Week 10

Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing often have difficulty socializing and making friends with their peers.  How can you address this within your classroom?

If the student uses sign language:  Number one, I would like to encourage sign language in the regular education classroom.  Learning the signs for spelling words, etc. is a great way to provide the language for the students without taking up a ton of time.  I would also be interested in leading a sign language club, if enough students willing to participate.  This would give the students more language to communicate with the D/HH student, as well as give the D/HH student the opportunity to be a “leader” within that environment. 

I would have the students do activities in groups of two, and they will have to change partners every time.  That will help more students to interact with the D/HH student and hopefully start to become friends.  If the D/HH student has difficulty knowing how to interact with others, I would directly teach that because it’s a hugely important skill to have.  We could also role play interactions with others to try and help the D/HH student to feel comfortable.

I think it would be really neat to incorporate deafness and Deaf Culture/history in the regular education curriculum.  It could help the other students understand how to better communicate with the D/HH student, as well as to respect that student’s culture.

Communicating with parents is very important.  What are some ways you can communicate with parents and is there a better way than another?

Email, phone calls, in-person meetings, newsletters, notes sent home with the student, teacher’s website, and texting are all viable options of communication with/to parents.

I think all of these are good options and all should be used that the parent wants.  I want to communicate with the parents in the way they are most likely to receive the information and respond.  I think the subject matter also defines which is the best choice:  if it’s something of a delicate matter, perhaps an in-person meeting should be set up to discuss (the scheduling may need to be done via phone call, text, email, etc.) 

While I may be more comfortable using certain types of communication with parents, I will make every effort to use whatever type(s) with which each parent is most comfortable.

Week 9

Positive Behavior Supports or PBS is a program some districts or schools implement.   Complete a mini-research regarding this program.  Do you think this is beneficial program?  Why or Why not?

I think the program has the possibility of being very beneficial.  It is a great way to acknowledge and reward good behavior, which (hopefully) encourages others to want to exhibit good behaviors.  I also think it’s great that this is a school-wide program, so it isn’t only the students who are rewarded or acknowledged.  I particularly like this for elementary schools.

For older ages (particularly high school), I think this could still be beneficial but it needs to be paired with punishments (or something for student exhibiting negative behaviors).  My husband and several of my in-laws teach middle and high school, and they don’t see as much of a benefit from the program.  It may encourage the students who are doing well to continue doing well, but it doesn’t necessarily encourage those exhibiting poor behaviors to change them.  That is just their personal experience, however.  

I do think it’s great for PBS should be incorporated in a school, but there also needs to be a set up discipline program.  Focusing on the positives is great, though!

Week 8

What are some ways you can teach the vocabulary presented within science and social studies?

First of all, I would pre-teach the vocabulary to the students.  I think flashcards could also be a good way to teach vocabulary—to make it easier, you could make two copies of the cards and have the student match the definition to the name.  To make it a little more difficult, provide the definition for the student and have him/her tell me the name (no visual cues).  To make it most difficult, provide the name and have the student tell me the definition.

When appropriate, I could have the student make a visual representation of the vocabulary.  For example, if names of plant parts are vocabulary, let the student create a diagram and label it with the vocabulary words.  Another possibility is making graphic organizers.  For example, if several of the vocabulary words have the same, or similar meanings, group them together.

Games, such as Jeopardy, could also be a fun way to impress the vocabulary learning.

How can you prepare to teach both of these subject areas?

I would review all of the student’s material before (s)he does.  I would also look up information for more knowledge, if I don’t feel comfortable with only the school provided info.  Research articles are an option for this, as well as websites like www.pbs.com and www.khanacademy.org.

Week 7

The authors noted the lag in development of mathematics concepts is due to delays in language development, lack of exposure to life-based problem solving, and inadequate preservice teacher preparation in the area of mathematics. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.

I absolutely agree.  Delays in language development can have a huge effect on everything—including math concepts.  The first example I think of for this is word problems.  A student who does not have a good grasp of written English, as well as of math terminology, will have a lot of difficulty understanding the question.  The student will not only need to understand the individual words, but what the problem is asking for as well as what information is relevant and what way to use it.  (For example, a word problem asking for the product of two numbers… the student will need to know to multiply the numbers.)  Life-based problem solving is important because if the students don’t see practical applications of the math they could be uninterested in putting in the necessary effort to understand it.  If the student realizes that the math will be used in the future for something that (s)he wants, I think (s)he will be more encouraged to learn.  I also agree with inadequate teacher preparation in mathematics.  I took a “Math for Teachers” course and learned how to do “New Math”, but knowing how to do the problems and teaching a deaf student to do them are two very different things.  I am very pleased with the Deaf Education program I am enrolled in, but we don’t have a class specifically for teaching math.  So, no, I don’t think most teachers receive enough training in that specific area.  The most I have discussed math teaching and strategies is within my current Instruction Strategies class and my current practicum setting (in which I teach math lessons).

What areas do you feel that you need to develop to teach math?

I am very concerned about my lack of vocabulary as well as how to conceptually show the math processes in sign language.  I think it would also be helpful to know which areas are built on other specific areas (we discussed this in our previous Instructional Strategies class period) as well as some examples across areas to make them more visual.  I think some of these things (i.e. making the lesson more visual) I could figure out on my own by critically thinking. In other areas, it would be helpful to receive some direct instruction.

Week 6

Research CAEBER (Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research). How could you incorporate some of these techniques into your classroom?

I think that the focus on proficiency in ASL and English could be really beneficial for my future students.  Of course, the goals of the student and the family should be a huge factor in what is taught and how, but (for those who are interested) I would love to incorporate some CAEBER techniques.  ASL is the language of the Deaf community and I think it is important that the D/HH students learn it.  I know a few D/HH people who grew up taught orally (some with signed English support) in public schools and, now that they are in college, these students wish they had an ASL background and are now attempting to immerse themselves in Deaf culture.  I think that incorporating knowledge and use of ASL would be a great idea.  I especially think Deaf history and is important to teach—I want my students to be proud of who they are and confident, but I think they need the background knowledge of other Deaf individuals, as well as Deaf role models.  It also seems that English is a large focus in the CAEBER program, which it should be with all deaf students.