Week 1

What have you learned about instructional strategies?

I think I have learned many different instructional strategies, mostly without realizing that they were “instructional strategies”.  It was interesting to watch the videos in class last week and discuss the different instructional strategies demonstrated.  Although I knew many of the different ways to teach, I am not sure I had ever heard them called “instructional strategies”.  Throughout our practicum in the preschool, I have learned a few instructional strategies that I like and am comfortable with, as well as some (though they may be beneficial in some circumstances) which with I am not so proficient.     

What would you like to learn during this class?

I really enjoyed our first class and feel like I am going to learn a great deal throughout this course.  I hope to get an idea of what it will be like being a deaf educator in the public schools in this area—the difficulties, some helpful hints, good resources, etc.  I also want to become more comfortable and creative with my instructional strategies.  Mostly, I want to learn anything and everything to help myself prepare for student teaching! 

Research has shown that students with hearing loss often times do not achieve higher than a 3^rd grade reading level.  What are your thoughts about this and how do you plan to face this?

I am very disappointed by this statistic.  Reading is a huge part of life!  I want my deaf students to be good readers—not be disadvantaged by their lack of reading skills.  I realize that deaf and hard of hearing people can use a variety of communication modalities, but those who do not rely on speech, speech reading, amplification, etc. need to have another way to communicate with the primarily hearing world around them—written language is that link!  But, they need to have good reading and writing skills to communicate effective through written language.  

I plan to face this issue by making reading as fun as I possibly can—playing games, involving rewards as much as possibly, and encouraging constantly.  I want to stay current on research and open to trying new promising practices for teaching reading to my students.  Currently, because of our Reading for DHH course, I intend to teach and use phonics and phonological awareness to and with my students.