The knowledge and skills I gained this semester are as varied as they are practical.  This is evidenced by the very creation and nature of this weblog. By looking at my weekly posts, memos, I-Search project, and movie project you can see the manifestation and culmination of a semester’s work.  You might also notice that I met all the course objectives for the class.

Did I “acquire knowledge of the various conceptions of literacy in the 21st century?”

In essense, yes. The article that illuminated these conceptions most clearly for me was that article by Amichai-Hamburger and Eshet-Alkali entitled “Experiments in Digital Literacy.” This article basically summarizes a study about whether high school students, college students, or adults with a college education have better digital literacy skills. The prediction was that the younger tested population would have more advanced skills than the older adults. The study looked at several different areas of digital literacy: photo-visual literacy, reproduction literacy, information literacy, branching literacy, and socio-emotional literacy. The results indicated that there was no single group that has more effeciant literacy skills. The adults were stronger in some areas while the younger population was stronger in others.

After learning what the actual different types of literacy are, I think it is safe to say I learned a good deal about each type.

Did I acquire “knowledge of what constitutes acceptable sources and resources within a profession and in the 21st century?”

If you review my two web research assignments you will find the answer to this question.  You will also need to look at the resources that I used for the completion of my I-search paper which are mostly from credible peer-reviewed journals. You can click here to access my references.

Did I acquire “knowledge of the professional issues relating to literacy within the ASHA Scope of Practice?” 

 I learned that “copyrighting laws protect a vast array of creative mediums spanning anywhere from music to photography. Copyrighting does not protect ideas in their pure metaphysical form. An idea must be converted into some sort of tangible form for it to receive protection. The extent of one’s work being copyrighting depends on when and under what type of conditions it published. For example, any work published after March of 1989 is protected under law. Once one owns the copyright he has the right to reproduce and make alterations to the original work.”
Did I acquire ”knowledge of the forms of inquiry associated with evidence based practice?” 

I learned different forms suchs as how to join a professional mailing list, professional emailing, how to attend virtual meeting, and traditional and electronic methods of researching.  I think this falls in line with the objective that “SLPs need to continually increase their level of competence according to the ASHA Code of Ethics.”

Technically speaking, did I “prepare for and participate in class discussions and activities?;”  “develop strategies for effectively planning and completing independent work (meeting both the letter and spirit of the work, not just the letter of the work) in a timely manner?;” and did I “use practical, critical, and creative thinking?”

 If you look back on the virtual meeting that I didn’t get kicked out of by my faulty internet connection you will see that I was indeed prepared for the discussions with Katie and asked a multitude of questions to further discussion. As my instructor knows, my assignments were always completed on time. (Although I came pretty close to the deadline on several occasions). In my opinion, I met both the letter and the spirit of the work, however, only my instructor can be the independent third-party judge of that.  I will present one comment from my instructor that is evidence of “practical, critical, and creative” thinking:

        Jamie,

       A wonderful, balanced review of the virtual class meeting last week! What I appreciate the most is how you carefully outlined the advantages and disadvantages of the experience. What nobody has said so far, but you may have come close, is that it doesn’t necessarily make sense to have virtual class meetings when we are all in the same city (our speaker aside for the moment). It might be helpful to remember that our class is not only about what we can do now, but preparing you for what you can do after school. Experience with virtual, live discussions can be extremely helpful for getting together for book/journal discussions with people who are at a distance, and so forth.

      Your experience, because of your lag, was different than others for that very reason. You also correctly noted that it was slightly chaotic….and this coming Monday you’ll be engaging in a discussion in a small group that should seem more orderly and allow everyone more opportunities to participate!

          KLM

Overall

Overall I think I gained skills this semester that will stay with me as a professional. I think the most important thing is to keep my digital literacy skills updated so I can stay informed and apply the best evidence based practice that I can in the future.

     I also would like to thank my fellow students who reviewed my draft. Ashley and Melanie pointed out certain aspects of my paper that needed a closer look. Upon taking a closer look at those aspects, I realized that they did indeed need altered. Their positive comments also signaled that my first attempt wasn’t entirely unreadable. Thanks guys!     

     I chose my topic one day as I was thinking about the way the students were all looking at me, waiting for an answer. The little classroom on the outskirts of Huancayo, Peru was typically loud, filled with shouting and conversations in arcadian Spanish and various broken dialects of Quechua, the Native American folk language that was spoken in the original Inca Empire. But on this day the classroom was unusually quiet. It was the day before the exam and the children were all business. A student’s grade can determine whether they are allowed to continue coming to class or if they have to return to work on the terraced fields that surround the Andean mountain village.

     Oscar, who had asked the question, was still waiting for a reply. His question was so manageable on the surface: “Como es lluvia creado?” or “How is rain created?” Oscar’s question stemmed from a class on weather that we had a few days earlier.

     The answer I gave was a crude attempt at explaining condensation, evaporation, and precipitation in a second language to a group of 11-year-olds. What followed was one of the most exciting and enlightening conversations I have taken part in. The students all zealously took turns telling me about Kon, the Inca god of rain who created the sun and moon on Lake Titicaca. Arresting and amending each other in their eagerness, they explained how Kon was the son of Inti, the sun god, and Mama Killa (“mother moon”).

     After the chaos came to a still, I expressed my gratitude for them sharing their knowledge of Kon with me. I explained that for the test, they should be prepared to know the boring scientific explanation of how rain falls from the sky. The looks on their faces bore know signs of disconcertment. They easily welcomed both explanations of how rain falls with no problem.

     I really enjoy learning about other cultures. Accepting and understanding different cultures helps our mind break out of its habitual way of percieving the world around us. It is a way to build mutual understanding among people and it promotes the implementation of cultural congruence. Language is probably the most essential factor in the way people communicate, share ideas, and think about their world. I know from experience how difficult it is to go to another country and communicate with people in a second language. Therefore, I wanted to choose a topic that explores literacy and second language learning in a very specific manner. The final question I formulated to help me investigate this avenue is this: What are home literacy practices and beliefs about SLL of Spanish speaking parents in the United States?

     I think this is a very relevent question to ask ourselves in the field of speech and language today as the influx of Spanish speaking peoples continues in this country. Some foundation questions I asked myself are: “Do parents integrate aspects of both the native culture and the mainstream culture in child rearing and education?”; “What is the relationship between the mother’s beliefs and literacy practices?”; and “Do culturally diverse families foster literacy development in bilingual children?”

Searching    

     This section will address some factors that contribute to the literacy development of bilingual children living in the United States. I have focused on children whose parents’ native tongue is Spanish. I will give examples of home literacy practices and beliefs and how they contribute to the literacy development of bilingual children, the manner in which parents integrate aspects of both the native culture and the mainstream culture in child rearing and education, and I will explore whether or not culturally diverse families foster literacy development in bilingual children.

     Recent efforts to improve children’s literacy outcomes have focused on developing an understanding of how parents support their children’s literacy development at home. A growing number of investigations have demonstrated that successful literacy practices are accomplished in a variety of ways and are embedded in cultural models. This implies that parents’ beliefs and practices vary between cultures; for example, the beliefs and literacy practices of families from non-mainstream cultures often differ from those of parents from the mainstream culture. Schools in the United States are based on the model of the mainstream culture. This model values independence and critical thinking in children and active parental involvement in children’s education, including parental teaching of children’s academic skills and parental engagement in the children’s school (Hammer and Rodriguez, 2007). There are several ways to look at how bilingual children aquire a second language. One that applies directly to my foundation question is the socio-linguistic approach.

     The socio-linguistic approach to analyzing the aquisition of literacy skills in bilingual children starts with examining the child-mother relationship in the home. Lopez-Reyna (2005) suggest that within the sociolinguistic approach, the overriding motivation for language development is effective communication, and the primary context of interest is the child–mother or child–caregiver pair. Second language acquisition and growth of language and literacy occur in children’s larger familial and cultural contexts and are based in daily parent–child conversations, interactions, and routines.

     Some Spanish speaking parents in the United States put much of the responsibility of education and literacy on the school system. Research has shown that many Mexican-American families believe that schools are responsible for children’s education— a belief that is built on the idea that schools, not parents, have the knowledge and expertise required to teach children. Additionally, parents typically believe that because teachers are individuals whose authority must be respected, parents should not interfere with their children’s schooling nor should they ask questions of their children’s teachers. The parents’ role is to support their children’s education by teaching their children to respect teachers, be obedient, and behave properly.(Casanova, 1997)

     The former study suggests that Mexican parents or caregivers give teachers alot of respect and hold them responsible for the education of their children. It seems to me that this respect would also extend over to the SLP, but one study suggests that Mexican mother’s usually question the legitimacy of an SLP’s opinion that their child might have a language disorder. The Lopez-Reyna (2005) study of Mexican mother’s parenting beliefs and practices suggests that Mexican mothers did not believe that their children had a language disorder when diagnosed, nor were they concerned about their children’s English language development in relation to language milestones of typically developing children. Although clinicians described ways to advance their children’s language, an in-depth look at mother–child observations revealed that they did not consistently engage in these practices while at home. Mothers’ reduced understanding of the purpose of therapy activities, in combination with cultural beliefs that delays were due to maturation, resulted in the ineffective transfer of therapy routines to the home setting. This points to the idea that cultural beliefs about language intervention can sometimes hinder the emergent literacy development of children with a language delay or disorder.

     With regard to emergent literacy development, it has been shown that parents from Mexico and Central America who are living in the United States believe that children learn to read by first learning letters and sounds and how they blend to form words. Parents also believe that the essential learning sequence—letters, sounds, syllables, words and finally, extended texts—comes about only through systematic repetition and accurate practice at each step of the sequence (Goldenberg et al., 1999). This is probably due to education they recieved in their homeland that often emphasizes a “kill and drill” technique to learning; that is to say that the education systems focus on repetition excercizes and memorization.

     Parents’ views, however, change over time. Reese and Gallimore (2000) found that Mexican-American and Central American parents’ views concerning literacy differed before and after they arrived in the United States, demonstrating that parental beliefs were not a “closed system.” Instead, parents’ belief systems evolved as a result of being exposed to the differing views of the U.S. educational system.

     Latino parents, however, do not constitute a homogeneous group. The results from studies on Mexican-American and Central American parents do not necessarily apply to other Latino groups. A study done by Peterson and Heywood (2007) showed that poor Puerto Rican mothers who were living on the mainland United States read to their children a few times a week or less, taught their children literacy-related skills one time a week or less, engaged in literacy activities themselves approximately once a month, and averaged less than 10 books in their home. However, the researchers also found that mothers of children who were exposed to Spanish and English at home from birth engaged in more literacy-related teaching behaviors (e.g., teaching the alphabet, teaching letter names) than did mothers of children who were exposed to only Spanish at home and were not expected to communicate in English until age 3 (Peterson and Heywood, 2007).

     Home teaching strategies among the mainstream culture and the non-mainstream culture also vary. Lopez and Reyna (2005) found that differences in maternal teaching strategies among a sample of Mexican and Anglo-American dyads revealed that the Anglo mothers used inquiry and praise more frequently than the Mexican mothers, whereas the Mexican mothers used modeling, visual cues, directives, and negative physical control more frequently than the Anglo-Americans. When the participants’ level of education was held constant, however, the observed cultural group differences disappeared. In fact, later qualitative analyses confirmed that Mexican immigrant mothers considered themselves active participants and primarily responsible for their children’s language and literacy development (Lopez-Reyna, 2005).

     The majority of the Mexican mothers indicated that early language development was interactive in nature and that individuals in the child’s environment, especially family members, were important contributors to the process. Many Mexican mothers believe that the extended family plays a very important role in the acquisition of literacy skills for their young children. Lopez-and Reyna (2005) point out that mothers recognized not only their role in language learning but also the central role of siblings as they interacted, argued, and played with younger children in the family.

Conclusion    

     There is a vast array of home literacy practices and beliefs of Spanish speaking parents in the United States that contribute to the literacy development of their bilingual children. Most of my sources point out that parent’s home literacy practices are influenced by some cultural beliefs. It is important to remember that beliefs among Spanish speaking parents can vary even within that group. Additionally, the level of education and employment varies from family to family and can affect child rearing and education practices just as profoundly as cultural differences can.     One report that stood out to me was the Lopez-Reyna (2005) study that many Mexican mothers who are raising children in the United States do not believe that their children might have a disorder in the mainstream language even if the child lags far behind established English language milestones. Instead, they believe that the child is simply still maturing and that he or she will likely “grow out of it.” Another striking difference between the home literacy practices of Mexican parents as opposed to Anglo parents living in the United States are the maternal teaching strategies. Anglo mothers use inquiry and praise much more frequently than Mexican mothers, who use mainly modeling, visual cues, directives, and negative physical control more frequently than Anglo mothers. These differences, however, seem to go away when the mothers’ level of education remains constant.

     Many Spanish speaking immigrants in the United States were found to place alot of responsibility on siblings and extended family members to facilitate language learning and literacy skills in their young children. This reflects a difference in the overall family structure of many Spanish speaking immigrants. A large, extended family is a survival mechanism for many poor peoples and it makes sense that the large family structure would play an integral part in child rearing and home literacy practices. This fact makes me interested to see whether there are many similarities between home literacy practices of poor Spanish speaking immigrant families and poor Appalachain families. I imagine that their would be some differences but also some striking similarities.

     Many Spanish speaking parents in the United States who are raising bilingual children believe that the language learning sequence develops mainly by rogue memory and repetition excercises, techiniques likely carried over from their homeland education system that puts heavy emphasis on repetition excercises. Most parents teach literacy skills in the native language first and then transfer and facilitate these skills in the second language. I think the results of most of my research point to the idea that home literacy practices of Spanish speaking parents can contribute to children attaining a high level of literacy in a second language even though certain cultural beliefs about child-rearing and education differ from the mainstream cultural norms.

Aims and Objectives: My goals this week were to get my assignments done before Friday because I am going to Snowshoe this weekend. I did not want to have to come back on Sunday and finish anything up. I also wanted to give good peer reviews for Lauren and Melanie. I hope that my reviews help them. Another goal is to use the peer reviews for my draft to strengthen my final paper.

Declarative Knowledge: I started out this week by researching socio-emotional digital literacy skills. This is a very unique form of literacy and one that I think holds a lot of significance when looking at digital literacy and how it relates to children’s safety. When looking at literacy skills, digital or other,socio-emotional literacy skills are arguably the most complex and it is important for parents and educators to teach children socio-emotional skills to prevent them from becoming prey to sexual predators or avoidable scams on the web.

Procedural Knowledge: I began this week by researching socio-emotional literacy skills. These skills encompass our ability to read and convey emotions when on a digital interface. Some sources say thatsocio-emotional literacy skills are one’s ability to determine right from wrong while surfing the internet. It entails being able to sift through scams and being able to determine when someone is pretending to be someone they are not.
After researching digital literacy skills, I carefully read Lauren and Melanie’s I-search drafts as part of our peer review assignment. I assessed the papers as they relate to several categories including: voice, audience, say back, bless, and address. This was done in attempt to help them see areas in their paper that might need “tweeked,” and to provide positive feedback for the strong points of their papers.

Conditional Knowledge: This weeks assignments made me more cognizant of socio-emotional literacy skills. I also gave and received reviews for the rough draft of the I-search paper. As a student, this week’s assignments helped me to build my knowledge base concerning digital literacy skills. They also helped me gain new perspective on an I-search paper that I have been focusing on for several weeks now. Having my paper reviewed gave me new insight and perspective on how I can strengthen my final paper. As a future professional, the peer review assignment can help me learn how to give and receive constructive criticism for the benefit of everyone involved in a project.

11/2/2007

CD 315

I-Search Paper

What I Already Knew.

    Before embarking on my quest to solve the mysteries of literacy acquisition in bilingual children, I really only had knowledge of existing ideas about what we think of as “traditional literacy;” which is to say I knew that literacy had to do with our ability to read and write and that these abilities help us to listen and speak to one another in a form of communication that profoundly sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. On a very crude level, I was aware that a culture or region’s literacy rates heavily impact their human capital. I also knew that illiteracy meant not being able to read and write and that high rates of illiteracy in a particular region contribute astronomically to social and economic problems.

Why I Chose My Topic.

    The students were all looking at me. Waiting for an answer. The little classroom on the outskirts of Huancayo, Peru was typically loud, filled with shouting and conversations in both Spanish and various broken dialects of Quechua, the Native American folk language that was spoken in the original Inca Empire. But on this day the classroom was unusually quiet. It was the day before the exam and the children were all business. A student’s grade can determine whether they are allowed to continue coming to class or if they have to return to work on the terraced fields that surround the Andean mountain village.

    Oscar, who had asked the question, was still waiting for a reply. His question was so manageable on the surface: ”Como es lluvia creado?” or ”How is rain created?” Oscar’s question stemmed from a class on weather that we had a few days earlier.

    My answer was a crude attempt at explaining condensation, evaporation, and precipitation in a second language to a group of 11-year-olds. What followed was one of the most exciting and enlightening conversations I had ever taken part in. The students all zealously took turns telling me about Kon, the Inca god of rain who created the sun and moon on Lake Titicaca. Arresting and amending each other in their eagerness, they explained how Kon was the son of Inti, the sun god, and Mama Killa (”mother moon”). 

    After the chaos came to a still, I expressed my gratitude for them sharing their knowledge of Kon with me. I explained in English that for the test, they should be prepared to know the boring scientific explanation of how rain falls from the sky. The looks on their faces bore know signs of disconcertment. They easily welcomed both explanations of how rain falls with no problem.

    I really enjoy learning about other cultures. Accepting and understanding different cultures helps our mind break out of its habitual way of percieving the world around us. It is a way to build mutual understanding among people and it promotes the implementation of cultural congruence. Language is probably the most essential factor in the way people communicate, share ideas, and think about their world. I know from experience how difficult it is to go to another country and communicate with people in a second language. Therefore, I wanted to choose a topic that explored second language learning in a very specific manner. The final question I formulated to help me explore this avenue was this: How do home literacy practices and beliefs contribute to the literacy development of bilingual children?

    I think this is a very relevent question to ask ourselves in the field of speech and language today as the influx of Spanish speaking peoples continues in this country. Some foundation questions I asked myself are: “Do parents integrate aspects of both the native culture and the mainstream culture in child rearing and education?”; “What is the relationship between the mother’s beliefs and literacy practices?”; and “Do culturally diverse families foster literacy development in bilingual children?” 

Searching.

     This section will address some factors that contribute to the literacy development of bilingual children. I am most interested in how cultural differences shape a child’s perceptions on language and how the language used at home shapes the acquisition of literacy skills for the mainstream language. I will address how home literacy practices and beliefs contribute to the literacy development of bilingual children, the manner in which parents integrate aspects of both the native culture and the mainstream culture in child rearing and education, and I will explore how culturally diverse families foster literacy development in bilingual children.

     Recent efforts to improve children’s literacy outcomes have focused on developing an understanding of how parents support their children’s literacy development at home. A growing number of investigations have demonstrated that successful literacy practices are accomplished in a variety of ways and are embedded in cultural models. This implies that parents’ beliefs and practices vary between cultures; for example, the beliefs and literacy practices of families from nonmainstream cultures often differ from those of parents from the mainstream culture. Schools in the United States are based on the cultural model of the mainstream culture. This model values independence and critical thinking in children and active parental involvement in children’s education, including parental teaching of children’s academic skills and parental engagement in the children’s school (Hammer and Rodriguez, 2007). 

    The socio-linguistic approach to analyzing the aquisition of literacy skills in bilingual children starts with examining the child-mother relationship. Lopez-Reyna (2005) suggest that within the sociolinguistic approach, the overriding motivation for language development is effective communication, and the primary context of interest is the child–mother or child–caregiver pair. One of the most significant trends in special education is the implementation of programs for culturally and linguistically diverse families that use this sociocultural perspective. Second language acquisition and growth of language and literacy occur in children’s larger familial and cultural contexts and are based in daily parent–child conversations, interactions, and routines. The Lopez-Reyna (2005) study of Mexican mother’s parenting beliefs and practices suggests that Mexican mothers did not believe that their children had a language disorder when diagnosed, nor were they concerned about their children’s language development in relation to language milestones of typically developing children. Although clinicians described ways to advance their children’s language, an in depth look of mother–child observations revealed that they did not consistently engage in these practices while at home. Basically, mothers’ reduced understanding of the purpose of therapy activities, in combination with cultural beliefs that delays were due to maturation, resulted in the ineffective transfer of therapy routines to the home setting.

    With regard to literacy development, it has been shown that parents from Mexico and Central America who are living in the United States believe that children learn to read by first learning letters and sounds and how they blend to form words. Parents also believe that the essential learning sequence—letters, sounds, syllables, words and finally, extended texts—comes about through systematic repetition and accurate practice at each step of the sequence (Goldenberg, Reese, & Gallimore, 1992).This is probably due to education they recieved in their homeland that often emphasizes a “kill and drill” technique to learning; that is to say that education focuses on repetition excercizes and memorization.

    A study done by Peterson and Heywood (2007) showed that Puerto Rican mothers who were living on the mainland United States read to their children a few times a week or less, taught their children literacy-related skills one time a week or less, engaged in literacy activities themselves approximately once a month, and averaged less than 10 books in their home. The researchers also found that mothers of children who were exposed to Spanish and English at home from birth engaged in more literacy-related teaching behaviors (e.g., teaching the alphabet, teaching letter names) than did mothers of children who were exposed to only Spanish at home and were not expected to communicate in English until age 3.

     Lopez and Reyna (2005) found that differences in maternal teaching strategies among a sample of Mexican and Anglo American dyads revealed that the Anglo mothers used inquiry and praise more frequently than the Mexican mothers, whereas the Mexican mothers used modeling, visual cues, directives, and negative physical control more frequently than the Anglo-Americans (Lopez-Reyna, 2005).

    The majority of the Mexican mothers indicated that early language development was interactive in nature and that individuals in the child’s environment, especially family members, were important contributors to the process. Many Mexican mothers believe that the extended family plays a very important role in the acquisition of literacy skills for their young children. Lopez-and Reyna (2005) point out that mothers recognized not only their role in language learning but also the central role of siblings as they interacted, argued, and played with younger children in the family.

    Most of my sources argue that parent’s home literacy practices are influenced by some cultural beliefs. It is important to remember that beliefs among Spanish speaking parents can vary even within that group. Additionally, the level of education and employment varies from family to family. Hammer and Rodriguez (2007)

Concluding.

     Home literacy practices and cultural beliefs about child-rearing and education contribute to the literacy development of children in a number of ways. One aspect that stood out to me was the report in the Lopez-Reyna (2005) study that many Mexican mothers raising children in the United States do not believe that their children might have a language disorder even if the child lags far behind established language milestones. Instead, they believe that the child is simply still maturing and that he or she will likely “grow out of it.” Another striking difference between the home literacy practices of Mexican parents as opposed to Anglo parents living in the United States are the maternal teaching strategies. Anglo mothers use inquiry and praise much more frequently than Mexican mothers, who use mainly modeling, visual cues, directives, and negative physical control more frequently than Anglo mothers.  Also, many Spanish speaking immigrants in the United States were found to place alot of responsibility on siblings and extended family members to facilitate language learning and literacy skills in their young children.

     Many Spanish speaking parents in the United States who are raising bilingual children believe that the language learning sequence develops mainly by rogue memory and repetition excercises, techiniques likely carried over from their homeland education system that puts heavy emphasis on repetition excercises. Overall, most parents teach literacy skills in the native language first and then transfer and facilitate these skills in the second language. I think the results of most of my source studies point to the idea that home literacy practices of Spanish speaking parents can contribute to children attaining a high level of literacy in a second language even though certain cultural beliefs about child-rearing and education differ from the mainstream cultural norms.

References.

 Garcia, G. & Nixon, S. (2007, July). Development of English Literacy in Spanish-Speaking Children: Transforming Research Into Practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in School. 38 (3), 213-215. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Hammer, C. & Rodriguez, B. (2007, July). Puerto Rican Mothers’ Beliefs and Home Literacy Practices. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in School. 38(3), 216-224. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

 Lopez-Reyna, N. (2006, Jan.) The Role of Mexican Immigrant Mothers’ Beliefs on Parental Involvement in Speech-Language. Communication Disorders Monthly. 27(2), 83-94. Retrieved October 18, 2007, from the ERIC database.

Peterson, S. & Heywood, D. (2007, June). Contributions of Families’ Linguistic, Social, and Cultural Capital to Minority-Language Children’s Literacy: Parents’, Teachers’, and Principals’ Perspectives. Canadian Modern Language Review. 63 (4), 517-538. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from the ERIC database.

11/6/07

 I didn’t know exactly what this term meant before researching it. I had a vague idea that it had something to do with the way we convey and read emotions through a digital format. Some sources also say that it is one’s ability to determine right from wrong while surfing the internet. It entails being able to sift through scams and being able to determine when someone is pretending to be someone they are not.

 I think that most of us have enough sense to determine right from wrong when on the internet. And it is usually easy to determine when someone is trying to scam you- an ad will usually up and flash at you in a way that just screams “This is a gimmick. Don’t click here or you will be redirected to a site built on a pyramid scam.” But sometimes we click on it anyways to see if we have actually won a free i-pod or PlayStation. It hasn’t worked for me yet. I can see how these are probably directed towards children and that they probably fall prey to these scams easily. What is more serious is when children are targeted as sexual prey on the web. I think it is pretty important for children to be taught how to deal with incidents where they might be caught in a situation where they are corresponding with people on the web who they do not know. Socio-emotional literacy skills are also very important for people who try their dating luck online. It seems to me that anybody who wanted to could create an account on a site dedicated to meeting singles in a specific area. I think it comes down to being aware of the situation, questioning the motives of people you do not know, and using a little common sense.

I’m not really sure how much this type of literacy has impacted the education system. I do think that all teachers who instruct young children should take the time to explain some of the potential dangers of the internet. Ultimately, I feel it is up to the parents to teach their children socio-emotional literacy skills.

Resources

Amichai-Hamburger, Y. & Eshet-Alkali, Y. (2004, August). Experiments in digital literacy. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 7(4), 421-429.  Retrieved October 30, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Eshet, Y. (2007, June). Teaching online: Survival skills for the effectivie teacher. Inroads – The SIGCSE Bulletin, 39(2), 17. Retrieved October 30, 2007, from http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1280000/1272862/p16-eshet.pdf?key1=1272862&key2=3989573911&coll=GUIDE&dl=&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618

Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: A conceptual framework for survival skills in the digital era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93-106. Retrieved October 30, 2007, from http://www.openu.ac.il/Personal_sites/download/Digital-literacy2004-JEMH.pdf