The author’s motivation and goal of this website is to give teachers and administrators the tools to teach life skills to their students. The last page of the Life Skills Document states that, “It is important that all students receive the opportunity to learn and apply essential life skills so that they may become active members of society. Life Skills Document addresses a variety of competencies needed for students to become successful, contributing members of a democratic society.” It also is noted in this document that, “Developing life skills is essential for all students to prepare them to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world.”

If readers are interested in more information about life skills, a contact person is noted at the bottom of each home page. Alan Griffin is the person to contact. In the introductory page of the Life Skills Activity Guide, the reader finds Alan Griffin's title: Academic Services Learning Specialist. Griffin also notes in the introduction that the Life Skills website is filled with activities and teachings on Life Skills that are shared by teachers throughout Utah.

Judging by the Life Skills Document that the author assembled, as well as the emphasis on “The Whole Child” that is featured at the top of the homepage, it is evident that the author is passionate about teaching critical life skills to children. The following statement is featured on the Life Skills home page, as well as on page vi of the Life Skills Document; it states, "The central purpose of education is to develop the intellectual, emotional, and social understanding of all students. This purpose is accomplished by providing a system of aesthetic, physical, and cognitive education that enriches the individual lives of students, prepares them for the world of work, and promotes the common good of a democratic society."

The author feels it is his duty, as well as the teachers and administrators in Utah, to provide a well-rounded education for children. The goal is to prepare children to live independently once they leave the school system and to be able to contribute well to society.

An Activity Binder Link is located at the bottom of the web page. The Activity Binder is a Life Skills Activity Guide that is filled with ideas for teachers to incorporate life skills into their curriculum and the climate of their school. Another link, Life Skills Ties, provides activities to life skills domains. A link to Service Learning Activity Sampler will give the reader a helpful table that describes Academic Service Learning activities related to subject areas and Life Skills domains. Some of the domains also contain a link to a Lesson Plan. The author gives educators numerous resources to enforce Life Skills education. Additionally, a link to a Life Skills Matter video is also on the Life Skills homepage. Teachers and administrators discuss each of these seven Life Skills, with students role playing scenes and demonstrating the use of each of these life skills. The Whole Child is displayed as a wheel at the top of the Life Skills homepage with seven Life Skill spokes stemming from the hub. Clicking on the spokes will take the reader to a site specifically about the following topics:

Thinking & Reasoning
Employability
Social & Civic Responsibility
Character
Aesthetics
Communication
Systems Thinking

A definition of the life skill is given on each of these pages, along with a rationale of why these life skills are important for children to have in their life. Resources are also included on the page. The majority of the resources are links to other websites not associated with the Utah State Office of Education. In fact, it states on each of the Life Skills Bookmarks, such as Character Bookmarks, that, "While efforts are made periodically to check the validity and quality of these sites, the Utah State Office of Education claims no responsibility for the content contained on them."

Even though the author is passionate about teaching life skills to its students and providing resources for their teachers, it could be very time consuming for the author to maintain the validity of the websites that are linked from the Life Skills homepage, and to make sure the material is valid, up-to-date, and of good quality. This could be a limitation that hinders teachers' effective use of these outside websites. The websites could be easily changed by their author and the information contained in the link may not be appropriate any longer for teachers in Utah to be implementing in the classroom.

Each of these Life Skills (spokes on the wheel) help develops the “intellectual, emotional, and social understanding of all students,” which is the central purpose of education (taken from the Life Skills homepage) and also the Life Skills Document, p vi.

For example, the Social & Civic Responsibility webpage contains the definition and rationale that social and civic responsibility is a critical life skill. Other resources include Case Studies which describes different life scenarios. Each scenario asks readers how they would handle each of the scenarios involving Social and Civic Responsibility. There is also a link that gives a more detailed explanation of how to teach this skill in the Life Skills Document. Teachers can also check out an Activity to help students understand more effectively what it means to have social and civic responsibility. All these resources indicate the author's passion for teachers and administrators to teach life skills to students. The author has given readers many different types of educational tools – definition, rationale, activities, videos – to aid them in teaching these seven critical life skills to students.

The author has directed information on Life Skills to the reader who he assumes is a teacher or administrator. While parents also could benefit from this information, it is clear that the information is presented as a lesson plan for the classroom. On the last page of the Life Skills Document, it is noted that one of the goals of the Life Skills document is for the information to be “embraced by all teachers of all subjects in grades K-12.” But it also has a note to parents on this page, acknowledging the important role they have in teaching and modeling these life skills to their child at home. Teaching these life skills in the classroom should compliment what parents are already doing at home.

The targeted readers of this website are therefore teachers and administrators: challenging teachers to weave these critical life skills into subjects already being taught and asking administrators to support the development and teaching of Life Skills to students.

Teachers can tend to feel overwhelmed by what is expected of them to teach their students in a school year. One of the limitations of this website could be readers (teachers) not welcoming the responsibility to weave life skills into the subjects that are already being taught. These readers may not have the same passion as the author who has developed this Life Skills Document and therefore are not interested in teaching these skills. Other readers, such as parents, could make use of some of the material on this website to help instill life skills into their children at home, but the practical methods on this site are specifically designed for teachers. This is a limitation of the website. Not all readers will benefit from this information on this website because it is geared for teaching the material in the classroom.

Life Skills - Education.com - Click here to read my rhetorical analysis of Life Skills- Education.com.

Comparison and Role of Hypertext - Click here to read my comparison and the role of hypertext of these two websites - Life Skills - Utah State Office of Education and Life Skills - Education.com.

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