BUILDING AND ENHANCING NEW LITERACIES ACROSS

MODULE THE CURRICULUM

CHAPTER 7: Social Literacy

Objectives:
 Promote communication and social skills through effective and
purposeful interactions
 Acquire social and personal skills that are essential to the
practice
 Promote community involvement to build relationships

What Is Social Literacy?

Social Literacy is the ability an individual

has to connect effectively with those
around them by interacting, maintaining,
and building relationships.
It is successful when an individual can
intercede their world as family member’s
workers, citizens, and lifelong learners.
It helps students combine all of the
features of literacy and uses them to
communicate with others so students are
able to express their own thoughts.

Social literacy, from the perspective of the social-cultural theory, is more than the ability
to read and write, and more than mastering literacy skills. Children can learn literacy through
social interaction between themselves and children and/or adults in or outside school. Adults
can use books, games, toys, conversations, field trips, and stories to develop the literacy
practices through fun.
Collaborative learning between schools, family, and community can help develop a child's
literacy. In addition, given today's technical knowledge, adults can take into consideration how
to use technology in the learning process and to employ it in teaching children how to read
and write in a social context. Literacy practices and events are always situated in social,
cultural, historical and political relationships and embedded in structures of power.

Furthermore, literacy practices involve social regulation of text, i.e. who has access to it and
who can produce it, and such practices are purposeful and embedded in broader social goals
and cultural practices. Moreover, these practices change and new ones are frequently
acquired through processes of informal learning and sense-making.

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For those reasons, teachers can design

multiple levels of literacy activities and
practices to fit different students' abilities and
way of learning and provide
a pedagogical approach which fosters
communities of learners,
plan classroom activities that embed
meaningful opportunities to engage in the
analysis and construction of multimodal
texts, and utilize teaching approaches that
move beyond the false tension between
abstracting the codes of language and
learning their application for meaningful
purposes.

What Does that Mean?

In simpler terms, Social Literacy, or sometimes referred to as social intelligence, is the

ability to build relationships, and maintain those relationships in any social environment.
In order to be successful, Social Literacy involves knowing how to express one's own
emotions in a proper manner.

How Can This Be Taught?

 Simply by modeling appropriate behaviors a teacher can help the students learn
social literacy.
 This should be taught to children through communication in order to obtain great
social skills. This can be done by showing them how to interact with family,
friends, and colleagues in and out of school.
 Using Social Literacy online, during a group project, or communicating with a
classmate is an important way for students to practice the basic concepts of
literacy. If students are exposed to social literacy they will become more
confident socially in and outside of the classroom

Social Literacy Skills

• Maintaining eye contact
• Understanding angry feelings
• Handling confrontation
• Collaborating ideas

How Is It Changing?
Traditionally we have focused on teaching students to improve their social,
communication, and organization skills in the classroom. In today’s changing society we

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have moved from encouraging a strict definition of social skills as conversation skills to
a more broad understanding of Social Literacy. Today it is important to tie in technology
when teaching social literacy, because this is an important feature of how individuals
communicate.

Ways to incorporate social literacy online:

Blogging- Through blogging, students learn

how to effectively use the internet and share
their thoughts and knowledge appropriately.

Video conferencing- Video conferencing

has endless possibilities. Whether it is
conferencing with a professional in the
community, or students from a culture
across the world, it opens up a realm of
social interaction that can teach students so
much about people in the world around
them.

Social Networking Sites- Encouraging

students to meet people of other cultures
and learn about social issues around the
world is a priceless opportunity-and we are
so blessed to have sites like these to make
it happen.

Youtube-This website supports Social

Literacy because students can watch videos
displaying how other people communicate.
They can get in touch with all different kinds
of people from all over the world.
Working together in groups will give students
practice communicating which will benefit
their learning in social literacy.

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Facebook-This site allows students to keep in touch with people from where ever they
may be.
Students can keep in touch with family and peers through this website on a personal
level through pictures and statuses and even a chat feature.

Twitter- allows people to post brief thoughts and connect with other people. This site
allows for students to keep current with what is going on in the world around them.
People from all over the world have access to this site. This site can be used to
communicate with students and other teachers outside of the classroom.

Google Docs- allows a team of people to collaborate on the same page at the same
time. This can be used as an instructional strategy to encourage students to investigate,
write, and work together in discussion.
This is a great technology to use to incorporate Social Literacy in the classroom
because the students are able to learn together.

Ways to incorporate social literacy in a face to face environment:

Group projects: group projects give students opportunities to interact face to face and
experience social interactions. It is so crucial that students learn to interact with people
effectively and contribute their part.
Peer reviewing: Peer reviewing teaches students how to give constructive advice and
communicate their thoughts well. To be able to give constructive criticism and view
another person idea is an important ability.
Field trips: taking students to a museum or to volunteer in an area in need could help
students open their eyes and learn about different societies. On any field trip, even
learning how to travel in groups, communicate with people in charge, and work together
as a group will be effective in teaching students to be socially literate.

SOCIAL LITERACY AS A COMPETATIVE ADVANTAGE

Social literacy refers to knowing how to use social tools and platforms to find and
gather information, share thoughts, and generate discussion. But, the potential of
socially literate employees has largely been ignored. Users of these tools and services

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can try many ways to increase their own competence and thus the competence of the
business. Therefore, in our opinion, the employees be active in the social platforms is
surplus value for companies. Well, what is social literacy? This week we will talk on this
subject.
Social literacy is,
 The ability to make "socially productive decisions"
 Successful interpersonal cooperation,
 Collaboration and appropriate interactions,

Why is Social Literacy Important?

Social Literacy is important because students must learn the necessary skills to
communicate and widen their social circles.

Communication is crucial no matter where you go. Whether it is being used at home to
interact with family members or at school to discuss with peers, being socially literate
allows students to successfully expand their social circles, and maintain those
relationships. As we become more dependent on technology, we are beginning to
interact less with each other face to face. Social Literacy helps prevent against bullying
when young people learn how to express themselves correctly. They will learn how to
handle situations with teachers and peers in person in lieu of through just technology.

9 Ways to Teach Social Skills in Your Classroom

Here are some ways in which you can create a more inclusive classroom and support
social skill development in your students:

1. Model manners
If you expect your students to learn and display good social skills, then you need to lead
by example. A teacher's welcoming and positive attitude sets the tone of behavior
between the students. They learn how to interact with one another and value
individuals. For example, teachers who expect students to use "inside voices" shouldn't
be yelling at the class to get their attention. In other words, practice what you preach.

2. Assign classroom jobs

Assigning classroom jobs to students provides opportunities to demonstrate
responsibility, teamwork and leadership. Jobs such as handing out papers, taking
attendance, and being a line-leader can highlight a student's strengths and in turn, build
confidence.

3. Role-play social situations

As any teacher knows, it's important to not only teach the students a concept or lesson
but then give them a chance to practice what they have learned. For example, if we
teach students how to multiply, then we often provide a worksheet or activity for the

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students to show us their understanding of multiplication. The same holds true for
teaching social skills. We need to provide students with opportunities to learn and
practice their social skills. An effective method of practice is through role-playing.
Teachers can provide structured scenarios in which the students can act out and offer
immediate feedback

4. Large and small group activities

In addition to the academic benefits, large and small group activities can give students
an opportunity to develop social skills such as teamwork, goal-setting and responsibility.
Students are often assigned roles to uphold within the group such as Reporter, Scribe,
or Time-Keeper. Sometimes these groups are self-determined and sometimes they are
pre-arranged. Used selectively, group work can also help quieter students connect with
others, appeals to extroverts, and reinforces respectful behavior.

6. Big buddies
We know that learning to interact with peers is a very important social skill. It is just as
important to learn how to interact with others who may be younger or older. The Big
Buddy system is a great way for students to learn how to communicate with and respect
different age groups. Often an older class will pair up with a younger class for an art
project, reading time or games. Again, this type of activity needs to be pre-planned and
carefully designed with student's strengths and interests in mind.

7. Class stories
There are dozens of stories for kids that teach social skills in direct or inadvertent ways.
Find strategies to incorporate these stories in your class programs. You can set aside
some time each day to read-aloud a story to the entire class or use a story to teach a
lesson. Better yet, have your class write their own stories with characters who display
certain character traits.

8. Class meeting
Class Meetings are a wonderful way to teach students how to be diplomatic, show
leadership, solve problems and take responsibility. They are usually held weekly and
are a time for students to discuss current classroom events and issues. Successful and
productive meetings involve discussions centered on classroom concerns and not
individual problems. In addition, it reinforces the value that each person brings to the
class.

9. Explicit instruction
Research-based programs such as Second Step provide teachers and schools with
explicit lessons for social development. These programs can provide schools and
classrooms with a common language, set of behavior expectations, and goals for the
future.

Practicing Social Skills: How to Teach Your Student Social Interactions

Students who may benefit from social instruction. While many students — both those
with and without disabilities — may struggle with reading nonverbal cues and engaging
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in social interactions, certain individuals are more likely than their peers to have difficulty
with these interactions. The ability to navigate everyday social interactions can
frequently present significant challenges for these students. While there are differences
in the way these difficulties present themselves, most students who struggle with social
interactions will exhibit difficulties in similar situations.

An example of one way of categorizing social skills can be found in the table below:

Skill Set Used for Examples

Ability to maintain eye contact, maintain

Foundation Basic social
appropriate personal space, understand
Skills interaction
gestures and facial expressions

Resolving conflicts, taking turns, learning

how to begin and end conversations,
Interaction Skills needed to
determining appropriate topics for
Skills interact with others
conversation, interacting with authority
figures

Identifying one's feelings, recognizing the

Skills needed for feelings of others, demonstrating
Affective
understanding empathy, decoding body language and
Skills
oneself and others facial expressions, determining whether
someone is trustworthy

Skills needed to Social perception, making choices, self—

Cognitive maintain more monitoring, understanding community
Skills complex social norms, determining appropriate behavior
interactions for different social situations.

(Canney and Byrne, 2006; Waltz, 1999)

Social interactions are incredibly complex and the list presented above is not
exhaustive in terms of the skills that student may need to successfully navigate social
situations. Additionally, each student's 'social skill profile' is different. Some students
with disabilities may have strong foundation skills but lack appropriate interaction skills;

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others may require assistance in developing more basic skills such as making eye
contact.

Social skills instruction

The good news is that social skills can be fairly easily integrated into a special or
general education curriculum using a variety of methods.
Research has shown that social skills can be taught to students with disabilities —
particularly those with nonverbal deficits —as long as educators teach skills
directly and uses a structured approach to instruction.

Generalizing social skills to new situations

One difficulty with social skills instruction is that many students with disabilities
may struggle with generalizing new skills to different situations (Elksnin and
Elksnin, 2000). You can help students generalize social skills in several ways:
Teach students new skills in the setting where they are most likely to be used by
Teach social skills with a variety of mediums

Strategies for teaching social skills

Because students use social skills in nearly every aspect of their day, every
moment has the potential to be a 'teachable moment'. To take advantage of this,
you should try to teach social skills throughout the school day in a variety of ways.
Some methods for introducing social skills include:
 Incidental teaching — using a natural interaction between a student and adult
to practice a skill
 Reading and discussing children's literature and videos — many children's
stories are on social skills topics such as making new friends, dealing with bullies,
or encountering new situations Social skill autopsies — after a social interaction
discuss what the child did, what happened, whether the outcome was positive or
negative and what the child will do in the same situation in the future.

REFERENCE
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/9-ways-teach-social-skills-your-classroom
https://prezi.com/6dhdmoooxm7-/social-literacy/
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/social-literacy-competitive-advantage
https://www.weareteachers.com/21-simple-ways-to-integrate-social-emotional-
learning-throughout-the-day/

VIDEO LINKS
https://youtu.be/wlV-Bd0URKs
https://youtu.be/NAb9wJ8L7oY
https://youtu.be/o3AD2O0ehPg

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