EDUC 4P28: 21st Century Literacies

Welcome! I am Nicki Jadoonanan, a junior/intermediate teacher candidate with focus in biology and geography at Brock University. In the course EDUC 4P28, we learned about what the 21st century literacies are, and this blog will be applying this knowledge to practice. Overall, this blog explores the nine 21st century literacies, as well as how and why they can be effectively taught through integration with curricular lessons and pedagogical approaches for students of all ages.                  Enjoy! :)                        *NOTE: Start at the bottom*

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Ms. Jadoonanan’s Future Classroom

With all of these nine 21st century literacies being defined, signified and applied to practice it is evident that each literacy works to fulfill some aspect of preparing a well-rounded 21st century citizen for their future civic engagement in society. Furthermore, it can be noted that not all literacies will be taught or applied in the same way, however it is possible for certain learning opportunities to allow for the intersection of several literacies to be built upon at once.

For instance, if cross-curricular lessons are developed, and subsequent final cumulative products are assigned, this can allow for multiple literacies to be embedded within their learning. Similar to the curriculum unit that we developed for this course in EDUC 4P28 that required multiple curriculum and 21st century literacies to be interconnected within lessons and the final rich performance task product, this strategy of lesson planning and teaching is something I will carry with me into my teaching career due to its multiple opportunities for learning that shapes not only an academically educated student, but well rounded holistically in all aspects covered through the Ontario Ministry of education curriculum and these 21st century literacies for the 21st century learner. 

With that being said, I feel that this course was the most beneficial throughout my university career in preparing me for how I will design my future lessons, assignments and assessment tools with the incorporation of the 21st century literacies as apart of curricular and pedagogical approaches, as well as using assessment FOR, AS and OF learning throughout the process to ensure the most effective support and development for my students. 

Thank you Laura, Shannon and Farhanna for great learning opportunities, resources and discussion! Have a great summer, and I hope to perhaps use you as resources next year as I begin my exciting and long-awaited journey of Teacher’s College at Brock University. 

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Moral literacy 

Moral literacy can be defined as “a set of practical skills and abilities that enables one to identify, articulate, and respond to ethical challenges” (The Rock Ethics Institute, 2016). 

In the classroom setting, we see initiatives such as the character development put out by the Ontario Ministry of Education (2008) that aims to make the education system more balanced and holistic with the emphasis on qualities of good citizenship such as empathy and respect for others for an increasingly diverse community. Character development is seen to provide a standard for behaviour against which we hold ourselves accountable (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2008). 

In communities here in Canada, we see a mosaic of diverse beings living along side one another, but not interfering with the practices, beliefs or values of said others. This can be attributed to character, or moral, development that highlight traits such as honesty, caring, respect, empathy, cooperation and integrity that facilitates civic engagement in an interdependent, diverse world which starts at young ages in schooling and other informal modes of education. 

The attached link is from Nipissing University, a resource for K-6 teachers in Ontario teaching moral literacy within their pedagogical or curricular approaches. I found this chart to be useful when attempting to clarify abstract, invisible concepts such as character development traits to younger grades that may not fully understand the definitions of these key terms yet (Puri, n.d.). However, I feel that moral literacy is something that can be easily embedded in my practice through day to day experiences where opportunities can turn into moral lessons for the entire classrooms to learn from. For example, I remember hearing a story about a student who continued to kill ants for fun while another student was getting very upset. This began an escalating conflict between the two students as the ant-killing student did not see any harm in his behaviour or how it may have affected others. It was not until the teacher brought it to the classes attention that ants are beings like us, and that no matter how small they deserve the right to life, and the upset student came from a culture that did not tolerate this type of mindless killing despite them being ants. As a result, this small conflict became a moral lesson for the class, encouraging students to respect the beliefs and feelings of others even if you may not understand or agree with them.

Therefore, moral literacy is an essential 21st century literacy that should be taught at every given opportunity for students of all ages, to promote civil, respectful engagement of individuals with one another in an increasingly diverse and populated 21st century society. 

References:

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2008). Finding common ground: Character development in Ontario schools, K-12. Retrieved from https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/cec7407d-887e-4973-bdc1-d15adcf9a473/Literacy%20Resources/Moral%20Literacy_%20Character%20Ed/FindingCommonGround%20Charcter%20Ed.pdf 

Puri, D. (n.d.). Integrating moral literacy activities in the classroom: A resource guide for K-6 educators. Nipissing University. Retrieved from http://csle.nipissingu.ca/Moral%20Literacy%20Activities.pdf 

The Rock Ethics Institute. (2016). What is moral literacy? Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from http://stem-researchethics.org/morallit/node/127

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#LearningDisability #EndTheStigma

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“1 in 5 young people live with a mental illness” - Ontario Shores

Mental Health Literacy

-Fear, discrimination and stigma prevent adolescents from seeking the help they need

-Education and support are the keys to improving the lives of those suffering in silence

-There is no health without mental health!

As an educator, it is crucial to talk about mental health as you would any other illness in order to acknowledge it exists and find opportunities for treatment or care. By talking about mental health, I strive to reduce or remove the stigma around it, at least in my own classroom, because unless mental health is acknowledged and needs are met students are posed with a barrier to their own learning. I intend to ensure resources are available in the classroom and/or school I am in, to promote healthy solutions for students who may be feeling alone or hopeless about their situations outside of the classroom community.

An approach to introducing the idea of mental health can be in association with the “Bell Let’s Talk” campaign, in which social media platforms are used to speak out about personal experiences with mental illness and reducing the stigma around those who are suffering. By getting involved with this initiative and encouraging students to share their thoughts or experiences over a social media platform or even in other forms of communication in the school, students can build on their mental health literacy through increased awareness and understanding of these very common, prevalent issues that affect individuals across all age ranges, backgrounds and locations across the globe.  

References:

Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. (2011). You’re not alone. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU5n8pc2jB0

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Multicultural Literacy

Multicultural, or Indigenous, literacy involves the skills and ability to identify the creators of knowledge and their interests to uncover the assumptions of knowledge, to view knowledge from diverse ethnic and cultural perspectives, and to use knowledge to guide action that will create a humane and just world (Banks, 2003). 

Furthermore, Paulo Friere, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) states that we must teach students to read both the word and the world. To read the world requires students to question the assumptions of institutionalized knowledge and to use knowledge to take action that will make the world a more just place to live in and to work (Banks, 2003). 

Currently in Ontario, the curriculum is being reformed to include First Nations, Metis and Inuit histories, perspectives and culture to foster a better sense of identity and positive self-image in Indigenous students within the Ontario educational system. These changes will lead to more opportunities for classroom to explore, understand and appreciate the contribution of Aboriginal communities to the social and cultural “fabric” of the province (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2009). 

As a future educator of 21st century learners of all backgrounds and walks of life, and experiencing disengagement from Ontario curriculum as a student and daughter of a Canadian immigrant and two deaf parents, I believe incorporating multicultural literacy into my pedagogical approach is essential. Although it may be difficult to discuss at points because each culture is so diverse and rich in its own way, I believe it is important to allow students to feel like they belong in their classroom and that what they offer is equally as important as anybody else’s experiences no matter how different. By incorporating forms of media that include representations of many different cultures (such as Indigenous works of literature and art), allowing guests of diverse backgrounds to come in and educate as a primary source of information that facilitates questions and discussion, as well as promoting a healthy, diverse and accepting atmosphere I feel that these are only some ways I can incorporate multicultural literacy into my practice. 

References:

Banks, J. A. (2003). Teaching for multicultural literacy, global citizenship and social justice. University of Maryland. Retrieved from https://www.lib.umd.edu/binaries/content/assets/public/scpa/2003-banks.pdf 

Diec, D. (2017). Multicultural literacy. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhSD1FKAgU 

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2009). Aboriginal perspectives: A guide to the teacher’s toolkit. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/cec7407d-887e-4973-bdc1-d15adcf9a473/Literacy%20Resources/Multicultural_Indigenous%20Literacy/Resources%20on%20Aboriginal%20Perspectives.pdf

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Digital Literacy

To be digitally literate is not an unknown skill to most of today’s 21st century children and youth, as technological devices are becoming more prevalent to youth of increasingly younger ages. This generation is now being known as “digital natives,” because of the seemingly effortless way they engage with all things digital (technological innovations can include mobile technologies, open content, learning analytics and educational games) (Media Smarts, n.d.). 

The reason for this is simple, “Canadian youth live in an interactive, “on demand” digital culture where they are used to accessing media whenever and wherever they want” (Media Smarts, n.d.). In forms such as instant-messaging, photo sharing, texting, social networking and video-streaming, today’s 21st century youth have led the charge in new ways of engaging online (Media Smarts, n.d.).

However, this overwhelming enthusiasm masks a potential problem: although young people are quickly adapting to Internet technologies and improving their skills relative to their elders, without guidance they remain amateur users of information and communications technology (ICT), which raises concerns about a generation of youth who are not fully digitally literate, yet are deeply immersed in cyberspace (Media Smarts, n.d.).

As a result, the overflow of technological devices and their use have spread into education with an increasingly important role in teaching and learning (People for Education, 2014). With the embrace of these new technologies, learning can be extended outside of the classroom as well as bringing real-world issues inside the classroom. However, when using devices in the context of learning, it is crucial to incorporate multi-literacies in this approach such as critical literacy and media literacy when teaching students how to effectively navigate and sift through an assortment of information on the web as a necessary 21st century skill. 

Therefore, as an educator there are many resources we can access to aid our approach in teaching digital literacy to our students no matter the age. For example, the website http://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/digital-literacy-framework/use-understand-create-digital-literacy-framework-canadian-schools-overview offers an overview of a digital literacy lesson framework for Canadian schools for grades from K-12. This framework guides specific topics of learning in regards to becoming digitally literate, covering essential strands such as: ethics and empathy, privacy and security, finding and verifying, etc. 

So, in learning opportunities that allow for the use of digital devices in the classroom, students can practice their fluency in digital literacy through taking part in outlined digital literacy lessons like ones mentioned above, or through practicing safe and effective browsing and research in curricular lessons (i.e. a biography research project). As a teacher candidate, I see the necessity and value of incorporating digital literacy into my pedagogical practice as an important tool to equip students with for success in a technologically-driven, 21st century society. 

References:

Media Smarts. (n.d.). Digital literacy framework. Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/digital-literacy-framework/use-understand-create-digital-literacy-framework-canadian-schools-overview 

Media Smarts. (n.d.). Digital literacy fundamentals. Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals

People for Education. (2014). Digital learning in Ontario schools: The ‘new normal.’ People for Education: Toronto, Ontario. Retrieved from https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/cec7407d-887e-4973-bdc1-d15adcf9a473/Literacy%20Resources/Digital%20Literacy/digital-learning-2014-%20Overview%20of%20Ontario%20Schools.pdf 

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The World's Largest Lesson Introduced by Malala Yousafzai

The World's Largest Lesson Introduced by Malala Yousafzai

Global Literacy (continued):

Additionally, I have been a part of a leadership camp called Ontario Educational Leadership Centre (OELC) in Orillia, Ontario that runs a one-week program for grade six students entitled “Grade 6 Leadership for Innovation and Creativity.” This course is relevant to global literacy, as its programs are based upon the UN Sustainable Development Goals with emphasis on cultivating young, global citizens. The week begins with an introduction to the current state of the global issues/goals and what the projections are (see attached video by Malala Yousafzai), and each day students have the opportunity to partake in a different workshop that educates on and inspires change towards one of those SDGs in a way that they can take their knowledge home with them to affect change in their communities.

For example, in the workshop “Water, Water, Everywhere” leaders are given a bucket that holds a gallon of water. They are instructed to fill this bucket with water from Lake Couchiching, carry it up a hill back to their “home base,” and construct their own water filter to create “clean drinking water,” as a reflection of the everyday, unsanitary conditions citizens from across the world live in. As a result, this hands-on learning experience is not only creative and challenging, but it encourages students to reflect on how difficult this process is and how they felt experiencing that in comparison to the reality that others live in every day. By stepping out of their own life and into somebody else’s shoes, the leaders are better able to construct knowledge of global conditions and barriers, and consequently feel inspired to cultivate change for the better as a member of their global community.

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Global Literacy

Global literacy can be correlated with global citizenship, that is, empowering learners of all ages to assume active roles, both locally and globally, in building more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and secure interconnected societies in the face of human rights violations, inequality and poverty that still threaten peace and sustainability (UNESCO, n.d.). 

Global literacy is significant to all learners alike, as each individual is a part of our global community on this planet and as such we have a duty to be aware of and seek changes to systemic barriers in which certain populations remain at a disadvantage whether it be due to poverty, disease, famine, lack of education or healthcare, etc. So, by encouraging the awareness of these global issues and interactions with current initiatives in place such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UNESCO Global Citizenship Education program, students can learn to become active promoters of more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable societies. 

As educators, we too engage in “thinking like global citizens, considering global issues based on a deep understanding of diverse values with genuine interest in engaging with others to solve complex problems that impact human and environmental sustainability” (Ontario Public Service, 2016). As a result, we can use current events (i.e. population density in Africa) and faces in the public eye (i.e. Malala Yousafzai) as starting points for discussion about global issues in our classrooms, and build fluency in being globally literate through taking part in initiatives, exploring deeper to build awareness of why these injustices exist, and proposing solutions or ideas (see photo above on the effect of removing systemic barriers). 

Therefore, global literacy is not a topic that can be isolated from experience or curricular lessons. Instead, global literacy is embedded within everything we see, say or do if we have the prior knowledge and awareness of how it affects us. So, by acknowledging global issues and present systemic barriers as well as understanding the importance of developing and acting on sustainable solutions, we can build more globally literate students that may independently become activists for global change and equality right from our own classrooms.

References:

Ontario Public Service. (2016). 21st Century competencies: Foundation document for discussion. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resources21CL/About21stCentury/21CL_21stCenturyCompetencies.pdf 

UNESCO. (n.d.). What is global citizenship education? United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/themes/gced/definition

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11 Simple Ways to Help Kids Start Developing Ecoliteracy

“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues…Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Environmental Literacy

Environmental literacy is defined as, “education about the environment, for the environment, and in the environment that promotes an understanding of, rich and active experience in, and an appreciation for the dynamic interactions of: 

1.The Earth’s physical and biological systems 

2. The dependency of our social and economic systems on these natural systems 

3. The scientific and human dimensions of environmental issues 

4. The positive and negative consequences, both intended and unintended, of the interactions between human-created and natural systems” (The Ontario curriculum grades K–8: Environmental education, scope and sequence of expectations, 2011).

The importance of incorporating environmental literacy into educational activities again returns to the fact that we are preparing our students to become citizens in the 21st century, in a world in which relies on the natural Earth and its processes for continued habitation. Similar to how the uprise in digital literacy education is increasing with its prevalence, environmental literacy is becoming a core area of interest in educational institutions, as a result of increasing climate change which is threatening the future of our healthy and prolonged survival on this planet. Due to that the main factor of climate change is human activity on the Earth, it is crucial that students are becoming familiar with the implications of everyday human behaviour on the proposed dire future of the planet, and applying their 21st century skills to create sustainable solutions. 

The goal of the curriculum document on Environmental Education (2011) is to “produce environmentally active and responsible citizens, with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to understand and deal with complex issues that affect the environment now and in the future. For example, students need to develop skills in problem solving, inquiry, decision making, action planning, higher-level thinking, systems thinking, and critical literacy. They also need to be able to identify issues and perspectives, carry out research, and communicate their ideas in meaningful ways” (p. 3). Through incorporating environmental literacy within my pedagogical practice, students can use their higher-order thinking skills in order to take on environmental challenges locally to help out their community, as a contribution to combatting climate change and getting involved in their learning. 

Additionally, the link attached to this post offers 11 “simple” ways to introduce the idea of environmental, or eco-literacy to younger students which includes fun, creative and collaborative projects such as a community garden, a celebration of Earth day (April 22nd), and experiencing outdoor trips to natural sites that highlight biodiversity and landscapes, or even helping areas affected by natural disaster through habitat restoration (Shaw, 2015). 

Furthermore, for students in the senior grades another way to implement environmental literacy in their curricular activities would be assigning a project to develop more sustainable alternatives to current methods or trends in their school or community; or creating public service announcements to help spread the word on a critical environmental issue and why it is significant (i.e. dangers of automobile usage on the environment, alternative transportation methods, etc.). 

References:

The Ontario curriculum, Grades 1-8 and kindergarten programs. (2011). Environmental education: Scope and sequence of expectations.  

Shaw, A. (2015). 11 Simple ways to help kids start developing ecoliteracy. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/11-simple-ways-help-kids-start-developing-ecoliteracy-anne-shaw?trk=mp-reader-card

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“Some of the people or things you see online are real and some are fake. How do you tell which is which? We want to hear from #students, #teachers, & aspiring #filmmakers in the 2018 What's Your Story? video contest. Grand prize $10k! Final week! More @ https://t.co/120oRkejBF”

An interesting incentive that can be applied as a project for students, that aids in building upon their understanding of critical and digital literacy! 

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Critical Literacy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8mjbVRqao

Critical Literacy can be defined as “the capacity for a particular type of critical thinking that involves looking beyond the literal meaning of texts to observe what is present and what is missing, in order to analyse and evaluate the text’s complete meaning and the author’s intent. Critical literacy goes beyond conventional critical thinking in focusing on issues related to fairness, equity, and social justice. Critically literate students adopt a critical stance, asking what view of the world the text advances and whether they find this view acceptable” (The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8: Language, 2006). 

To be critically literate is a very important skill to have as a citizen living in today’s 21st century society. The attached video makes a very important point when it comes to the pollution of our daily news and media of “fake, or alternative facts,” and that students are not well enough equipped to be able to sift through this information knowing what is actually accurate or reliable. 

Growing up with more traditional pedagogical approaches to being taught, I truly only began to know what being critically literate means when I was in a double-credit grade 12 university-preparation English class. Furthermore, my brief understanding was built upon and solidified as my university years went on. Looking back, I feel I was at a disadvantage by my unfamiliarity with what is truth, bias, staged, or falsely constructed information when navigating through various forms of media and print, and have fallen into traps such as online contests, media articles and press headlines out of context because I was lacking fluency in the form of critical literacy. This may have been because the greater use of digital technology has mainly occurred within the past decade or so, therefore the push for educating on these literacies is rising with the continued and increased exposure to ideas posted in all facets of the internet and other forms of media. Without the monitoring, editing, or transparency of information being posted on the free web, for example, the flow of information is unreliable and as such, it is up to the consumer to have the necessary tools for navigating and finding useful and accurate information. 

Therefore, it is up to us, the educators to be the driving factor in teaching students what it means and the importance of being critically literate in today’s world. The attached video is a useful one for aspiring educators to engage in the importance of teaching critical literacy and applying it within pedagogical methods or curricular activities to prepare students with the essential skill of being critically literate in a digital 21st century society. 

Other interesting activities I have seen being used to promote critical literacy in the classroom include online Padlets (collaborative online sharing tool) of personal interpretations to collectively define what being critically literate means, and using magazine or newspaper clippings to practice analyzing underlying messages or intentions using prompting questions. 

References:

Spencer, J. (2016). The problem with fake news (And how our students can solve it). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8mjbVRqao 

https://twitter.com/FarrenMancuso

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Media Literacy

21st Century Schools defines Media Literacy as, “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. Media literate youth and adults are better able to understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and all other forms of media” (n.d.). 

The Ontario (grades 1-8) language curriculum (2006) defines media literacy as, “an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. Also, the ability to understand and use the mass media in an active, critical way.”

Furthermore, this curriculum document mentions five key concepts of media literacy. These five key concepts are as follows: 

1. All media are constructions. 

2. The media contain beliefs and value messages. 

3. Each person interprets messages differently. 

4.The media have special interests (commercial, ideological, political). 

5. Each medium has its own language, style, form, techniques, conventions, and aesthetics.

This attached video entitled “Media smarts: Kids learn how to navigate the multimedia world” (2005), looks at the 21st century skill of Media Literacy and how this can be integrated into curricular learning. Through rich learning opportunities that allows students to collaboratively and critically watch, analyze and even create multimedia productions, students are building on their fluency of media literacy through interactions, experiences and scaffolded learning about perspectives, intent/purpose of messages, media demographics, bias, etc. As a budding educator, I see the value of a rich task like this example, having students looking at everyday examples like TV advertisements, movie clips and documentaries with their critical lens, allows students to open up their awareness to underlying messages that are found within all forms of media. Furthermore, assigning a project like creating a documentary within their school allows students to then apply their knowledge on what the key concepts of media literacy are, analyze their work to ensure that the messages that they are intending to be conveyed are, and incorporate other literacies in the process where possible (i.e. multicultural/indigenous literacy, digital literacy, critical literacy, mental health literacy, global literacy). 

In past pedagogical approaches, emphasis on the “3 R’s” (reading, writing, arithmetic) were placed on students for success as functional citizens of society. However, in today’s globalized and digitalized culture, a shift has been occurring and the way that we teach students to be successful in society is also changing. “What students need today is to learn how to find what they need to know when they need to know it-- and to have the higher order thinking skills to analyze and evaluate whether the information they find is useful for what they want to know” (Shaw, 2015). This is where media literacy comes into play. By teaching students how to become more fluent in navigating, sorting and critically analyzing sources of media to gather necessary information, this is training students to become more efficient lifelong learners by equipping them to appropriately use the tools at their fingertips to complete almost any task at hand. 

References: 

Media literacy. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/media-literacy.html 

Media smarts: Kids learn how to navigate the multimedia world. (2005). Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/video/media-smarts-kids-learn-how-navigate-multimedia-world 

The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8: Language. (2006). Toronto: Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

Shaw, A. (2015). Media literacy- A critical 21st century skill. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/media-literacy-critical-21st-century-skill-anne-shaw?trk=mp-reader-card

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Developing Students' Financial Literacy Muscles

This year I have been writing a column on Multiple Literacies for The Australian Education Times. The readers are mostly students (middle school

Financial Literacy

This article by Anne Shaw (2015) looks at Financial Literacy and how it can be applied in the classroom to contribute to the growth of this literacy in 21st century learners. Shaw (2015) states that, “Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works in the world: how someone manages to earn or make it, how that person manages it, how he/she invests it (turns it into more) and how that person donates it to help others.” As a result, activities should hit each of these targets throughout the learning process, to ensure that understanding of all aspects of the literacy are being met and built upon. 

This link is a wonderful starting point for teachers that are new to the concept of financial literacy or struggle to find activities that facilitate creative opportunities for learning, as it offers a break-down of what financial literacy is, why it is important, as well as several different activities that can be used in the classroom under the categories of earning, spending, saving, investing or giving away money. 

The activity that most intrigued me from this article was in the context of earning money in the way of starting up a small business like a “lunch cart,” in which high school students sought to find a way to keep students from leaving school during lunch and not returning back to campus. These students succeeded by partnering up with local restaurants to run a food cart on campus, serving items like fresh burritos and sandwiches which worked to keep students from leaving campus during lunch and simultaneously helped the working students accumulate a tidy profit. As a result of this group project, students not only were able to make a positive contribution to their community, but they were benefitting from the construction and execution of this lunch cart project that facilitated in building on their financial literacy skills which includes earning, spending and perhaps saving or giving away money after the completion of their sales to students and payments to business owners. 

References: 

Ball, A. (2003). Many models of empowerment: Students make a business of learning. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/students-make-business-learning

Shaw, A. (2015). Developing students’ financial literacy muscles. LinkedIn.  Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/developing-students-financial-literacy-muscles-anne-shaw?trk=mp-reader-card

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21st Century Literacies in the Classroom

Throughout this course, our community of learners put a spotlight on one of the nine literacies each week, highlighting the definition and significance of said 21st century literacy in the education of the 21st century learner. These 21st century literacies “demands the ability to move confidently, efficiently and ethically between a wide range of written, visual, print, live, digital or electronic text types according to purpose” (Wilson, 2015). As a result, I feel it is necessary to incorporate these literacies within our teaching of the curriculum, in an integrated approach that uses every learning experience as an opportunity to engage in deeper learning that allows for increased knowledge and growth as a 21st century citizen. The increased fluency in these literacies allow students to be more successful at navigating the world around them in a critical manner so that they may find appropriate information and sources to benefit their lifelong learning. 

These literacies include:  -Critical Literacy -Digital Literacy -Environmental Literacy -Media Literacy -Financial Literacy -Global Literacy  -Mental Health Literacy -Multicultural/ Indigenous Literacy -Moral Literacy 

References: 

Wilson, S. (2015). 21st Century literacies. Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA). Retrieved from www.petaa.edu.au