When I think of Social Literacy...

“Social literacy contains and describes a specific conduct that targets actions of acceptable individual and collective behaviors throughout society. To feel competent to live and worthy of happiness, we need to experience a sense of control over our existence. This requires that we are willing to take responsibility for our actions and attainment of our goals in the classroom and at school; with the family and in relationships; on the job and in the career; in the community and with the public; and during recreation or leisure times of our lives. This means we take responsibility for our lives and the accompanying well-being. The topics of discussion in social literacy are an inventory of behaviors which will enable us to function well in society. They also indicate that a positive and accepting self-concept will be evident because we will receive feedback, reinforcing the image of ourselves” (Studying Social Literacy)

This quote is everything I think of when I hear social literacy. It helps students to gain confidence in themselves, think individually and collectively, as well as taking responsibilities for our actions. It includes the ability to learn, comprehend, and interact with technology in a meaningful way. People’s social literacy is always increasing as we enter new settings and become aware of new information.

http://www.d11.org/springcreek/education_program/non_traditional_education/studying_social_literacy.htm#What%20Is%20Social%20Literacy?

Social literacy in the classroom

These are other ways students can help build a classroom community and converse with one another through using different technologies:

• Wiki
• Class discussion boards
• Podcasting
• Social tagging
• Video Blogging

You can also promote social literacy by:

• Creating classroom norms for the students at the beginning of the year
• Have large and small group discussions
• Use blogs or other interactive technology for the students to respond to one another
• Allow enough time in the classroom for all students to share their ideas
• Introduce different social settings to students, and then discuss how the students felt afterwards
• Discuss the importance of social cues
• Practice and model how to talk to one another –be active listeners and communicators

Here is also a short video clip for youtube.com, about a Life Skills program, which addresses the many benefits that social literacy is about -such as promoting confidence and responsibilities. I hope you like it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P75cfmuNYOg

Why use Blogs?

One way to help students to communicate with one another is through a blog, such as this one. It’s a great interactive way for students to communicate with one another. This is the first year I’ve been introduced to blogs and I find them extremely useful. It’s definitely an easy way to get students and parents to build a classroom community, as well as becoming involved with one another. Parents get to see what their students are learning, and the students get a chance to talk to their classmates. When in the classroom, some students can become nervous to speak in front of others and won’t participate, or they feel they won’t have enough time to respond. It’s also sometimes difficult to get to all of the children’s ideas during the day.

Blogging is a great way to get those students who are shy to help gain their self-esteem by writing a response to a blog. It’s a way for them to see other’s responses and notice that the other students may feel the same way. This is a way for students to express their ideas in a safe way –they may not feel the embarrassment they may have when speaking in class. Yet, it’s also important when doing blogs to have a class discussion the day or two afterwards so those students can practice sharing their ideas. Sometimes students can get anxious when ‘put on the spot’ to come up with a response to someone. With blogs, however, they will already have their response and opinion, as well as thinking critically about other classmates posts. This can lead to a rich discussion and increase in social literacy by having conversations where all the students can express their opinions!

What is Social Literacy?

This website was designed to help teachers, students, and families to become aware of social literacy. Social literacy is the development of social skills in a social setting, which helps people to communicate in a respectful manner, as well as becoming involved in a community. This type of literacy helps to “manage play props and roles, support emotional well-being among participants, and facilitate collaboration” (Journal of Research in Childhood Education). It’s very important that when in a classroom, the students understand the norms and expected behaviors of one another so that they can build cooperation amongst each other, as well as positive social dispositions.

When I first started researching “literacy,” I assumed it only meant reading and writing. Yet, there are several definitions now that talk about the reading, writing, speaking, and communication aspects of it, as well as literacy always changing depending on the context we are in. For social literacy, it will continue to change based on the society we’re living in. It’s about learning to be respectful to one another and being able to express our thoughts and emotions. It’s through nonverbal and verbal cues that students begin to learn about others around them.

Social literacy starts at a very young age when children begin to communicate. “Communication and the sharing of information, experience, and expertise is literally at students’ fingertips —and they know it! As they integrate [technologies] into their lives, new kinds of communities are emerging, new cultural norms and boundaries are solidifying, and new kinds of crime, poverty, and warfare are developing” (http://nflrc.iastate.edu/news/200601/homepage.html). I definitely agree with this quote. Technology is starting to be used more throughout school systems. It also is making it easier for students to speak to other students from around the world, as well as find information faster. By having the technology, the students are opened to a larger world of communication and information from different places.