Course Outline: EDUC 108 – Building and Enhancing New

Literacies Across Curriculum

Course Coordinator: Michelle H. Montejo
Email: michoi.montejo@gmail.com
Student Consultation: by appointment
Effectivity Date: June 2020
Mode of Delivery: Blended
Time Frame: 54 hours
Student Workload: Self-Directed Learning
Requisites: None
Credit: 3
Attendance: A minimum of 95% attendance is required at all scheduled Virtual
or face to face sessions.

Course Outline Policy

Area of Concern Details

Contact and Non-contact This 3-unit course self-instructional manual is designed for
Hours blended learning mode of instructional delivery with scheduled
face to face or virtual sessions. The expected number of hours
will be 54 including the face to face or virtual sessions. The
face to face sessions shall include the summative assessment
tasks (exams) since this course is crucial in the licensure
examination for teachers.

Assessment Task Submission of assessment tasks shall be on 3rd, 5th, 7th and
Submission 9th week of the term. The assessment paper shall be attached
with a cover page indicating the title of the assessment task (if
the task is performance), the name of the course coordinator,
date of submission and name of the student. The document
should be emailed to the course coordinator. It is also
expected that you already paid your tuition and other fees
before the submission of the assessment task. If the
assessment task is done in real time through the features in
the Blackboard Learning Management System, the schedule
shall be arranged ahead of time by the course coordinator.

1
 Grading System All culled from BlackBoard sessions and traditional contact

Course discussions/exercises – 30%

1st formative assessment – 10%
2nd formative assessment – 10%
3rd formative assessment – 10%

All culled from on-campus/onsite sessions (TBA):

Final exam – 40%

Submission of the final grades shall follow the usual University

system and procedures.

Students with Special Students with special needs shall communicate with the course
Needs coordinator about the nature of his or her special needs.
Depending on the nature of the need, the course coordinator
with the approval of the program coordinator may provide
alternative assessment tasks or extension of the deadline of
submission of assessment tasks. However, the alternative
assessment tasks should still be in the service of achieving the
desired course learning outcomes.

Contact Details of the Dean Eduard L. Pulvera, MSIS

Contact Details of the Ana Mae M. Monteza, MAEd

Program Head

Let us begin!

2
 Week 1-3. At the end of the unit, students are expected to:
a. define literacy and the different types of literacy
b. expand one’s view of literacy
c. recognize the impact of globalization to cultural and
multicultural literacy
Big Picture in Focus: ULO a. Define literacy and the different
types of literacy

Metalanguage
In this section, you need to get familiar with the following essential terms as you go
over the ULOa.

Literacy is the state of being able to read and write.

Essential Knowledge

DEFINITION OF TERMS

To fulfill the first objective of this unit, the following terms must be understood.

1. Literacy is popularly understood as an ability to read, write and use numeracy in at least

one method of writing, an understanding reflected by mainstream dictionary and
handbook definitions.
1.1 Literacy is the state of being able to read and write.
1.2 Literacy is the ability to read, write and use numeracy, to handle information, to
express ideas and opinions, to make decisions and solve problems, as family
members, workers, citizens and lifelong learners.
1.3 Literacy stems from the word “literate,” which first appeared in 15 th century derived
from the Latin word literatus, meaning “(a person) marked with letters” – that is
“distinguished or identified by letters” – and later turned to the idea of being a
cultured person and educated”.

2. Conventional Literacy deals with reading and writing skills of letters in a particular
language such as knowing the alphabet, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax,
semantics and pragmatics that govern the reading and writing skills in a conventional
manner (McGee and Richgels, 1996).

3. Emergent Literacy is a type of literacy that deals with the earliest behaviors that relate to
a kind of literacy in form of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are manifested
before the actual conventional level of literacy is attained. It occurs in the period between
birth and the time when children read and write conventionally.

3
4. Initial Literacy happens at the time or stage an individual learns or is expected to learn
the basics or the process of acquiring basic skills in a particular field such as reading
and writing in a particular language.

5. Basic Literacy refers to a type of knowledge that is expected to be known by everyone in

a particular field like reading and writing.

6. Functional Literacy is another type of literacy that deals with application of conventional
form of literacy such as reading and writing well enough to understand signs, read
newspaper headings, read labels on medicine bottles, make shopping lists, read Bible,
write letters, fill in forms, apply for jobs, practice the language skills verbally & in written
form, reading for pleasure and purposive writing. It prepares an individual to engage in
all activities available for one’s development and survival.

7. Critical literacy involves interpreting a piece more than mere piece of work such as
analyzing and critiquing texts, language, power, social groups and social practices. It
focuses on the teaching of critical consciousness skills relating to an individual’s ability to
perceive social, political, and economic oppression and to take action against the
oppressive elements of society. It shows more ways of looking at written, visual, spoken,
multimedia and performance texts to question and challenge the attitudes, values and
beliefs that lie beneath the surface.

8. Aliteracy deals with literate individuals who are lazy to apply reading and writing skills
regularly. An alliterate person is someone who knows how to read and write but cannot
apply this skill to read a book, an article, a newspaper and other written materials.

9. Profession Literacy is a type of knowledge specialized in a particular field or profession

such as; medical profession, teaching profession, legal profession and others.

10. Legal Literacy refers to law related knowledge, skills and proficiency in executing legal
related matters.

11. Medical Literacy focuses at the knowledge, skills and proficiency in the medical field and
health care in particular.

12. Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively apply various financial skills,
including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing.

13. Statistical literacy is the ability to understand and reason with statistics and data. The
abilities to understand and reason with data, or arguments that use data, are necessary
for citizens to understand material presented in publications such as newspapers,
television, and the Internet.

14. Computer Literacy is an individual’s knowledge and ability to use computers and
technology efficiently. It includes the ability to play and manipulate computer
components, software, designing computer programs and use computers in a variety of
ways in meeting the age of technology efficiently.

15. Technological literacy is an individual’s ability to use technology tools to access,

manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information. It also extends to the

4
 knowledge possessed to create or develop technology related products in a broad
sense.

16. Ecological literacy – refer to an individual’s ability to understand the natural systems that
makes life on earth possible. This includes nature (water, trees, glass, animals and
others) that support human life.

17. Trans literacy refers to the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms,
tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to
digital social networks.

DID YOU KNOW?

 Worldwide, 12%— or 775 million adults—are considered

functionally illiterate.
 South Sudan is the world’s least literate country, with a literacy rate of just 27%.
Approximately 70% of children aged 6–17 years old have never set foot in a classroom.
 Worldwide, low literacy rates can be linked to several disasters, including high infant
mortality; the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other preventable infectious disease;
prejudice against women, including female infanticide and female circumcision; and
extreme poverty.
 Children who are born to educated mothers are less likely to be malnourished or
stunted. Each additional year of maternal education decreases the child mortality rate
by 2%.
 Countries that have 100% literacy rates include Finland, Greenland, North Korea,
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, and Vatican City.

References:

Lehnardt, K. (2019). Interesting Education and Literacy Facts. Available at https://www.factretriever.com/education-

and-literacy-facts. Accessed on May 5, 2020.
Lynch, M. (2019). What Are the Thirteen Types of Literacy? Retrieved @ https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-
the-13-types-of-literacy/ on May 26, 2020.

1.1 Activity Time!

Instruction: Given the definition, identify the type of literacy. Write the answer
on the blank before the number.

___________1. A type of literacy that looks at the time or stage an individual learns or is
expected to learn the basics or the process of acquiring basic skills in a particular field such as
reading and writing in a particular language.
___________2. This literacy looks at accounting, auditing, and any other profession relating to
money or financial management issues.
________3. What literacy is when a person knows how to read and write but cannot apply this
skill to read a book, an article, a newspaper and other written materials?

5
________4. This type of literacy involves interpreting a piece more than mere piece of work
such as determining what effect a writer is attempting to bring about in readers, why he or she is
making that effort and just who those readers are.
________5. A type of literacy that looks at law related knowledge, skills and proficiency an
individual may possess in executing legal related matters.
________6. The literacy that keeps on applying other forms of literacy such as reading to
survive.
________7. This literacy is the ability to possess business-oriented skills by means of adapting
to trade oriented environments in meeting the market standards.
________8. The literacy that refers to an individual’s ability to understand the natural systems
that makes life on earth possible.
________9. What literacy refers to the ability to read, write and interact across a range of
platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and
film, to digital social networks?
________10. This type of literacy involves knowing the alphabet, phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics that govern the reading and writing skills in a
conventional manner.

Big Picture in Focus: ULO b. Expand one’s view of literacy

Metalanguage
Conventional Literacy refers to reading and writing that follow
the form, content, and use of standard conventions.

21st Century Skill is generally used to refer to certain

core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical
thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools
need to teach to help students thrive in today's world.

Essential Knowledge

Exploring Conventional and 21 st Century Literacy

Traditional literacy skills like reading, writing, and arguing as well as new literacy
skills, such as critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and multi-cultural awareness are
significantly needed for the students in the 21 st century (NCTE, 2008; Wagner, 2008;
Grubb, 2003, p. 3; Sagan, 1996, p. 325). Science has become the primary tool of the 21st
century knowledge economy; therefore, students should be exposed to all major scientific
methodologies in terms of the "effective use" of language and "large amounts of specific
information" about the world (Hirsch, 1988, pp. 2-3.  Students need an understanding of

6
both qualitative (Cushman, Kintgen, Kroll, & Rose, 2001) and quantitative literacy (Paulos,
2001; Steen, 2001; Steen, 2004). They need to need to learn about how knowledge is
created, especially how the most reliable knowledge is made through scientific methods.  It
is knowing how to learn and know.

Despite the ubiquity of the traditional view of literacy, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) define literacy as “the ability
to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute using printed and
written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of
learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals to develop their knowledge and
potentials, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.”

Literacies in the 21st century are more than just reading and writing. Students need
to understand how the brain creates and uses subjective knowledge, how  concepts work
to define and categorize knowledge, and how concepts can be organized into conceptual
frameworks that interconnect facts into larger fields of knowledge (Barber, 2012).  
Students need to be able to understand concepts as tools, which can be used to solve
real-world problems (Fish, 2011, p. 15, 29).  Most importantly, students need to recognize
threshold concepts (Land, Meyer, & Smith, 2008), which enable new ways to see and
know the world.  Two of the most important threshold concepts involve learning to see
writing as two separate tools: It is both a tool for thinking and knowing, and it is a tool for
communicating knowledge and persuading people to see the truth.   Students need to
understand the theoretical purposes and the concrete practices of research, thinking, and
writing. 

The three sub-categories of conventional literacy:

 Basic Literacy – the ability to correspond visual shapes to spoken sounds in order
to decode written materials and translate them to oral language. It is the ability to
recognize letters and words (e.g. recognizing the letters sequence in the word
“b-a-t-a” even without understanding the meaning).

 Comprehension Literacy – it refers to the knowledge of the meaning of the word

being read (e.g. “bata” is either “child” or “towel”.)

 Functional/ Practical Literacy – is the ability to read and understand written

materials needed to perform the daily tasks.

Who are conventional readers and writers?

 Emergent literacy refers to all of the actions, understandings and misunderstandings of
learners engaged in experiences that involve print creation or use (Koppenhaver &
Erickson, 2003, p. 283).

 Conventional literacy refers to reading and writing that follow the form, content, and
use of standard conventions (Koppenhaver, 2000). The National Reading Panel report
(NRP, 2000), stated that in order to produce and understand conventional literacy an
individual must develop phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and
comprehension of connected text. These skills are required to independently construct a

7
 message that can be accurately interpreted by other conventional readers
(Koppenhaver, 2000).

References

Gangwer, T. (2017). Exploring the 21st Century Literacy. Available @ https://www.seenmagazine.us/Articles/Article-

Detail/ArticleId/6138/EXPLORING-THE-21ST-CENTURY-LITERACIES.Retrieved on May 26, 2020.

1.2 Check Your Understanding

Read the questions and answer each comprehensively in the space provided.

1. How literate are you considering the concepts of conventional and 21st century literacy?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Which among the type of literacies are you best and need more improvement?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. In the present, what materials do you read and were you able to completely understand
them?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. What are the changes in the present time that have led to the rise of new literacies?

8
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Big Picture in Focus: ULO c. Recognize the

impact of globalization to cultural and
multicultural literacy

Metalanguage

Globalization is the word used to describe the growing

interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and
populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and
services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and
information.

Culture relating to the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a

society.

Essential Knowledge

Impact of Globalization to Literacy

Globalization is the process of interaction and integration between people, business entities,
governments, and cultures from other nations, driven by international trade and investment and
supported by information technology (Levin Institute, 2017). Globalization has affected the
economic, cultural, and political aspects.

 Economic Dependence/Interdependence
- By attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), new technologies, increasing employment, and
money have come to the country which have choked out local industries. Kentor (2001) stated
that foreign capital dependence increases income inequality in four ways: (1) creates small,
highly paid class of elites to manage investments and creates low-pay jobs; (2) profits from
investment are repatriated, rather than invested in the host country, inhibiting domestic capital
formation; (3) foreign capital penetration tends to concentrate land ownership among the rich;

9
(4) host countries tend to create political and economic climates favorable to foreign capital that
in turn limit domestic labor’s ability to obtain better wages.
- Coupled with economic inequalities, this encourages political instability, resulting in policies
that favor the redistribution of income, which in turn discourages investment, which then slows
economic growth.

 Political and Military Dependence/Interdependence

- Where there are some forms of economic dependence, political dependence follows as the
investing nations strive to protect their investment and interests.

 Expanded Flow of Expressive Culture

- Expressive culture deals with expressing its culture through language, music, arts, and the
like. Globalization encourages the monetization of these cultural artifacts and their import/export
among participating cultures. K-Pop music and Korean culture has been ubiquitous presently.

 Expanded Flow of People

- Globalization encourages the movement of people between nation-states due to the following:
 Socio-economic opportunities to other countries for themselves and family.
 Political expulsion is seeking asylum to other countries in escape to the present political
climate of a particular country.
 Traveling for the sake of leisure/ travels abroad brought by the curiosity of people fed by
social media enabled by globalization.

1.3 Stretch Your Mind!

List ten products/services in the Philippines that have been a result of globalization and include
its country of origin.

1. ______________________________________ - ______________
2. ______________________________________ - ______________
3. ______________________________________ - ______________
4. ______________________________________ - ______________
5. ______________________________________ - ______________
6. ______________________________________ - ______________
7. ______________________________________ - ______________
8. ______________________________________ - ______________
9. ______________________________________ - ______________
10. ______________________________________ - ______________

Cultural Literacy
10
 Cultural literacy is the ability to understand and appreciate the similarities and
differences in the customs, values, and beliefs of one’s own culture and the cultures of others.
There is no culture that can live, if it attempts to be exclusive in its own. Therefore, as citizens of
the global world, it is particularly important that all nations be sensitive to the role that culture
plays in the behaviors, beliefs, and values of themselves and others.

The benefits of understanding culture include; multiplying access to practices, ideas, and
people that can make positive contributions to the society; and helping us understand ourselves
more deeply. By understanding a range of alternatives, we become aware of our own implicit
beliefs – beliefs so deeply imbedded that we routinely take them for granted (Stigler, Gallimore
and Hiebert, 2000). “Cultural literacy is applied in a variety of ways such as with regard to text
analysis, what a text means depends on what readers bring to the text and what they bring will
depend on the background, training, values, traditions, beliefs and norms they have
experienced.

In the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) is responsible
for the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of Philippine culture both locally and
abroad. Further, Republic Act 10066 (2010), recognized the Philippine Cultural Education
Program and Department of Education as designated body to “formulate the cultural heritage
education programs both for local and overseas Filipinos” that are to be an integral part of the
Philippine education in all aspects.

1.4 Pause and Reflect!

a. To assess one’s literacy to Filipino culture, write fifteen [five coming
from each island Luzon; Visayas; Mindanao] beliefs, practices, norms, or rituals that are
still performed by our compatriots.

LUZON
1. _______________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________

VISAYAS
6. _______________________________________________________________
7. _______________________________________________________________
8. _______________________________________________________________
9. _______________________________________________________________
10. _______________________________________________________________

MINDANAO
11. _______________________________________________________________
12. _______________________________________________________________

11
 13. _______________________________________________________________
14. _______________________________________________________________
15. _______________________________________________________________

b. Discuss the impact of globalization to the cultural literacy of a nation.

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

c. What are the ways to uplift the culture and cultural literacy of a nation?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Challenges for Cultural Literacy in the Philippines

As mentioned by Applebee (1987), interesting discussions on cultural literacy give rise to

difficult questions such as:

 What kind of knowledge constitute cultural literacy? Is it knowing facts, names, dates, or
is it more experiential like being familiar with a story of a particular song?

 If culture is “caught than taught” should cultural literacy be one of the goals of
education? If yes, how to teach it?
 How is cultural literacy to be assessed and evaluated? How can we prove one is
“culturally literate”?
 Who decides which cultures are included and which are excluded and on what bases?

These questions were still unanswered that constitute the challenges of cultural literacy in the
Philippines.

12
1.5 Starting Point Activity!
Slogan Making

Topic: Importance of Multicultural Literacy

Instructions: Create a slogan for the given topic.

Multicultural Literacy

Everything will pass for nothing is permanent except change. Due to globalization,
conflicts arise inevitably, values and worldviews have transformed because of the changes and
mixing of cultures. This situation gives rise to the need for multicultural literacy.

Multicultural literacy is the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that any
communication with a culture different from our own is clear and respectful and which does not
demean or treat other culture as inferior but rather celebrates the differences of each culture.
The Americans defined it as, the identification of the poly-ethnic origins of knowledge with the
express goal of fostering equality, diversity, and social justice. The perceived need for
multicultural literacy stems from “justice” for any individual, group or culture that cannot be
ignored. In Europe multicultural literacy, comes from intercultural communication competence
(ICC), as a composite of skills, abilities, attitudes, personality patterns necessary for clear and
productive communication with cultures other than their own. Fartini (2006) defined it as “a
complex of abilities needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with others
who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself.

The skills and knowledge require for one to be multi-culturally literate are not mere
language skills but rather literacy constitutes; perspective, attitude, and beliefs about culture that
affect the manner in which we communicate. Some characteristics include: selflessness,
willingness to compromise, acceptance of limits and recognition of others help.

Issues in Teaching and Learning Multicultural Literacy in the

Philippines

Conflicting Requirements for Peace

If all cultures have value peace to the same degree and are willing to make compromises, there
would be no problem with the heart of multicultural literacy which is peace. But it would be so
easy to be true. Take for example the Israeli/Palestinian conflict of territory. Both sides desire
peace but they do not desire enough to be willing to compromise. This means that both sides
would rather live one another in conflict rather than give-up their claim to the land they believed
is rightfully theirs.

Nationalistic and Regionalistic Pushback

13
The increasing demand for multicultural sensitivity, inclusion, and diversity have given rise to
resistance in some groups for the fear of being “watered-down”. The ensuing regional pride is
out of step with modernity, in our need to unite as a country. This came to a point when the
proposed “Ortograpiya ti Pasasao nga Ilokano” by the officials of the Komisyon ng Wikang
Filipino was met with backlash from groups of Ilokano writers over the incompetence in
preparing Ilokano orthography that did not conform with what is used by the Ilokano writers and
experts today.

The Question of Value

Some would ask “why should I treat people of another culture with respect?”. Dawkins (2016)
introduced “selfish-gene” where the more two individuals are similar to one another, the more
they behave selflessly to one another and selfishly to other different. Thus, the issue is of
cultural discrimination and injustice as one both genetics and survival.

1.6 Stretch Your Mind!

List 10 beliefs, practices, gestures, rituals, and activities of other
countries which have been adapted and practiced in the Philippines.

1. _______________________________ 6. _________________________________
2. _______________________________ 7. _________________________________
3. _______________________________ 8. _________________________________
4. _______________________________ 9. _________________________________
5. _______________________________ 10. _________________________________

1.7 Check Your Understanding!

1. How will you deal people who have different culture from yours? Do you go along? Do
you demean them?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

2. What makes a Filipino? Does it make a person Filipino if he was born and raised abroad
with Filipino parents or a person with foreign parents born and raised on the Philippines?

14
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3. What skills and knowledge do you need to possess to improve being multiculturally
literate?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

4. How does globalization affect the multicultural literacy?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

5. What are some of your regional discriminatory practices? (Example: If a woman speaks
Cebuano or Bisaya in Manila, she is often assumed to be a maid or yaya while if a man
speaks Tagalog with a heavy provincial accent, he is assumed to be a laborer)
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

15
 _________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Week 4-5. At the end of the unit, the students shall be able to:

a. develop understanding of the roles of parents and teachers in

teaching social skills to children
b. practice financial literacy
c. appreciate the importance of media and digital literacy in our
society

Big Picture in Focus: ULO a. Develop understanding of the roles

of parents and teachers in teaching social skills to children

Metalanguage
Social skills are the skills we use to communicate and interact
with each other, both verbally and non-verbally, through
gestures, body language and our personal appearance.
Parents pertains to a father or mother.
Teacher a person who teaches, especially in a school.

Essential Knowledge
Social Literacy
Social literacy pertains to the development of skills, knowledge, and values through
social interaction which enables human beings to act positively and responsibly in range of
complex social settings. It refers on how to behave and treat other people right, just, and
equitable by promoting positive relations.
1.1 Social literacy is the ability to connect effectively by understanding social skills,
organizational skills, and communications skills. It is the ability to communicate and
voice opinions and thoughts, as well as listen to opinions and thoughts of others.
1.2 Social literacy spans across interacting with peers, family, coworkers, teachers, and
even people that may not have met face to face. 
1.3 Grasping social cues and understanding how to play the various social roles are
essential in understanding social literacy. (e.g. I would speak differently with my
friends than I would my mother, or I would chat on Facebook differently than I would
while emailing a professor)

16
 a. What are Social Skills?
Human beings are sociable creatures who uses social skills, also known
as interpersonal or soft skills, to communicate messages, thoughts and feelings with others.
Verbal, nonverbal, written and visual are ways of communication used in daily basis. Verbal
skills involve the spoken language, while nonverbal communication includes body language,
facial expressions and eye contact. Social skill is used any time a person interacts with another
individual. Strong social skills help build and maintain successful relationships both
professionally and personally.
b. Why Social Skills are important?

 Gaining ideas, information, techniques and perspectives from people with different areas
of expertise
 Providing your own perspective for the benefit of others
 Accomplishing tasks and working together towards a shared goal
 Providing mutual support for difficult or hard-to-navigate situations
 Expanding your network to learn about and pursue new opportunities
 Gaining feedback and referrals from people who can personally attest to your work, skills
and qualities (and for whom you can do the same)
 Making the workplace more enjoyable

c. Developing Social Skills

Here are a few examples of qualities you can build to increase your social skills:

1. Effective Communication

- The ability to communicate effectively with others is a core social skill. Having strong communication
skills, will help a person to share his thoughts and ideas clearly with others.

2. Conflict Resolution

- Disagreements and dissatisfaction can arise in any situation. Conflict resolution is the ability to get to
the source of the problem and find a workable solution.

3. Active Listening

- Active listening is the ability to pay close attention to a person who is communicating with you. It can
be effectively done by focusing on the speaker, avoiding distractions, and by preparing questions,
comments or ideas to respond.

4. Greeting

- The first step in social interaction is greeting someone. Greeting others may be done by saying “Hi!”,
“Hello”, “How are you?” or gestures like waving hands, nods, or smile.

5. Empathy

17
- Empathy is the ability to understand and identify with the feelings of another person. Being more
empathetic takes a conscious effort to carefully consider how others feel. Strengthening one’s empathy
and rapport with others, will be able to build stronger relationships, which can be beneficial in many
ways.

6. Respect

- A key aspect of respect is knowing when to initiate communication and respond. Allowing others to
speak without interruption is seen as a necessary communication skill tied to respectfulness.

7. Foreseeing

- Conversations require that one thinks about the effects the words/actions may have on the listener
before actually saying it.

8. Apologizing

- Everyone makes mistake. A person with good social skills does not hesitate to make a sincere
apology for an error.

[Source: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/social-skills. Accessed on 20th of May 2020]

d. Causes of Poor Social Skills

Gresham (1998), identified causes of developing poor social skills as follows:

1. Alcohol Misuse

- A person with alcohol abuse may fail in perceiving facial emotions, exhibit perception

problems, and has the inability to understand humor resulting to poor social skills.

2. ADHD and hyperkinetic disorder

- Half of ADHD children and adolescents will experience peer rejection, compared to non-ADHD
youth. Adolescents with ADHD are less likely to develop close friendships and romantic
relationships; they are usually regarded by their peers as immature or as social outcasts.

3. Autism

- People with autistic spectrum disorders including Asperger syndrome are often deficient in

social skills. 

4. Anxiety and Depression

- Due to anxiety experienced from fear of negative reaction by others, surfeit expectations of

failure or social rejection in socialization leads to avoiding or shutting down from social
interactions. Individuals who experience significant levels of social anxiety often struggle when
communicating with others, and may have impaired abilities to demonstrate social cues and
behaviors appropriately.

18
5. Anti-Social Behavior

- Anti-social behavior are actions that harm or lack consideration for the well-being of others. It
is associated with other behavioral and developmental issues such as hyperactivity, depression,
learning disabilities and impulsivity. Alongside these issues one can be predisposed or more
inclined to develop such behavior due to one's genetics, neurobiological and environmental
stressors in the prenatal stage of one's life, through the early childhood years.

2.1 Pause and Reflect!

Describe a personal experience where you felt socially
uncomfortable/anxious. What caused the social anxiety and how did you deal with it?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

For an effective social literacy, should a person be more of a talker or listener?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

19
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

What techniques/strategies do you practice to improve your social skills?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Roles of Parents and Teachers in Teaching Social Skills to Children

A. Parents
The development of social skills for children depends on their personality, age and
environment. An environment which nurtures a child’s social development is one in which the
child is provided with opportunities to master certain skills through repetition, practice and
feedback.
Meanwhile, parents play an important role in a child’s social development. The way in
which a parent interacts socially is a model for the child to learn from. When modelling (i.e.
exhibiting) certain behaviors, the child is learning vicariously what is effective.

The following are what parents can do to develop the social skills of children:
 Providing opportunities to gaining social skills such as playing games like snakes and
ladders as a family gives an opportunity to model and encourage sharing, listening,
taking turns.

 Giving instructions to children clearly and directly like saying “please” when you ask for
something, or “shake hands to the winner” whenever playing a game.

 Help children to think of their own solutions rather than telling them how to solve a
problem.

 Providing feedback. Children need help to learn that certain behaviors have certain
results. It is helpful for a child to be asked to think about how a different behavior might
produce a different result. For example, “When you yelled, what happened? If you didn’t
yell, what do you think might have happened? What can you do differently?”

20
  Talking with children in ways that help them see that their behavior is separate to them
as people. Children sometimes struggle to see themselves as separate to their behavior,
so will often view themselves as bad people if they do something you don’t like.

[Source: https://www.betterrelationships.org.au/parenting/common-issues-for-children/social-skills/.Accessed on 20 of May 2020]

B. Teachers

The role of a teacher in helping students acquire social skills is a critically important
one.  Teachers must encourage students to be assertive in expressing their needs and
preferences to ensure the development of positive self-esteem, self-confidence and sense of
identity.  The everyday experiences children have in relationships with their classmates and
teachers are fundamental to children developing social skills (Cohn, Patterson, &
Christopoulous, 1991; Parke & Ladd, 1992).  

The activities below can help improve social skills:

 Visuals: Make up a poster of rules to remember when starting a conversation (e.g. using

a friendly voice, making eye contact, using appropriate greetings, such as ‘hello’).

 Role play: Practice playground/party scenarios where the child does not know anybody.
Model and create a list of different things you can say:
 To join others who are playing (e.g. “Can I play too?”).
 To introduce yourself (e.g. “Hi my name is ….”).
 To politely negotiate with peers (e.g. “I don’t want that one. Can I have the blue car
please?”).

 Sing songs, such as ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ to help teach a child about different
emotion.

 Masks: Make masks together to help improve eye contact.

 Turn taking: Play turn taking games (e.g. board games) to encourage a child to say
whose turn it is in the game (e.g. “My turn”, “Your turn”).

 Games: Play board games with the child. Make sure the child is not always the ‘winner’ so
that they learn about ‘losing’ in a game and are able to cope better when this happens
with their peers.

 Bean bag conversation: Throw a bean bag around a circle and each child takes a turn to
contribute to the conversation. Think of different ways to contribute to the conversation
(e.g. ask a question, comment on what has been said, add something related to the topic).

 Watch and comment: Role play different situations and comment about appropriate and
inappropriate attempts of communication (e.g. standing too close or too far from another
person, not using appropriate eye contact, interrupting a conversation).

[Source: https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/play-and-social-skills/social-skills/. Retrieved on 20 May 2020.]

21
2.2 Check you Understanding!
Discuss comprehensively your answers to the given questions.

1. If you were a parent, what social skills will you teach your children? How will you teach them?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. How do teachers educate children of social literacy nowadays?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

3. Cite benefits and dangers of gadgets and social media to social skills of children in the
present?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

4. As an employer/manager, how important is good social skill in the workplace? Does it equate
to competence?

22
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Big Picture in Focus: ULO b. Practice financial literacy

Metalanguage

Financial Literacy is the ability to understand and properly

apply financial management skills. 
Money is any object that is generally accepted as payment
for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given
country or socio-economic context.

Essential Knowledge
Financial Literacy

One of the biggest challenges in teaching students is choosing how to balance teaching
practical life skills and academic knowledge. Even the highest-performing students can struggle
with basic financial literacy tasks like budgeting and saving. When students don’t learn those
skills, they face the risk of later making uninformed money decisions that can affect the rest of
their lives. 

2.3 Start Up Activity!

Get Acquainted with Murphy’s Law
Instructions: Think of an unexpected event that your family contend with and how much money
did it cost your family to address the emergency.

1. Did your family have savings to use for the emergency?

2. If yes, how much was left? / If no, where did you get money?
3. Design a 52-week savings “first aid kit” [This savings plan aims to save money to be able
to use during unexpected family emergency like accidents, death, etc.]

23
 4. Do not exaggerate your savings plan, you are still a student just spare an amount from
your allowance. [Total savings: Add up all the savings after a 52-weeks]

52-WEEK SAVINGS PLAN

Week Deposit Amount Account Balance Week Deposit Amount Account Balance

TOTAL SAVINGS: _______________________

Financial Literacy is the ability to read, analyze, manage, and communicate about
personal financial conditions that affect material well-being. It includes the ability to discern
financial choices, discuss money and financial issues with discomfort, plan for the future, and
respond competently to life events that affect the everyday financial decisions, including events
in the general economy (Incharge Education Foundation, 2017).

Other definitions include:

 Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively apply various financial skills,
including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. It helps individuals
become self-sufficient so that they can achieve financial stability.
 Financial literacy also involves the proficiency of financial principles and concepts, such
as financial planning, compound interest, managing debt, profitable savings techniques,
and the time value of money. The lack of financial literacy may lead to making poor
financial choices that can have negative consequences on the financial well-being of an
individual. 
 Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works: how someone makes,
manages and invests it, and also expends it (especially when one donates to charity) to
help others.

24
Common Knowledge about Financial Literacy
Most financial consumers lack the ability to choose and manage a credit card efficiently.
Lack of financial literacy education is responsible for lack of money management skills
and financial planning for business and retirement.
Most potential retirees lack information about saving and investing for retirement.
Many people fail to plan ahead and they take on financial risks without realizing it.
Problems of debt are severe for a large proportion of the population because of financial
illiteracy.
Youth on average are less financially capable than their elders.

Benefits of Financial Literacy

Your level of financial literacy affects your quality of life significantly. It can benefit everyone
regardless of age and income. Below are some of the benefits of financial literacy:
 Financial education can help families acquire the discipline to save for their own home
and/or for their children’s education.
 Financial literacy changes one’s attitude to money and investment, as well as your
contribution to your community.
 Financial literacy enables people to understand what a lifestyle that is financially balanced,
sustainable, ethical and responsible.
 It can help older workers ensure that they have enough savings for a comfortable retirement
by providing them with the information and skills to make wise investment choices with their
individual pension and savings plans.
 Financial education can help low-income people make the most of what they are able to
save and help them avoid the high cost charged for financial transactions by non-financial
institutions.
 Financial literacy also helps entrepreneurs leverage other people’s money for business to
generate sales and profits.
 For young adults, it can provide basic tools for budgeting and saving so that expenses and
debt can be kept controlled.

Financial Literacy in the Philippines

The study of Go (2017), indicated facts about the state of financial literacy in the country
which include:
 World Bank study in 2014 estimated 20 million Filipinos saved money but only half had
bank accounts.
 Asian Development Bank (ADB) study in 2015 revealed that PH does not have a
national strategy for financial education and literacy.
 In 2016, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released the national strategy for financial
inclusion, stating that while institutions strive to broaden financial services, financial
literacy should also complement such initiatives.

25
  As per Standard & Poor’s (S&P) ratings services survey last year, only 25% Filipinos are
financially literate. This means that about 75 million Filipinos have no idea about
inflation, risk diversification, insurance, compound interest, and bank savings.
 Ten years after discovery of the stock market, still less than one percent of the PH
population is invested in it.
 More than 80% of the working middle class have no formal financial plan.

As a result of this findings, public and private sectors alike recognized the need to
strengthen financial education in the country. Further, Republic Act No. 10922 designates
second week of November as Economic and Financial Literacy Week.

Developing Personal Financial Literacy

Being financially literate allows one to earn more, spend less, and get the things he or
she really wants. To develop financial literacy at any age, follow these steps.

1. Become familiar with your household finances. Know how much money you have coming
in, how much goes out, and where it goes.
1.1 Review your bank statements. 
1.2 Go through your monthly bills.
1.3 Track your loans.
1.4 Obtain a copy of your credit report and read it.
2. Set a financial goal. Financial responsibility is easier when you are working towards a goal.
It does not matter what your goal is, just that it is something you want for which you will have to
save.
2.1 Travel abroad
2.2 Purchase a new car
2.3 Build your own house
3. Develop a budget and stick to it. Once you know how much money you have coming in
and going out, and you have a financial goal, you will need to develop a budget that allows you
to save towards your goal. 
3.1 Keep a record of your monthly spending for several months.
3.2 Write a spending plan with your spending record and eliminate unnecessary
expenses
3.3 Revise your budget as necessary when it bills/expenses change.
4. Discuss finances openly and honestly, and stay involved. Generally, one spouse is in
charge of the finances, but that is no excuse for the other to not know where the money goes,
and be involved in financial decisions.
5. Learn the difference between good debt and bad debt. Not all debt is created equal. 
5.1 Debt, which creates value and helps you to build wealth is good debt.
[Mortgage is an example, the value of the home increases as the amount of the debt
decreases and you build equity in the home.]

26
 5.2 Debt, which continues to increase, as the item purchased with it decreases, is bad
debt.
[Credit cards are the number one bad debt among consumers.]
6. Avoid common money management mistakes. There should be more money coming in
than there is going out.
6.1 Calling luxuries items necessities.
7. Educate yourself on personal finance. Look for organizations in your community that can
help you learn more about personal finance, with articles, activities, and classes.

[Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Financial-Literacy.Accessed on 20 th of May 2020.]

2.4 Assess Yourself!

Classify all your expenses and write it below under needs/wants. Do not forget to write the
prices of each expense. Compare which cost you more, needs or wants.

NEEDS PRICE WANTS PRICE

2.5 Application!
A. Create a pie chart using the categories below, then map your ideal and current budget
plan using a pie chart.

Note: If you are leaving alone in an apartment, base your budget plan to your real monthly budgeting.
If you are leaving with the family, assume that you are in-charge of the family’s monthly budgeting.

a. Housing
b. Electric Bills
c. Internet/Load

27
 d. Food
e. Debt
f. Education
g. Transportation

Ideal Budget Current Budget

B. Compare your ideal budget plan from your current budget plan.

Big Picture in Focus: ULO c. Appreciate the importance of

media and digital literacy in the society

Metalanguage

Media are the communication outlets or tools used to store and

deliver information or data. 

Essential Knowledge

28
 Media and Cyber/ Digital Literacy
Media Literacy
Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate messages
in a wide variety of forms (Aufderheide, 1993). Another definition of media literacy states, “it is
an ability to understand information from different media by filtering or sifting through and
analyzing the messages that inform and educate people every day. Further, it is the ability to
bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media; from music videos and web environments to
product placement in films and virtual displays on billboards.
Worsnop (1994) says media literacy has three stages:
a. Becoming aware of the importance of managing one’s media diet that is, making
choices and reducing the time spent with television, videos, electronic games, films and
various print media forms.
b. Learning specific skills of critical viewing— learning to analyze and question what is in
the frame, how it is constructed and what may have been left out. Skills of critical
viewing are best learned through inquiry-based classes or interactive group activities, as
well as from creating and producing one’s own media messages.
c. Exploring deeper issues. This stage analysis how everyone in society makes meaning
from our media experiences, and how the mass media drive our global consumer
economy.
Thus, being media literate means being able to decode, understand, evaluate and write
through, and with, all forms of media and competence in creating text, images and sounds, or
any combination of these elements. Media literacy seeks to empower citizens and to transform
passive relationship to media into an active, critical engagement, capable of challenging the
traditions and structures of a privatized, commercial media culture, and finding new avenues of
citizen speech and discourse.

Benefits of Media Literacy

 Recognizing Point-of-View — Whether the point-of-view is clear or debatable,

recognizing it allows students to question and contextualize the information they receive.

 Improving Critical Thinking Skills — Evaluating media through in-class or take-home

exercises encourages students to determine if the messages are accurate.

 Learning How to Create Different Products — Many media literacy activities allow
students to “learn by doing,” studying and creating a range of products from print ads to
television scripts.

 Linking Existing Content with Student Interests — You can make curriculum content
more engaging by linking it with students’ favorite media.

[Source: https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/teaching-media-literacy/.Retrieved on 21 May 2020.]

What Media Literacy is Not?

29
Due to the broadness of media literacy, there are some actions that are often mistaken as
representative of media literacy such as [Center for Media Literacy, n.d]:

 Criticizing the media is not, in and of itself media literacy. However, being media literate
at some point, criticize what one sees and hears.
 Merely producing media is not media literacy although part of being media literate is the
ability to produce media.
 Teaching with media [videos, presentations] does not equal media literacy. It should
have been teaching about media.
 Viewing media and analyzing it from a single perspective. True media requires
willingness to view and analyze media from various point of view.
 Media literacy does not simply mean knowing what and what not to watch; it means
“watch carefully, think critically.”

How to Teach Media Literacy?

Media education is now required in many curricula across the world. Schools are
working hard to help teachers prepare students for changes in the industry and have continued
access to the right tools for the job. As the digital world develops, at what often seems like a
daily pace, teachers will need resources to stay abreast of current trends. Below are the tips for
a better use of media:
1. Recognize Fake News
A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that false news spreads
faster, farther, and deeper than real news on Twitter. Teach students to read past the headline,
check the date and author credentials, gauge the tone and language, and identify biases.
2. Use Multiple Resources
Have students create a poster or a mind map listing different kinds of sources, including which
ones are reliable and which ones aren’t. 
3. Gauging Tone and Language
There is a difference between credible and non-credible language, whether it’s written or
spoken. Teach students to develop an “ear” for it. People are especially likely to believe what
they read or hear when it’s couched in language that sounds flowery or academic.
4. Understanding Images and the Brain
Visual media has an especially large impact on consumers. This is because there’s a huge part
of the brain devoted to visual processing. It’s called the visual cortex, and it affects our attention,
motivation, and even our emotions. Students need to understand just how powerful images can
be in the media.
5. Recognizing Biases
Teach students to recognize which channels might highlight which kinds of facts, emphasize
certain kinds of contexts or angles, and use different tones. At the same time, teach them to
recognize their own biases, which can influence their perceptions of the media as well. It goes
both ways.

30
 6. Shaping the Media Ourselves
A free, open media is essential to a democratic society. Media education ensures that future
generations will be able to think for themselves and not just be shaped by what they see and
hear.
7. Curating Information
It’s a challenge, but it’s an important one: teach students how to effectively filter, select,
organize, save, and use information gathered from media sources. Turn it into a research
project where they discover solutions on their own and share their findings with you and the rest
of the class.
8. Becoming Responsible Creators
It’s never been easier to create and spread a message, and to such a wide audience. Teach
students to be responsible creators of media. Not all of them will go into the media, per se, but
they will design and distribute information, many of them daily, for the rest of their lives.
[Source: https://www.canva.com/learn/10-creative-methods-to-teach-media-literacy/.Accessed on 21 May 2020.]

2.6 Pause and Reflect!

Self-Assessment: Check the appropriate column describing your literacy.

Questions YES NO
1. Can I read/write?
2. Do I know how to write and send emails?
3. Can I create documents in spreadsheets?
4. Do I know how to use web browser?
5. Do I evaluate the results returned by a search engine after I typed a
query?
6. Do I know where to find information on local and national news?
7. Do I know where to find reliable and factual information?
8. Can I make documents and images that must be scrolled through
rather than flipped?
9. Do I know how to share information online?
10. Do I know how to scrutinize information source as factual or
trustworthy?
11. Do I know how to synthesize the contents of several texts on similar
topics into coherent whole?
12. Do I understand and accept the fact that with all these digital tools I
have the responsibility to learn whatever I have to learn and do on my
own?
13. Do I know that there are morally acceptable and unacceptable
behaviors that are ought to govern when I communicate online?

Digital Literacy

31
 The American Library Association (ALA) defines digital literacy as “the ability to use
information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate
information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.” The mere knowledge of how to send a
text and post to social media are not considered “digitally literate” by any means. Another
definition indicated, “digital literacy is having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a
society where communication and access to information is increasingly through digital
technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices”.
Hiller Spires, a professor of literacy and technology at North Carolina State University,
views digital literacy as having three buckets: 1) finding and consuming digital content; 2)
creating digital content; and 3) communicating or sharing it.
Digital literacy in education encompasses so much more. For example, students must
have specific skills when reading online text that may contain embedded resources such as
hyperlinks, audio clips, graphs, or charts that require students to make choices. Students today
are also being asked to create, collaborate, and share digital content and to do so responsibly.
For these reasons, principals, school librarians, and teachers understand the importance of
digital literacy skills for students and teaching digital literacy in the classroom.

Critical Thinking

Collaboration Online Safety

and Creativity Skills

Digital Literacy
Finding Competencies
Digital Culture
Information

Communication
Functional Skills
& Netiquette

Digital Literacy Competencies

32
  Critical Thinking
Children and teens need to develop critical thinking skills in order to get the best use out of
digital technologies. Teaching them to ask questions and to remain skeptical will help them to
navigate the wealth of information that is available to them online.
 Online Safety Skills
Being safe online means that one have the knowledge to identify the potential risks and are
conscious of personal security while browsing, sharing or surfing the internet. By teaching
internet safety, you are not only helping your students become more vigilant about their own
safety, but also helping them become better users of the internet.
 Digital Culture
Increasingly, the main draw of technology for young people is the participation in a global digital
culture. The internet enables people to connect with any part of the world and to create shared
experiences, online content and a sense of belonging. Young people are able to make friends
with a much larger, culturally diverse set of people.
 Collaboration and Creativity
Peer learning and collaboration can be created with students using a variety of online mediums.
Teachers often use Google Classroom to collect and disseminate work, while presentations or a
wikis are great to show end results. Online platforms such as these allows users to edit and
modify both content and structure collaboratively. 
 Finding Information
When researching online independently, many students rely on a quick Google or Wikipedia,
followed by copy and paste. There are issues here with plagiarism but mainly, there is a lack of
knowledge on how to conduct proper research online. It is important for students to learn how to
search for information properly as this will become a valuable tool for them should they go on to
further education or indeed for their future jobs. Developing this area of digital literacy means
showing students the tools they can use to help them research better. 
 Functional Skill
Technology must not stay in the hands of the teacher, but allow the students to use and interact
with different technologies. Many teachers do not feel competent when it comes to their own
digital skills but it is no harm if students know more, use their knowledge to your advantage,
maintain control of the classroom and ask assistance when needed. 

Communication and Netiquette

Educating students about their digital footprint and respectful online communication will help
them curate a safe social media presence
[Source: https://www.webwise.ie/teachers/digital_literacy/. Accessed 21 May 2020.]

Key Digital Literacy Skills Kids must know:

33
 Searching effectively. From researching a school report to watching the latest music
video, kids need to learn how to evaluate the quality, credibility, and validity of media and to give
proper credit to the source.
Protecting their and others' private information online. With so many ways to share
information, kids need to learn internet safety basics, such as creating strong passwords, using
privacy settings, and respecting their friends' privacy.
Giving proper credit when using other people's work. In a world where anything can be
copied, pasted, and even claimed as one's own, it's critical that kids learn to correctly cite
sources.
Understanding digital footprints. What makes digital media so cool -- the ability to
interact -- also creates tiny tracks across the web. Kids need to know that whenever they create
a profile, post something, or comment on something, they're creating a composite profile
potentially viewable by others.
Respecting each other's ideas and opinions. To be digitally literate, kids must
understand that what makes the web an amazing place is that for this vast virtual world to
function properly, we must all be good digital citizens.

[Source: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/news-and-media-literacy/what-is-digital-literacy.
Retrieved on 21 May 2020.]

2.7 Check Your Understanding!

1. You received a message on your phone stating you won 500, 000 php in a raffle draw. How
will you respond as a media and digital literate individual? Why would you respond that way?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. If you were assigned to report about Murphy’s Law. What will you do and how will you ensure
that you have understood the information you find?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

34
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

3. How will you promote media and digital literacy to a society [“na lahat ng tao may opinion
mapa fake news man o hindi”]?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

4. Based on the current situation, how do media giants influence the Filipino people?

Positive Influence Negative Influence

2.8 Stretch Your Mind!

35
Case Analysis
Analyze the given case and answer each question comprehensively.

Mariel is a high schooler who is an avid user of social media like Facebook and Twitter.
All day long, she spends her time scrolling, reading people’s post, uploading pictures,
commenting on some posts and doing thousands of selfies. She doesn’t have too much
movements or even do some easy exercise and most of the time she slept late. Mariel was
singly brought up by her father since she lost her mother at an early age. Danilo, Mariel’s father
has often reminded his daughter of the health consequences of too much exposure to blue
lights from cellphones. Additionally, he sometimes scolded Mariel for the disgusting and vulgar
posts and the flirtatious selfies. No matter how often Danilo reminded and scolded Mariel, she
ends up doing it again and again as if nothing was heard.
Meanwhile, another high-schooler named Troy was also addicted to the online game
Mobile Legend (ML). Night and day Troy keep on playing the game through phone. At its worse,
he skips meals just to continue with his endeavor for the mythic level. And whenever, he was
told to do some chores, he gets mad for he will be distracted from his online battles. All day
long, he just sits in one corner and play with his phone, and sleeps at 2:00AM. He has been
scolded many times for the uncontrolled habit but nothing’s changed. It keeps on happening
continuously despite the reminders.

1. How bad are the effects of media and digital illiteracy?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. What are the roles and responsibilities of the parents for their child’s pursuit to media and
digital literacy?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

36
3. Based from the case given, what characteristics of media and digital literacy were
lacking/violated by Mariel and Troy?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. What should individuals observe and practice among themselves so as to achieve media and
digital literacy?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

5. What are some personal experiences that you had which violated the rule of media and
gadget use? What were the consequences and how did you deal with it?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

37
Week 6-7. At the end of this unit, the students shall be able to:
1. Recognize individual and collective roles in protecting and
rehabilitating the environment and ecosystem
2. Apply principle of critical literacy in designing lessons and
classroom activities

Big Picture in Focus: ULO a. Recognize individual and collective roles

in protecting and rehabilitating the environment and ecosystem

Metalanguage
Ecology the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms
to one another and to their physical surroundings.
Environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring
naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. 

Essential Knowledge

Ecological Literacy

3.1 Start Up Activity!

List down ten daily activities that you do to help preserve and protect the environment
1. ___________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________________________
6. ___________________________________________________________________
7. ___________________________________________________________________
8. ___________________________________________________________________
9. ___________________________________________________________________
10. ___________________________________________________________________

38
 Ecological literacy (Eco literacy) is the ability to understand the natural system that is
related to our life. It is a way of thinking about the world in terms of interactions within natural
systems including a consideration of the consequences of human actions. Eco literacy equips
students with the knowledge and competencies necessary to address solution of environmental
issues in an integrated way. David Orr (1989) indicated that knowing, caring, and practical
competence form the foundation of eco literacy. Thus, the goal of ecological literacy is “built on
the recognition that the disorder of ecosystems reflects a prior disorder of mind, making it a
central concern to those institutions that purport to improve minds. He pointed out that the root
of environmental crisis is the individual’s inability to think ecological patterns, systems of
causation, and long-term effects of human actions. In other words, the ecological crisis is in
every way a crisis of education. He added that eco literacy does not only require mastery of
subject matter, but the creation of meaningful connections between head, hands, and heart as
well.

According to Fritjof Capra, “In the coming decades, the survival of humanity will depend
on our ecological literacy – our ability to understand the basic principles of ecology and to live
accordingly. This means that eco literacy must become a critical skill for politicians, business
leaders, and professionals in all spheres, and should be the most important part of education at
all levels – from primary and secondary schools to colleges, universities, and the continuing
education and training of professionals.”

Biggest Environmental Problem Today

The effect that humanity is having on the environment is becoming ever-more important.
Through our actions we are destroying habitats and endangering the lives of future generations.
At this point there is no denying the fact that our environment is changing. Hundreds of studies
have been conducted to demonstrate that this is happening and it is having an effect on life
around us.

1. Climate Change
Greenhouse gases occur naturally and are essential to the survival of humans and millions of
other living things, by keeping some of the sun’s warmth from reflecting back into space and
making Earth livable. But after more than a century and a half of industrialization, deforestation,
and large-scale agriculture, quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen to
record levels not seen in three million years. As populations, economies and standards of living
grow, so does the cumulative level of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. Statistics created by
NASA state that global temperatures have risen by 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, which is
directly linked to a reduction in Arctic ice of 13.3% per decade.
2. Polar Ice Caps

NASA studies have shown that the amount of ice in Antarctica is actually increasing, these rises
only amount to a third of what is being lost in the Arctic. There is strong evidence to suggest that
sea levels are rising, with the Arctic ice caps melting being a major contributor. Over time, this
could lead to extensive flooding, contamination of drinking water and major changes in
ecosystems.

3. Lowered Biodiversity

39
Continued human activities and expansion has led to lowered biodiversity. A lack of biodiversity
means that future generations will have to deal with increasing vulnerability of plants to
pests and fewer sources of fresh water. Lowered biodiversity has a large impact on climate
change and pollution on ecosystems, particularly in areas with higher amounts of species
extinction.

4. Air Pollution

Air pollution is becoming an increasingly dangerous problem, particularly in heavily-populated

cities. The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that 80% of people living in urban
areas are exposed to air quality levels deemed unfit. It is also directly linked to other
environmental issues, such as acid rain and eutrophication. Animals and humans are also at
risk of developing a number of health problems due to air pollution.

5. Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification is the term used to describe the continued lowering of the pH levels of the
Earth’s oceans as a result of carbon dioxide emissions. It is estimated that ocean acidity
will increase by 150% by 2100 if efforts aren’t made to halt it. This causes issues throughout the
food chain and may lead to reductions in aquatic life.

6. Ozone Layer Depletion

Ozone depletion is caused by the release of chemicals, primarily chlorine and bromide, into the
atmosphere. A single atom of either has the potential to destroy thousands of ozone molecules
before leaving the stratosphere. Ozone depletion results in more UVB radiation reaching the
Earth’s surface. This leads to skin cancer and eye disease, plus it affects plant life and has been
linked to a reduction of plankton in marine environments.

7. Overfishing

It is estimated that 63% of global fish stocks are now considered overfished. Overfishing leads

to a misbalance of ocean life, severely affecting natural ecosystems in the process.
Furthermore, it also has negative effects on coastal communities that rely on fishing to support
their economies.

8. Deforestation

The demands of an increasing population have resulted in increasing levels of deforestation.

Current estimates state that the planet is losing 80,000 acres of tropical forests per day. This
results in loss of habitat for many species, placing many at risk and leading to large-scale
extinction. Furthermore, deforestation is estimated to produce 15% of the world’s greenhouse
gas emissions.

9. Population Growth

40
Many of the issues listed here result from the massive population growth that Earth has
experienced in the last century. The planet’s population grows by 1.13% per year, which works
out to 80 million people. This results in a number of issues, such as a lack of fresh water, habitat
loss for wild animals, overuse of natural resources and even species extinction. The latter is
particularly damaging, as the planet is now losing 30,000 species per year.

10. Water Pollution

Fresh water is crucial to life on Earth, yet more sources are being polluted through human
activities each year. On a global scale, 2 million tons of sewage, agricultural and industrial
waste enters the world’s water every day. It can lead to harmful effects once what we drink is
contaminated and also disrupts marine life, sometimes altering reproductive cycles and
increasing mortality rates.

11. Waste Production

The average person produces 4.3 pounds of waste per day, with the United States alone
accounting for 220 million tons per year. Much of this waste ends up in landfills, which generate
enormous amounts of methane. Not only does this create explosion hazards, but methane also
ranks as one of the worst of the greenhouse gases because of its high global warming potential.

[Source: https://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/top-environmental-problems/. Accessed on May 25, 2020]

What is an Ecoliterate Person?

Dr. Tom Puk (2002) characterized and ecologically literate person as “a responsible,
lifelong learner who strives to improve the human condition and the environment within the
context of self, human groups, the biosphere and ecosphere”. Thus, an ecologically literate
person of the 21st century has a positive view of life, grounded in the faith of
interconnectedness, and has the capacity to competently perform significant life work and
related tasks. The following are the are the ways to develop an ecoliterate person:

 Develop empathy for all forms of life

At a basic level, all organisms—including humans—need food, water, space, and conditions
that support dynamic equilibrium to survive. With the common need we share with all
organisms; we can change our perspective from a view of humans as separate and superior to
a more authentic view of humans as members of the natural world. From that perspective, we
can expand our circles of empathy to consider the quality of life of other life forms, feel genuine
concern about their well-being, and act on that concern.

 Embrace sustainability as a community practice

By learning about the wondrous ways that plants, animals, and other living things are
interdependent, students are inspired to consider the role of interconnectedness within their
communities. This is as a result of the fact that organisms do not survive in isolation. Instead,
the web of relationships within any living community determines its collective ability to survive
and thrive.

41
  Make the invisible visible
If a homesteading family cleared their land of trees, for example, they might soon experience
flooding, soil erosion, a lack of shade, and a huge decrease in biodiversity. If we strive to
develop ways of living that are more life-affirming, we must find ways to make visible the things
that seem invisible.

 Anticipate unintended consequences

Many of the environmental crises that we face today are the unintended consequences of
human behavior. Such as the use of fossil fuels and only recently have become aware of the
downsides of our dependency on fossil fuels, such as pollution, suburban sprawl, international
conflicts, and climate change.

 Understand how nature sustains life

Ecoliterate people recognize that nature has sustained life for eons; as a result, they have
turned to nature as their teacher and learned several crucial tenets.

[Source: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_ways_to_develop_ecoliteracy. Retrieved on May

23, 2020.]

Environmental and Ecological Literacy

Numerous scholars have argued that the terms environmental literacy or ecological
literacy have been used in so many different ways and/or are so all‐encompassing.

The term environmental literacy was first used 45 years ago in an issue of
the Massachusetts Audubon by Roth (1968) who inquired “How shall we know the
environmentally literate citizen?” Environmental literacy refers to the awareness of and concern
about the environment and its associated problems, as well as the knowledge, skills, and
motivations to work toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones
(NAAEE 2004). Environmental encompasses the following competence:(1) an understanding of
the earth as a physical system ans the living environment, including humans and their societies;
(2) a familiarity with some basic modes of inquiry, critical thinking and problem-solving skills,
and an ability to interpret and synthesize information; (3) an understanding of the ideas,
principles, and practices of citizenship in order to participate in resolving issues; and (4)
motivation and empowerment to act, understanding that what people do as individuals and
groups can make a difference.

42
 Meanwhile, the term ecological literacy was first publicly used 27 years ago by Risser
(1986) in his Address of the Past President to the Ecological Society of America. Ecoliteracy is
the ability to understand the natural systems that make life on earth possible. It is the power that
comes from the knowledge and consciousness of how nature’s living systems operate. It
focuses on the key ecological knowledge necessary for informed decision‐making, acquired
through scientific inquiry and systems thinking. To be ecoliterate means understanding the
principles of organization of ecological communities, collaboration, and using these principles
for creating sustainable human communities. Ecoliteracy takes place when we humans let
Nature become our teacher. Ecoliteracy takes place when we form a legacy by passing our
knowledge and our ecoliterate worldview on to other members of our community.

Despite a shared concern for the environment and recognition of the central role of
education in enhancing human‐environment relationships, researchers have adopted widely
differing discourses on what it means for a person to be environmentally literate, ecologically
literate. This involved considering similar propositions within groups (i.e., within the fields of
environmental education, ecology, and the humanities), describing each of these groupings and
distinguishing it from the others, and highlighting areas of similarity and divergence.

How can Schools Save and Protect the Environment?

 Environmental clubs 

Your school can form an environmental club that conduct activities around environment
preservation which could include setting up a recycling system in the school cafeteria,
planting a small organic garden that will provide fresh vegetables for the cafeteria.

 Cleanliness drives 

Schools can have cleanliness drives [students] where they make sure that everything is kept
clean and litter free. From classes to school playgrounds - they should be made to feel
responsible for keeping all areas spotlessly clean.

 Embedding environmental preservation in the curriculum 

Schools can also make sure children start learning about environment preservation from an
early age. Teachers can teach the children about water scarcity and ask them to creatively
think of ways to conserve water by water harvesting, innovate means to keep water bodies
clean and so on.

 Environment friendly policies

Schools should make sure they have environmental policies that they follow in school and
students should be educated on the same. Teachers must be models to the students.

43
 Schools can install solar panels so children can see and experience environment friendly
practices daily.

 Environment preservation posters created digitally

Schools must have bulletin boards where students can display and see digital posters,
drawings, poems, latest articles, etc. about environmental preservation.

 Adopt a plant program

Schools can have a program to adopt one plant in school and one at home and take pledge
to provide complete care to it with the help of a gardener or parents and others.

 Teach children to have empathy for living creatures 

Empathy is an important value that schools need to inculcate in children. They need to
understand that all living creatures need to be looked after which can be imparted through
stories and role play where children become animals, plants or insects.

 Have special days dedicated to the environment 

Organize special events like a ‘kids walk to school day’ or ‘create no trash day” involving
parents too.

[Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/save-the-planet-8-things-schools-can-do-to-create-environment-
warriors/story-iUjHE0HYWsXa0bbgqbVYMN.html.Accessed April 30, 2020]

3.2 Pause and Reflect!

Answer the given questions comprehensively.

1. What environmental issues and concerns provoke you to take action? What steps did you
do?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. What greening programs did your school initiate to protect and preserve the environment?

44
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

3. How important is ecological literacy to our society and the future generation?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

4. If you are to propose a greening program to save the environment, what would it be? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Big Picture in Focus: ULO b. Apply critical literacy in

designing lessons and classroom activities

Metalanguage

Critical Thinking is the analysis of facts to form a

judgment.
Classroom a room, typically in a school, in which a class
of students is taught.

45
Essential Knowledge

Critical Literacy

3.3 Start Up Activity!

Analyze the given Rebus Puzzles. Write the correct answer in the space below the puzzle.

__________ ___________ ___________ __________ ___________ ____________

What is Critical Literacy?

1.1 Critical literacy is defined as the ability to take apart various texts in media or writing to
find any possible discrimination that the author might have embedded in his or her
presentation of the world since authors have social and political influence.
1.2 Critical literacy is a learning approach where students are expected to examine various
texts to understand the relationship between language and the power it can hold. 
1.3 Critical literacy has been defined as “learning to read and write as part of the process of
becoming conscious of one’s experience as historically constructed within specific power
relations” (Anderson & Irvine, 1982). 
1.4 Critical literacy refers to the process of becoming aware of one’s experience relative to
power relations, often realized through reading and writing. 
1.5 Critical literacy is the ability to actively read text in a manner that promotes a deeper
understanding of socially constructed concepts; such as power, inequality, and injustice
in human relationships. 
1.6 Critical literacy is a central thinking skill that involves the questioning and examination of
ideas, and requires one to synthesize, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and respond to the
texts read or listened to (University of Melbourne, 2018).

Critical Literacy and Critical Thinking

Critical literacy and critical thinking involve similar processes, ideas and may overlap, but
they are not interchangeable. Critical thinking is done when one troubleshoots problems and solves
them through a process involving logic and mental analysis. It is because critical thinking focuses on
ensuring that one's arguments are sufficiently supported by evidence. Thus, critical thinking attempts
to understand the outside world and recognize that there are other arguments beyond one's own by
evaluating their reasoning for such arguments.
Meanwhile, critical literacy goes beyond identifying the problem to also analyzing the power
dynamics that create the written or oral texts of society and then questioning their claims. Therefore,
critical literacy examines the language and wording of politics within these texts and how politics

46
uses certain aspects of grammar to convey its intended meaning. It allows students to challenge
both the author of the text in addition to the social and historical contexts in which the text was
produced.
Benefits of Critical Literacy

 encourages individuals to understand and question the attitudes, values, and beliefs of
written texts, visual applications, and spoken words.
 pushes students to question issues of power; in essence, to become thoughtful, active
citizens.
 promotes the examination and reform of social situations and exposes students to the
hidden agendas within texts.
 allows educators and students with an opportunity to read, evaluate, and reflect on texts,
and embark upon the creative process of actively constructing or reconstructing these
texts.
 provides opportunities for readers to determine their ability to discern the purpose of
texts and also their ability to identify ideologies presented in the texts. 
 readers can choose whether to accept, reject or reconstruct the ideologies presented in
the text (Cervetti, Pardales, Damico, 2001) to support their own life experiences (Luke,
2000)
 empowers students to embrace their own conceptual perspectives and enables them to
more critically evaluate other aspects of their lives.  
 With critical literacy, students can develop deeper understanding of their external worlds
and what it means to be agents of change.

Tips for Developing Critical Literacy inside the Classroom

a. Recognizing the multiliteracies of students:

 acquire an understanding of students’ interests, backgrounds and values

 begin with and build on the unique identities and diverse community perspectives
represented within the classroom and the school
 consider students’ ideas, questions, interests and experiences in shaping learning
opportunities
 ensure entry points for all students when designing tasks and learning experiences that
provide opportunities to think critically

b. Set up an inclusive class environment that promotes risk taking and inquiry:

 model and explicitly teach norms for respectful classroom interactions

 use learning strategies that encourage active, meaningful participation of all students
 provide time and opportunity for students to refine and clarify their thinking about
critical issues by encouraging accountable talk through the use of graphic
organizers, jot notes, illustrations and dramatizations
 acknowledge that some issues can be sensitive for some students

c. Integrate thought-provoking multimedia and multimodal texts:

 engage students in considering alternative and diverse perspectives – perspectives

they may be unaware of, those they might not agree with, those that differ between
texts, or points of view that vary from the one presented by a particular author

47
  are drawn from popular culture (commercials, TV shows, songs, music videos etc.)
 serve as a springboard for students to reflect on those texts that support and/or
challenge their own opinions and solutions and address real-world current issues
 connect with topics and issues that may stem from other areas of the curriculum

[Source: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Critical_Literacy.pdf.Retrieved on May 5, 2020].

Five Instructional Approaches that Enhances Critical Literacy

1. Media Stations.
Bring CD covers, video games, music videos, magazines, food packaging/ads, etc. Then, set up
a media station for each with “table talk” questions to get the discussion started (e.g., Do you
think “bad press” makes a singer more popular? What techniques do designers use to get your
attention? etc.).
2. Think aloud.
This strategy encourages teachers and students to make their thinking explicit so that others in
the class can join the discussion. What do you think is the author’s thoughts? What are the
underlying assumptions? How do we know?
3. Questioning the author.
When responding to question prompts from the teacher (e.g., “What does the author mean?”
then students use an organizer divided into four columns that are labelled: “The question ...”/
“The author says...”/ “I say ...”/“So?” (adapted from Ministry of Education 2006a, pp., 144–145)
4. Four corners.
This collaborative activity encourages students to engage them in dialogue with everyone
whether with the similar opinion or contradicting perspective. The classroom is labelled with four
points of view (e. g., Strongly Agree/Agree/Disagree/ Strongly Disagree). Students are asked a
question and then move to the corner that best reflects their opinion. Once there, students
provide a reason for their choice. A variation would have students jot their reason onto the
corner chart before speaking (adapted from Ministry of Education 2006a, p. 129).
5. Six Hats.
This emphasizes on identification of different thinking styles and selecting a metaphorical hat to
represent each (e.g., white hat for factual approach, black hat for critical approach, blue hat for
metacognitive approach and so on), this exercise can be used to structure group discussion that
generates rich understanding of how point of view is constructed and how meaning is
interpreted.

[Source: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Critical_Literacy.pdf.Retrieved on May 5, 2020].

3.4 Assess Yourself!

48
Throwback Thursday
Answer the following questions, there is no wrong answer, just be honest with yourself.

1. Your first memories of reading (what, where, with whom?)

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. What was your favorite reading materials as a child? How about now?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the most influential book that you have read? Discuss your reasons.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. What is the purpose of reading in your life? (student, professional, religious purposes, leisure)
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

3.5 Stretch Your Mind!

49
Discuss your answer to the following questions:
1. How important is critical literacy?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Why should students need to have critical thinking?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. How will you teach or encourage your students to have critical thinking?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. Is it true that with constant reading, your critical thinking skills will improve? Why?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

50
Week 8-9. At the end of this unit, the students shall be able to:
1. Identify the 21st century skills
2. Determine the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
3. Enumerate the Sustainable Development Goals

Big Picture in Focus: ULO a. Identify the 21st century

skills
Metalanguage
21st Century Skills is generally used to refer to certain
core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical
thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to
Essential teach
Knowledge
to help students thrive in today's world.

The 21st Century Skills

The 21st century skills refer to set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits
that are important to succeed in today’s world especially in collegiate programs and modern
careers and workplaces. These skills can be applied in all academic areas, educational, career,
and civic settings throughout a student’s life.

The three main categories of the 21st century skills involved:

Learning skills (the four C’s) teaches students about the mental processes involved to
adapt and improve the modern work environment.

Literacy skills (IMT) focuses on how students can discern facts, publishing outlets, and
the technology behind them.

Life skills (FLIPS) are the intangible elements of a student’s everyday life which are
both personal and professional qualities.
Category 1: Learning Skills

51
1.1 Critical thinking: Finding solutions to problems.
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical
connection between ideas. Critical thinkers will identify, analyze and solve problems
systematically rather than by intuition or instinct.

1.2 Creativity: Thinking outside the box.

This skill empowers students to see concepts in a different light, which leads to innovation.

1.3 Collaboration: Working with others

Refers to working with someone else in order to create or produce something. It enables
people within an organization (or outside an organization) to engage with
each other productively and efficiently.

1.4 Communication: Talking to others

Communication promotes motivation by informing and clarifying the employees about the
task to be done, the manner they are performing the task, and how to improve their
performance if it is not up to the mark. It is a source of information to the organizational
members for decision-making process as it helps identifying and assessing alternative
course of actions.

Category 2: Literacy Skills (IMT)

2.1 Information Literacy: Understanding facts, figures, statistics, and data

Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is
needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

2.2 Media literacy: Understanding the methods and outlets in which information is published
Media literacy is the practice of identifying publishing methods, outlets, and sources while
distinguishing between the ones that are credible and the ones that aren’t.

2.3 Technology literacy: Understanding the machines that make the Information Age possible
Technology literacy is the ability of an individual, working independently and with others, to
responsibly, appropriately and effectively use technology tools to access, manage, integrate,
evaluate, create and communicate information.

Category 3: Life Skills

3.1 Flexibility: Deviating from plans as needed

Flexibility is a personality trait that describes the extent to which a person can cope with
changes in circumstances and think about problems and tasks in novel, creative ways. This
trait is used when stressors or unexpected events occur, requiring a person to change their
stance, outlook, or commitment.

3.2 Leadership: Motivating a team to accomplish a goal

Leadership is developing people; helping others reach their full potential; and equipping
others with the right tools and strategies to not only maximize the success of an organization
but also the lives of individuals.

3.3 Initiative: Starting projects, strategies, and plans on one’s own

Initiative means a personal quality that shows a willingness to get things done and take
responsibility. 

52
3.4 Productivity: Maintaining efficiency in an age of distractions
Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, system, etc., in
converting inputs into useful outputs. 

3.5 Social skills: Meeting and networking with others for mutual benefit
This concept of networking is more active in some industries than others, but proper social
skills are excellent tools for forging long-lasting relationships.

4.1 Check Your Understanding!

Answer the following questions comprehensively.

1. Why is it important to acquire the 21st century skills?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. How significant are the five life skills to you as a student?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

3. How will you teach students about the three literacy skills? What are the activities involved?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

53
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

4. Why should collaboration be part of the 21st century skills, when in fact a person can learn
and be productive by himself?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Big Picture in Focus: ULO b. Determine the Millennium
Development Goals
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Metalanguage

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals with

Essentialmeasurable
Knowledge targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of
the world's poorest people.
Millennium Development Goals

In September 2000, leaders of 189 countries gathered at the United Nations

headquarters and signed the historic Millennium Declaration, in which they committed to
achieving a set of eight measurable goals that range from halving extreme poverty and
hunger to promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality, by the target date of 2015.

Objectives
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) commit the international community to
an expanded vision of poverty reduction and pro-poor growth, one that vigorously places
human development at the center of social and economic progress in all countries. The
MDGs also recognize the importance of creating a global partnership for change, as high-
income nations must reform their domestic and international policies related to agriculture,

54
trade, and sustainable development; enhance the effectiveness of their aid programs; and
help poor countries to reduce their debt burdens. For their part, low-income nations must
address fundamental issues related to governance, rights and social justice. In all cases,
countries must set their own strategies and policies, together with their global partners, to
ensure that poor people receive their fair share of the benefits of development.

The Millennium Development Goals:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target for 2015: Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
and those who suffer from hunger.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target for 2015: Ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Targets for 2005 and 2015: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and
secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Target for 2015: Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under
five.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target for 2015: Reduce by three-quarters the ratio of women dying in childbirth.

Goal 6: Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Target for 2015: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the
incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

- Targets: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies
and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
- By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking
water.
- By 2020 achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

- Develop further an open trading and financial system that includes a commitment
to good governance, development and poverty reduction nationally and
internationally.
- Address the least developed countries’ special needs, and the special needs of
landlocked and small island developing States.
- Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems.
- Develop decent and productive work for youth.

55
 [Source: https://www.iied.org/achieving-millennium-development goals#:~:text=The%20MDGs%20also%20recognise
%20the,countries20to20reduce20their20debt.Retrieved May 22, 2020.]

Big Picture in Focus: ULO c. Enumerate Sustainable

Development Goals

Metalanguage

Sustainable Development is the development that meets the needs of

the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
Essential Knowledge
meet their own needs.

The Sustainable Development Goals

The Rio+20 conference (the United Nations Conference on Sustainable

Development) in Rio de Janeiro, June 2012, galvanized a process to develop a new set of
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will carry on the momentum generated by
the MDGs and fit into a global development framework beyond 2015.

In July 2014, the UN General Assembly Open Working Group (OWG) proposed  a
document containing 17 goals to be put forward for the General Assembly’s approval in
September 2015. This document set the ground for the new SDGs and the global
development agenda spanning from 2015-2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more
sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those
related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as proposed by the OWG:

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote
sustainable agriculture
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning
opportunities for all
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all

56
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment, and decent work for all
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization,
and foster innovation
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for
sustainable development
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land
degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions
at all levels
Goal 17: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions
at all levels

4.2 Apply the Concepts!

Create a poster for any of the Millennium Development Goals. Write an explanation below
the drawing. Utilize the next page for this activity.

4.3 Pause and Reflect!

If you were given a chance to become an ambassador, which sustainable development goal
will you choose to promote. What will be your platform and how will you actualize your
platform?

57
Online Code of Conduct

1. (1)  All teachers/Course Facilitators and students are expected to abide by an honor code of
conduct, and thus everyone and all are exhorted to exercise self- management and self-regulation.
2. (2)  Faculty members are guided by utmost professional conduct as learning facilitators in
holding OBD and DED conduct. Any breach and violation shall be dealt with properly under
existing guidelines, specifically on social media conduct (OPM 21.15) and personnel discipline
(OPM 21.11).
3. (3)  All students are likewise guided by professional conduct as learners in attending OBD or
DED courses. Any breach and violation shall be dealt with properly under existing guidelines,
specifically in Section 7 (Student Discipline) in the Student Handbook.
4. (4)  Professional conduct refers to the embodiment and exercise of the University’s Core Values,
specifically in the adherence to intellectual honesty and integrity; academic excellence by giving
due diligence in virtual class participation in all lectures and activities, as well as fidelity in doing
and submitting performance tasks and assignments; personal discipline in complying with all
deadlines; and observance of data privacy.
5. (5)  Plagiarism is a serious intellectual crime and shall be dealt with accordingly. The University
shall institute monitoring mechanisms online to detect and penalize plagiarism.
6. (6)  All borrowed materials uploaded by the teachers/Course Facilitators shall be properly
acknowledged and cited; the teachers/Course Facilitators shall be professionally and personally
responsible for all the materials uploaded in the online classes or published in SIM/SDL manuals.
7. (7)  Teachers/Course Facilitators shall devote time to handle OBD or DED courses and shall
honestly exercise due assessment of student performance.
8. (8)  Teachers/Course Facilitators shall never engage in quarrels with students online. While
contentions intellectual discussions are allowed, the teachers/Course Facilitators shall take the
higher ground in facilitating and moderating these discussions. Foul, lewd, vulgar and
discriminatory languages are absolutely prohibited.
9. (9)  Students shall independently and honestly take examinations and do assignments, unless
collaboration is clearly required or permitted. Students shall not resort to dishonesty to improve
the result of their assessments (e.g. examinations, assignments).

58
 10. Students shall not allow anyone else to access their personal LMS account. Students shall not
post or share their answers, assignment or examinations to others to further academic fraudulence
online.
11. By handling OBD or DED courses, teachers/Course Facilitators agree and abide by all the
provisions of the Online Code of Conduct, as well as all the requirements and protocols in
handling online courses.
12. By enrolling in OBD or DED courses, students agree and abide by all the provisions of the
Online Code of Conduct, as well as all the requirements and protocols in handling online courses.

Monitoring of OBD and DED

(1)The Deans, Asst. Deans, Discipline Chairs and Program Heads shall be responsible in monitoring the
conduct of their respective OBD classes through the Blackboard LMS. The LMS monitoring protocols
shall be followed, i.e. monitoring of the conduct of Teacher Activities (Views and Posts) with generated
utilization graphs and data. Individual faculty PDF utilization reports shall be generated and consolidated
by program and by college.

(2) The Academic Affairs and Academic Planning & Services shall monitor the conduct of LMS sessions.
The Academic Vice Presidents and the Deans shall collaborate to conduct virtual CETA by randomly
joining LMS classes to check and review online the status and interaction of the faculty and the students.

(3)For DED, the Deans and Program Heads shall come up with monitoring instruments, taking into
consideration how the programs go about the conduct of DED classes. Consolidated reports shall be
submitted to Academic Affairs for endorsement to the Chief Operating Officer.

59
60