Literacy of Character Education In Digital Era For Children

No matter how we move, we always look forward and forget the past as a lesson. If on the way you find a damaged road, moving to the left or right is a natural thing because we don't want to fall into a big hole. We believe that a change in a positive direction. However, not everyone wants to change because they are already comfortable at the point where it is the maximum comfort they can get. So, they don't want to move anymore.

In the world of education itself, school is an ideal place to learn to be better and there are positive changes. But, not all components run optimally. So, all parties are expected to work together to embrace our children to become good people. One of the big problems is improving the quality of literacy so that children at school can excel and have dreams according to what they want. This literacy case isn’t just a matter of reading. Rather, it's about understanding how they understand every word from their teacher, parent or peers. Thus, the quality of communication or good understanding is built. However, this isn’t only to understand verbally, they also need to learn attitude because it will build a good attitude in children towards the people they meet. The challenge is, how to build literacy intelligence in this digital era for children? to determine this answer, we need to divide it into 3 sectors. Namely the role of parents, the role of teachers and the role of the external environment.

Let's start with the role of parents. The safe zone of children for parents is at home. As a place that is rarely contaminated by outside influences, children can be directed to become the person their parents want them to be. They can learn, help parents, follow what parents say (basically, some children will follow what their parents do). Children get good educational literacy because children feel maximally supported. In this digital age, let them develop their imagination whether by drawing, learning languages or even playing games. However, one thing that must be emphasized is that parents must be disciplined in limiting the use of gadgets for children. Game is an addiction for children so they are lazy to learn. I also remind parents that if children make mistakes, it isn’t justified to punish them excessively which will hurt their psychological and mental health. They still need to develop, so educative punishment should be emphasized. Games also improve literacy. Don't get me wrong, in the MMORPG game, good communication is required with fellow teams so that they can work together to defeat the enemy. The role of parents can be to supervise so that children remain in a polite manner and remind them not to speak dirty.

Teachers also have an important role even though they can’t protect them all the time. The school is a boundary between the teacher's environment and the outside environment for children. However, the school environment still has safe limits so that it has educational rules that every student needs to obey without exception. At school, children's knowledge of literacy in reading, writing, listening and speaking should be supported more intensively with an easy-to-understand teaching style. Teaching methods such as relying on a projector to watch educational films, educational jokes supported by educational animations can be used as effective learning. As an output, children don’t feel that the teacher is a threat, but also as their friend. After finishing the lesson, give them homework that not only shapes their knowledge but also shapes their attitude towards the outside environment. So, if they are outside the home or school environment, the good things that have been taught they can follow in everyday life.

The external environment also shapes the child's character. Thus, it can affect the quality of communication between children and their peers or adults outside of teachers and parents. We should always analyze our surroundings so that we can decide whether we need to be defensive or open with our surroundings. In fact, in this digital era children prefer to play with their gadgets at home and take advantage of their virtual relationships in WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat and other social media applications and to find friends who have the same hobby, they use games as their peer relationship.

But again, it isn't justified that gadgets are always a practical solution when children are bored with learning. Children need to balance literacy with the outside world. For teachers in schools, it is better to plan to provide free time outside of school, such as study tours to traditional cultural places or certain natural recreation so that children also recognize the culture and living things around them at least once a few months. Parents can also set an example for taking their children out of sports and other minimalist recreations so that children recognize the surrounding environment and have a healthy body. So, the outside environment that may be afraid of children, will change their minds and not always think about games on their gadgets.

In conclusion, as long as the change is a positive action, the results obtained by the child and the wishes of the parents are common goals. Thus, the role of this education has the character to build and advance future human development together. Literacy isn’t only needed when reading and understanding what you have read, but also needed to have a positive impact and change the world. In the end, educated humans aren’t only judged by their knowledge. But also has the competence as a human being who has a good attitude towards the people, culture and the natural surroundings.

Image Credit :
1. Pixabay | ddimitrova (Lead Image)
2. Pixabay | Steveriot1
3. Pixabay | laterjay