How will I incorporate the 21st century literacies into my own practice?

Photo created by Vincent Bracco

As discussed in my previous blogs the traditional literacies of reading, writing and arithmetic are expanding and changing to the new 21st century literacies that are displayed in the photo to the right. Within this blog post I will be discussing what each one of these eight literacies are and give an example as to how I plan to use them within my Health and Physical Education (HPE) classroom as a future educator.

Technological Literacy
According to Redhead and Robinson (2016), “Technological Literacy is embodying the knowledge and skills necessary to function within a social construct dominated by technological innovation”. Therefore it is the ability to be able to properly use and understand the different forms of technology. One way that I plan to use

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this literacy within my HPE classroom is through an application software discussed by Mr. Kennedy's blog called Fresh Grade.  Fresh grade is a e-portfolio software that allows students to self-document their learning as well as allows the teacher and parents to track the students learning and progress. This is a secure software that can ensure privacy of each and every student (FreshGrade, 2015). Within my HPE class I think I could incorporate it for the students to set goals in fitness, track what they are doing each week in class and see if they can reach their goals by the end of the year. As discussed in my last blog, I would also use the application remind that allows a teacher to communicate with privacy through text messages to the students and parents. This can be used to send reminders home for upcoming assignments or any changes that have been made for an upcoming class. Since it is a text message the students and parents receive it right away rather than an email that they might not see (Remind, 2016). A third way that I plan to incorporate technological literacy into my HPE classroom is through the use of fitness apps and softwares. As discussed in Mr. Doyle's blog post he uses the fitness software called Polar GoFit Heart Rate Monitor System. This system allows the students to keep track of their heart rates and to show the students how hard they are working. I could see myself using a system like this to help students keep track of their workouts as well as create a culminating assignment where they are to set goals and keep record of what they are doing through fitness in order to obtain these goals. This culmination will incorporate multiple other literacies as well.

Financial Literacy 

Retrieved from: http://www.communityenv.org/financial-literacy/

According to the Ontario Ministry of Education Financial literacy will allow students to "understand how to make informed financial decisions. Financial literacy builds students' understanding of personal finances, the local and global economy and the results of their choices as consumers"(2016). The Ontario Ministry of Education provides multiple resources for teachers in order to help them gain insight on how to implement this literacy into their subject area. I plan to incorporate financial literacy into my classroom  through the culmination project discussed in technological literacy. I will add an aspect of the culmination where students are to create a food plan along with their fitness plan and determine the financial costs that will be required to follow their plan. They will learn about what foods are healthy and how each group affects their body within the health unit and then they will be required to add meal plans along with their fitness plan.

Moral Literacy 
According to Bertolino and Chant (2016) "The skills and knowledge specific to making ethical choices are learned capabilities requiring skills in which individuals can be more or less competent". I plan to incorporate moral literacy into my HPE classroom in multiple ways. One way I would incorporate moral literacy is in health. Through discussions about steroid usage as well as diet plans that are unhealthy for the body. Another way I would teach moral literacy is through friendly competition and discussing ethical situations within sports so the students gain a sense of sportsmanship.

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Media Literacy 
According to Minow and King (2016) "medial literacy is the ability to access, analyze and evaluate the many complex messages presented through the mass media". I plan to use a similar activity to that discussed by Ms. Fawcett within her blog. Ms. Fawcett discusses an article activity where she focuses lessons on analyzing and dissecting articles that have been carefully selected by her. I plan to use a similar type of activity for my class where I show images and articles about diets and steroid uses and have the students dissect these images that are being portrayed as the ideal body on media and what the

harm can be if you try to thrive for this body type the wrong way. This will also be tied into my moral

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literacy idea. I will then use this to teach the students how to healthily lose weight or gain weight. This will also tie into my culmination because they will have to discuss the information they learnt through the photos to provide proof as to why their goals are realistic and healthy ways to gain or lose weight.

Mental Health Literacy 

Skre et al. (2013) "defines mental health literacy as: a) recognition of mental disorder, knowledge and belief about b) risk factors and causes, as c) self-help interventions and d) professional help available, as e) attitudes which facilitates recognition and appropriate help seeking, and finally as f) knowledge about how to seek mental health information" (p.2).  I plan to implement mental health literacy into my health class by bringing awareness to the students about the different disorders and giving them the knowledge needed in order to know what to do when faced with a situation. I plan to give the students the information that meets the criteria of all six aspects discussed within the definition in order to ensure they are mental health literate. 

Global Literacy 
According to Nair, Norman, Tucker and Burkert (2012), "global literacy is a self-reflective understanding of one's responsibilities as a local and global citizen" (p.56). Therefore I would plan to 

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create activities that can describe and explain specific events within the world in order to teach he 

students about being a global citizen while participating in physical activities at the same time. Focusing on matching activities and warm up activities would be the best way to incorporate global literacy in my opinion. 

Multicultural Literacy 
Multicultural literacy is "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” (Tkovic and Mukhtar, 2016). Therefore I plan to incorporate this literacy by playing sports from all around the world. To introduce my students to the different major sports and activities from other cultures. Within my undergrad at Brock University I took a physical education course where we got to play cricket. It was my first time playing cricket and I found it was a lot of fun because it was not a traditional sport. Therefore I want to implement sports like this that can teach my students about the different cultures and allow them to experience their sports. 

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21st-Century-Literacies-in-My-Classroom

Environmental Literacy 
According to Sickle and Vos (2016) being environmentally literate "is the capacity of an individual to act successfully in daily life on a broad understanding of how people and societies relate to each other and to natural systems, and how they might do so sustainably. This requires sufficient awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to incorporate environmental considerations in daily decisions about consumption, lifestyle, career and civics, and to engage in individual and collective actions". I plan to incorporate this literacy into my classroom by teaching the students about the five essential components to being environmentally literate. I plan to teach them these through interesting subjects by incorporating sports and the fields/courts that the sports take part on in order to gain their attention on the specific subject that can typically be boring to some students.

Summary 
Therefore it is evident through the information that I have discussed about above that I have begun planning ways in order to incorporate the new 21st century literacies into my classroom as a future Health and Physical Educator. I plan to continue creating and finding other ways to incorporate the literacies even further into my classroom. As I enter this profession I will be able to try these examples and reflect on the results in order to determine how effective they are and if any of my integrated activities for these literacies need to be modified. 

Cheers, 

Mr. Bracco  

References 

Bertolino, A., & Chant, B., (2016). Moral Literacy. [Powerpoint Slides].

Doyle, M., (2014, December, 02). How I Teach. Retrieved from: http://www.thephysicaleducator.com/blog/files/how-i-teach-mike-doyle.html

Fawcett, D., (2012, December, 28). Literacy in PE. Retrieved from: http://reflectionsofmyteaching.blogspot.ca/2012/12/literacy-in-pe.html

Freshgrade, (2015). Retrieved from: https://www.freshgrade.com

Kennedy, C., (2015, October, 8). It Just Works. Retrieved from: http://cultureofyes.ca/page/3/

Minow, K., & King, K., (2016). Media Literacy. [Powerpoint Slides].

Nair, I., Norman, M., Tucker, G. R., & Burkert, A., (2012). The Challenge of Global Literacy. Perspectives. Retrieved from: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/EDUC4P29D03FW2015MAIN/Literacies/Global%20Literacy/Nair%20et%20al.%20_2012_.pdf

Ontario Ministry Of Education. (2016). Financial Literacy Education in Ontario Schools. Ontario, Queens Printer. Retrieved from: https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/surveyLiteracy.html

Redhead, S., & Robinson, J., (2016). Technological Literacy. [PDF Document]. Retrieved from: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/attachment/EDUC4P29D03FW2015MAIN/Forums/d8fec4f0-3af4-4ded-b7f9-c56e8470fdac/Technology%20Literacy.pdf

Remind101, (2016). Retrieved from: https://www.remind.com

Sickle, V. V., & Vos, Q., (2016). Environmental Literacy. [Powerpoint Slides].

Skre, I., Friborg, O., Breivik, C., Johnsen, L. I., Arnesen, Y., & Wang, C. E. A., (2013). A school intervention for mental health literacy in adolescents: effects of a non-randomized cluster controlled trail. BMC Public Health, 13, 873. Retrieved from: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/EDUC4P29D03FW2015MAIN/Literacies/Mental%20Health%20Literacy/Skre%20et%20al.%202013.pdf

Tkovic, I., & Mukhtar, N., (2016). Multicultural Literacy. [Powerpoint Slides].