I’ve posted on this blog before about the importance of teaching digital literacy to all students, especially ELLs who may have a lower level of technological proficiency. This week’s article from Google Alerts by Kristina B. Hill, a professor in North Carolina specializing in social media marketing. She explains why it’s important to teach students digital literacy, and gives some great advice on how to talk to young people about it.

Kristina points out that teenagers are “natives” of technology. Most of them don’t know what it is like to live in a world without cell phones and social media. I say “most” because I have several ninth grade students who do not have a cell phone because their parents will not allow it. I often go back and forth between whether that is a good choice, or whether it is putting those students at a disadvantage, but that is a subject for another post. Kristina suggests that we weave digital literacy into discussions about students’ future hopes and how posting online can affect them. She cites the incident in June in which Harvard revoked admittance to several students due to racist remarks they posted online. I agree that talking about social media while talking about college plans is convenient, but do we need to start talking about it sooner? Students are using social media earlier and earlier in life, and we should really be talking about digital literacy in elementary school, which is before most students are thinking about college plans.

Kristina suggests that students should make separate social media accounts that show off their academic accolades which they can promote while applying to colleges. She also suggests that students create media rather than just consume it. Students can create a video about their current pursuits in school, volunteer work that they do, or an art project they have been working on. I believe that this would be a great project for ESL teachers to introduce into their classrooms. Students would need to employ their English language skills to create and refine the projects, they would learn how to use technology, and about digital literacy.

Resources:

Hill, K. (2017, June). Talk to your teenager about digital literacy. Retrieved from:

http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/talk-teenager-digital-literacy/