This week, my goal for my ASL learning project was to practice learning the signs of family names and different types of food.
I am going to admit that I found this week a bit harder to have the same kind of time and motivation to learn new ASL signs than the last few weeks. I learned different family names, however, I am struggling a bit more to remember food signs. I was unable to learn the food signs to a point in which I felt I could make a video of them, but I plan to move towards learning food next week.
Once again, I used the ASL Stack Skills course to learn the family names. I went through the video at least 4-5 times while learning the new signs. For some reason, I found family names difficult to differentiate between each other. Many of the signs are very similar to one another with slight changes or with extra signs added on. For example, girl and daughter are very similar. They both have the same first sign, but then daughter has a different second sign. Girl and wife are also very similar with both having the same first sign, but then wife adds the sign for “marry” as a second sign.
Stack Skills
Here is a video of the family names I learned:
I feel like my brain is having a hard time trying to remember all of the prior signs that I already know as well as trying to learn new ones. One trick I have been trying to use to combat this is that whenever I see or hear the name of the object I know the sign for, I will practice doing the sign in that moment. I have asked my husband a few times to say a name of an animal or color so that I can practice recalling the proper ASL sign. I also try to practice different signs when I am driving by myself. There are a lot of moments where I can practice signs I already know, but I find it hard to put aside time to learn new signs. However, I plan to keep trying!
Goal:
I am going to try and go over each sign that I have learned so far at least twice this week to keep them fresh in my memory
I am going to slowly work through learning different types of food
I will keep on doing hand exercises to keep my hands strong and flexible
When taking a glance at the different outcomes across a few subjects, the closest connection to anything online that I can see is in Health Education, although there are not very many specific topics or discussion ideas specifically related to the idea of digital citizenship or having an online presence. However, there are topics that are discussed that could be seen to be at a similar level or have linking elements to digital citizenship.
For example, in the grade 2 Health Education curriculum, the outcome USC2.4: examine social and personal meanings of “respect” and establish ways to show respect for self, persons, living things, possession, and the environment has students learning what “respect” is and the different forms that it can look in different situations and contexts, as well as with different people. This outcome can be connected to the fourth element of digital citizenship, described by Mike Ribble (2017) as Digital Etiquette, which “refers to electronic standards of conduct or procedures and has to do with the process of thinking about others when using digital devices.” Having respect for another person’s opinion is important online and offline. Teaching students how to respect other people is a steppingstone in being able to have them know how to respect other people online.
In grade 4, the outcome USC4.3 examine healthy interpersonal skills and determine strategies to effectively develop new relationships and/or negotiate disagreements in relationships could also be looked at as skills needed for Digital Etiquette, as well as Digital Fluency which focuses on the process of understanding technology and its use, such as supporting others instead of making negative comments (Ribble, 2017). It could also be linked to the element Digital Communication and Collaboration which focuses on the electronic exchange of information which is an important part of conversing with other people. Many of USC4.3’s indicators talk about healthy ways to talk with people, respecting other points of view, practicing how to disagree healthily, and other similar topics.
Another grade 4 outcome, USC4.4 determine basic personal responsibility for safety and protection in various environments/situations, can be linked to the element Digital Health and Welfare which refers to the physical and psychological well-being in a digital world as well as Digital Rights and Responsibilities which focus on the requirements and freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world (Ribble, 2017). USC4.4 has two specific indicators that correlate with understanding safety and the risks that are involved with digital citizenship; d) examine cyber safety etiquette and related safety risks and strategies, and j) examine one’s responsibility to use electronic networks in an ethical and safe manner.
Google Search
Overall, I feel that there is a limited number of outcomes/indicators directly linked to digital citizenship and online safety, but there are multiple outcomes and indicators that focus on learning different skills that would help to pave the way towards teaching about it. Health education seems to be the main subject that allows ways to directly speak about digital citizenship and online safety, but there could be opportunities to speak about it through other subjects depending on the topic or even if a certain situation arises in the classroom where it would be a beneficial time to talk about it. For example, if students are tasked with researching or with creating an online presentation, it would be important to share about the potential risks involved with googling information or with providing personal information in making online accounts.
As a teacher, I would want to make it a priority to have general discussions and rules consistently around digital citizenship and online safety, especially if I am placed into a middle year’s classroom where technology use is a bit more prevalent inside and outside of the classroom. I want to make it clear to my students my stance on technology and the importance I hold in keeping them safe while also holding them accountable in keeping themselves safe online and when using different kinds of technology. There also shouldn’t be a requirement for a certain subject to be taught in order to bring up digital citizenship or online safety. It is a topic that can be and should be brought up in every subject if there is ever natural place to input it. Even if it is unnatural to bring it up or might not seem to fit perfectly with the topic at hand, it needs to be brought up enough that students are aware of their roles and responsibility with technology. Part of a teacher’s role is protecting their students and teaching their students how to take protect themselves.
