Byte-Sized: What Kids Should Be Able to Do -- Collaboration Tools

Todays' blog post is the FINAL post in a series of posts sharing the TL;DR information available in the Illinois Computer Literacy Knowledge and Skill Development Continuum adopted May 2022. In this  series, it is hoped that you will have a better understanding of what technology skills our students are expected to have at different grade levels. Of course, each student is different -- some will acquire these skills sooner than their peers; some will acquire them later. These are meant to be a guide for teachers. 

Computer literacy isn't just something that is taught in "computer class" by a "computer teacher." Because the use of computing devices impacts our students at school and at home, for school work, for socializing, and for fun or entertainment, computer literacy is something every educator needs to assist students with. It is my hope that by summarizing these skills for you, it will be easier for you to find ways to help students develop, refine, and retain the computer literacy skills they will need and use for the rest of their lives.

You can find the actual continuum here. What you will see in these posts and the linked spreadsheet are my interpretations and summaries.

The fact that we use Google Workspace for Education and that we've lived through remote learning really helps us with kids being able to use collaboration tools! If you look at the Collaboration Tools tab on the summary spreadsheet, you'll see things that kids already have some experience with, like using email to communicate in writing, collaborating on files, using video conferencing (like Google Meet), and maintaining a portfolio of their work. Things like email and collaborative work don't really need to be introduced until the kids hit 2nd grade, but they should be secured skills once they're in 6th grade. Interestingly enough, maintaining a portfolio should be introduced in kindergarten, but is not considered to be a secured skill until high school, so that means we as teachers should be helping kids with organizing their files in Drive so they can keep track of their work over the years they are in our district.

Please share in the comments on this post any ways you encourage kids to collaborate and communicate online. Sometimes it can be a real challenge to figure out how to give kids the opportunity to do this, but it's one of those soft skills that they will need for school, job, and beyond, so the more chances they have to practice under our guidance, the more we are actually helping them!

Byte-Sized: What Kids Should Be Able to Do -- Drawing and Text Tools

Todays' blog post is the next post in a series of posts sharing the TL;DR information available in the Illinois Computer Literacy Knowledge and Skill Development Continuum adopted May 2022. In this  series, it is hoped that you will have a better understanding of what technology skills our students are expected to have at different grade levels. Of course, each student is different -- some will acquire these skills sooner than their peers; some will acquire them later. These are meant to be a guide for teachers. 

Computer literacy isn't just something that is taught in "computer class" by a "computer teacher." Because the use of computing devices impacts our students at school and at home, for school work, for socializing, and for fun or entertainment, computer literacy is something every educator needs to assist students with. It is my hope that by summarizing these skills for you, it will be easier for you to find ways to help students develop, refine, and retain the computer literacy skills they will need and use for the rest of their lives.

You can find the actual continuum here. What you will see in these posts and the linked spreadsheet are my interpretations and summaries.

One of the things kids enjoy is being able to gussy up their work with text and color. Teaching them how to do this so it's functional and actually enhances their work (as opposed to being a distraction and added just for the sake of decoration and fun) is important, but they also need to learn the skills as well. Being able to to use some basic drawing tools and text tools needs to start in kindergarten, be continued in grade 1, and actually fully developed in grade 2. That sounds scary, doesn't it? It doesn't have to be! Here are some things you can do:

• Model it: When you create your own documents or presentations, use text and drawing tools to add color and enhancement. Point it out to the kids, and take a few moments to show them how you did it.
• Point it out in text: This is a great way to teach about text features, and then give the kids the chance to create the same text features in the documents they create (italicize new vocabulary words, bold important subject area terms, use underlining or highlighting for section headings or titles).
• Give them the chance: when kids create their own documents, ask them to use color and text features to enhance their document to make it more useable by the reader. This can be done in a document, slide deck, or spreadsheet, and it can be done individually, collaboratively, in a follow the leader model, or under the guidance of an adult or student assistant.

Work efficiency is important too, so kids should also be learning how to use things like copy and paste. This can get tricky, especially since there are so many ways to do it, so this actually should be started with kids in grades 2 and be secured by the time the kids hit grade 8. 

For a more detailed summary of these skills and what they should look like at each grade level, check out this spreadsheet and click on the Drawing and Text Tools tab.

How can I help with this? Let me know what you need! I can put together step by step instructions or demo videos you can share with your kids. I can also sit with you to help you find places in your currently existing lessons where you can incorporate the chance to learn and practice these skills.

Are you already doing some of this, especially in the younger grades? If so, let me know in the comments! I'll send some fun stickers your way, and your colleagues will get to learn from you!