Hi Guys!
Just wanted to share an extremely amazing thing I saw on television last night. It sort of relates to our conversation of including the music in our power point presentations, but overall it just stood out to me while I was flipping through the channels on T.V. I ran across the ABC news person of the week and it was a girl named Allyson Townsend. Some of you may have already heard of her but I thought what she is doing is truly amazing so I checked into it even farther. Allyson Townsend is a 2nd grade Deaf Education Teacher. She does not have any deaf people in her family, she does have a Deaf friend though and of course her students are Deaf also. She has a strong passion for signing. She signs many of todays songs on her youtube account and she signs them with passion and meaning behind them. Here is the link to the interview with Diane Sawyer:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/sign-language-opens-music-world-deaf-citizens-person-of-the-week-pow-allyson-townsend-youtube-features-12734730. In the interview it explains that 15,350 viewers have viewed her videos of all these different songs. In the interview it also shows her doing music and signing with students in her classroom and I think that is extremely important. I explored the youtube site and it amazed me! The link for that is: http://www.youtube.com/user/allyballybabe#p/u. She states that people should contact her if she is doing a sign wrong and she gives complete credit to the Deaf and their culture. She states that she gets one hundred request for new songs weekly and it is not possible for her to keep up with but she does try her best. It is an awesome site to visit because the Deaf are able to comment on the videos and enjoy watching her, while I also saw Deaf Education teachers comment on videos explaining how inspiring her videos are!I found it to be an awesome thing and just wanted to share with the class!!
I think the major concern with the Deaf and music comes with some sort of integration issue? I believe when hearing people see a Deaf person enjoy music, suddenly the Deaf person is "just like everyone else" (in a negative way) and the hearing person might completely disregard Deaf culture entirely. I've met a few Deaf who love to dance because it's a feeling that starts from the toes on up [even if they admit to being horrible dancers XD], and the fact that they can experience music in his or her own way speaks in favor of Deaf culture trying to reach out to hearing culture. Just a thought :-)
ReplyDeleteI love her, her songs she signs on youtube are beautiful =)
ReplyDeleteI really liked this link. I thought it was awesome! I had heard of her before but i had not ever gone to it. I love what her page said about what she is doing and why she is doing it. This really connected with me in two ways. One was that I too love to sign songs (sometimes very badly...lol) and the other that I am a learner of ASL with no one in my family who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Watching her really helped build up my confidence again and what I was doing and what I love to learn. It was really cool! :)
ReplyDeleteSoooo . . . what if you all put YOUR PROJECTS on YOUTUBE? Why not?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Caitlin. I am also learning ASL and find my self getting discourage and think how will I ever to get to the level of the people I see signing all the time especially in this class. I am like you and have no one in my family who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, but being here at EKU and seeing this program and learning about the Deaf community, I have really started to enjoy and love ASL even more!
ReplyDelete-Caitlin Hill
i really like how a deaf educator is out there - i know i watch a lot of youtube videos of signed songs so that i can better my own interpretations and many of them are itp students and/or codas so it's so interesting to see a teacher! she's very inspiring! it's great that she's taken her passion and "run with it" and is confident about it. very good "person of the week" :)
ReplyDeleteand what if we did put our projects on youtube - we could teach others about particular deaf people in our history... maybe that would open some people's eyes a little. just a thought :)
-kristi hamm
There is so much cool music interpreting out there!! Check out Eric Witteborg.
ReplyDeleteI just love her passion for signing and the deaf culture! These songs are beautiful. It almost adds an artistic value to the music when you watch someone interpreting
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a great thing for her to do. I think that it allows young people with hearing friends to get to experience the same things.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. As a CODA myself, I love to express my own words in song through ASL. I can sing but I love to use asl at the same time. People like Ally really impress me because they are doing something that I love to do myself. I'm not the ASL expert but that is my thing. She really inspires me because I want to be a deaf ed teacher like her, and seeing that makes me excited for my own future :)
ReplyDeleteThese videos were so cool and amazing to watch. Her signing is beautiful and very inspiring. I also have no Deaf family members, with the exception of one extended family member (a cousin through marriage) who is more hard of hearing than anything. Watching these videos really makes me want to continue my education in the Deaf culture so that when I encounter Deaf individuals during my career I will be able to communicate with them on a more personal level.
ReplyDeleteSo I am pretty sure this is one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen. I would never have thought deaf people asking so many questions about music. I just assumed since they couldn't hear it, they left it at that. Knowing they are interested in things they can't hear, makes me want to work twice as hard. I want to think of new and innovative ways to teach deaf students. They deserve to learn everything a hearing person does. Allyson is truly an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved this link! I had heard of her before but never checked into her. But it really clicked with me that she gave all her credit to the Deaf and their culture - that's an amazing thing. I also loved that she doesn't have any Deaf in her family. I don't either, and sometimes I get concerned that maybe I should not be in interpreting for that reason, but she encouraged me that if I find something I love, to go for it and be committed to it - I just need to remember to always give credit where credit is due!
ReplyDelete