Snowplows for Digital Literacy!

Snowplows for Digital Literacy!

Colleagues and friends, I hope you’ve been able to take good care of yourselves lately. Personally, I have really needed a good laugh, which was why I was delighted to come across the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Name a Snowplow Contest. You and your learners can vote for your favorite names through noon this Friday, February 7.

To make it even easier for learners to participate, I’ve added some slides to this deck originally created by Leah Hauge, Curriculum Manager for Northstar Digital Literacy. You can use the “File” menu to download a copy of the slides or make a copy to save in your Google Drive.

These slides present a complete instructional routine to support learners as they practice and gain confidence navigating complex websites and finding information online. This routine can serve as a scaffold up to the Internet Basics module of the Northstar Digital Literacy standards, curriculum, and assessments. It can be used in any type of class, including lower-level English language learner courses.

In the slide deck, you’ll find:

  • Teacher (or volunteer) directions in the notes section of each slide
  • An introduction, with learning goals and a warm-up activity (slides 1-5)
  • Explicit instruction, guided practice, and independent practice related to hyperlinks (slides 6-8), scrolling (9-11), back/forward/refresh buttons (12-14), and homepages and menus (15-17)
  • Extra practice related to the snowplow naming contest website (18-19) and scanning a QR code (20-21)
  • Extension activities (22) and a quick self-assessment (23)

If you like these slides, there are more! Additional slide decks to support Basic Computer and Internet Basics skills are linked in the Teacher Resource Guide: Routines to Build Essential Digital Literacy Skills in ESL Classrooms. You can access this FREE guide on the Northstar website and, if you have a Northstar staff account, on the Curriculum page of your Admin Portal.

Finally, if you’d like to learn more about the work of snowplow operators (and practice additional digital skills related to the 511 Minnesota website or app), enjoy this video from Northern News Now!

Elizabeth Bennett, Digital Learning Specialist Literacy Minnesota