teach my future students how to appropriately interact, speak, use technology, and engage in the world around us. I still have a lot more information that I need to learn in this area however I plan on making an effort to learn so that I will be able to influence and push my future students to become literate in many different ways other than just speaking, reading and writing.

Young adults have grown up with digital literacy all around them, I think we were the last generation that can remember what it was like not to have a cell phone, facebook, txting, and all the other pieces of technology that is now available to use. Since our future students have grown up in a digital world I believe they will be more digital literate than their teachers, they will have experienced all the new pieces of technology and devices as they grow up. However, it is still the teachers job to help students use the devices and technology that they are so familiar with to help educate them and help them learn in the classroom.  Students need to be given the opportunities to learn using digital technology and provided the chances to explore their world the way they grew up using it. I think one of the biggest supports that students need for digital literacy is providing a safe environment and helping students understand the correct ways to use digital technology to help them learn and grow and how to behave and the language that is appropriate when using technology. I plan to having my students interact with technology daily however I will first set up rules and expectations on how to properly use the technology and what my expectations are of the students. Also, before giving them an assignment I will provide an example for them. This will allow them to see my expectations I have for them. Also, this will provide me with the understanding on how to use the piece of technology incase the students have any questions. I think however it is important to let students be creative and explore the device on their own so that they are able to learn how to interact with it on their own.

The literacy I did was social literacy; I think this is a great area that all students need to learn about. It is important that students understand that there is different social cues that are expected out of them when they are speaking with someone face-to-face or when speaking to someone online. I think also it is important for students to realize that there are many positives and negatives to both, but it is important to use technology and face-to-face interaction in their daily life.  I think first students need to learn how to appropriately act when they are communicating to people in person; they need to learn how to make eye contact, shake someone hands and the correct language to use. I would make sure that when my students are speaking to others they follow these social expectations, I remember in high school my chemistry teacher made us stand up whenever an adult walked in the room to show respect. So no matter if she was teaching, we were taking a test or working in a group if an adult walked in the room we all had to stand up. I do not think I would do this for my students however through my experience this year I have realized there are a ton of students that do not look into the speakers eyes and contain eye contact when speaking. These basic social expectations are very important to have even if our world is becoming more technology base. Then after my students have learned how to appropriately act face to face I would work with the students on how to appropriately act and communicate on the internet. I think it would be great if my future students had pen pales in another country where they would have to write back and forth, the students would have to learn how to write and socially communicate depending on the social expectations that their pen pale comes from. Working with students and improving their knowledge on the appropriate social expectations are very important for the to succeed in a social world.