FINAL EXAM

The Final Exam is NOW available online. 

One of the questions on your "study guide" is NOT on the ONLINE Final.  Be certain to log onto the Final to determine which question you do NOT need to be spending time answering.

Japan Earthquake!

I was googling on the internet and ran into this video! It is of two Japanese people signing about the current news in Japan. I found it interesting because I was able to understand a few of the signs. This is awesome because I could never understand Japanese but I can understand some of their signing!

Pretty cool! :)

http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2011/03/deaf-japan-news-earthquake-information.html

-Janaye Pack

Red Bull Commercial

I can't find a link for it, but there's a new commercial out for Red Bull. There's a motorist riding around on a course doing the jumps and such. At the end, the helmet comes off and it's a girl. She signs 'welcome to my world'. Then endorses Red Bull in sign, which I thought was pretty cool. Yay deaf/hard of hearing sponsors.

The deaf rapper.

I love rap music. This can be looked at as music that has no meaning except profanities and partying. However I am inspired by these hard working individuals who spend many days and nights perfecting this art. This video explains how rap music has reached the deaf community. By introducing the first deaf rapper. This is an amazing story.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMF6_tR3h6k

FINAL Exam

Faculty was sent an email this evening containing the following paragraph:

After considerable review of the length of our academic semester, the University community collectively decided to retain the 16-week semester plus the week of finals. If finals are given during dead week, the faculty member has arbitrarily shortened the semester. This action is in violation of our policy. Students who have concerns about finals being rescheduled should speak with the appropriate department chair or college dean.

Therefore...I will NOT be able to make your ONLINE FINAL available to you EARLY as I had emailed earlier. It will be made available to you Monday morning of Finals Week and due WEDNESDAY EVENING by midnight - NO EXCEPTIONS in order for me to have all grading completed by the end of the semester.

Test 3 - Due Date Postponed One Day

I realize many of you may be going home or spending time with friends for the holiday weekend.  I want to honor the various ways many of you will choose to celebrate or spend time this weekend.  If you have not had ample time to complete your online test and need an additional day - - - you know I won't get to grading those immediately due to Projects for 260.  So, you may have until Monday night at midnight to submit Test 3 if you need it.

i711.com

As promised here is the link to i711.com!  One of the MANY perks to being the mom of a Deaf son is the cool tools, websites, etc.  I'm sorry I've not shared earlier.  The video blogs or vlogs are just too cool!

Educational Interpreting

Here is a link I found interesting related to a child's first experience with an educational interpreter, as well as the roles and boundaries of an educational interpreter in the classroom setting.

Enjoy!

http://www.i711.com/vlogs/logs.php?id=282

Thoughts on Being the "Deaf Kid"

A few people have asked me what it's like to be the "deaf kid" in class, especially in high school. I can tell you from first hand experience that it's awful. Chalk it up to a bad high school experience in general, but I hated every minute of it. I sat in the front row, wore the FM system, had to bug teachers constantly to use the microphone; at one point one of my teachers got a class mike to pass around. The other students abhorred it and blamed me for its use. They would tell me to just sit closer, or my favorite "don't worry about it" (/sarcasm). I was always made to feel bad about not being able to hear someone, and if I didn't hear a teacher the typical response was "ask your neighbor." High school was never fun; I never enjoyed it or made lasting friendships. I haven't spoken to any of my classmates since I graduated.

Here it isn't so bad. There are still moments where I feel excluded, but overall it's a major improvement. My quality of life has definitely improved. And I don't want anyone to think I posted this for the attention; usually I'm happy when the issue is just accepted and essentially ignored. But I think it's important to realize that not everybody has the wonderful people we do now, that being the only one of something isn't always a good thing. I've missed so much growing up, and missed out on even more. It really sucks when someone doesn't want to call you because they get too frustrated with a phone call, or people don't want to talk to you at school because much of the conversation is "what?" or "huh?" Standing in the lunch line and staring off into space, or sitting alone because it was too hard to decipher who was speaking, that is an awful feeling. It's something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

I'm sorry if all of that is really depressing. But sometimes it's necessary to look at the darker side of things; not every deaf person had a wonderful life full of Deaf community involvement, not everyone had the support they needed.

And now you know, and knowing is half the battle,

Steff

The other side of being proud of deafness

For most, being deaf is a thing to be proud of. It's a sense of pride and culture. Being deaf is no "problem". It's just a different facet of who you are. I understand that completely, and I'm glad people are proud of who they are. However, what about the other side? What about the things that have had a ripple effect because someone wants to be proud of being deaf?

Have you ever seen The Bee Movie? (Sorry if I give away the plot, still a cute movie and you should see it). It's about a bee that discovers humans are using the honey that bees create and he decides to fight for their rights in court. The bee ends up winning and the bees no longer make honey for the humans. In fact, all the honey is given back and the bees are swimming in it, there's so much. Sounds great for this bee. However, there are many ripple effects caused by this. The flowers dying is the huge one no one anticipated. The bees don't use the pollen which means the flowers don't grow which means they eventually die. Problems were created by a ripple effect and it was all accidental and unplanned for.

Now, to relate it all back, people saying that deafness is not a problem and you shouldn't worry about fixing it because it's who they are, I agree with that. It's great to have a sense of pride from it and it's great for them if they don't want to be "fixed". But what about those people who do? What about people like my mom and brother who need hearing aids but can't get them? Being deaf is a wonderful thing. But for some people, going deaf needs to be fixed. They can't adjust to a life of not hearing as they get older because they have never been exposed. They would benefit from hearing aids, but the insurance won't pay for them.

I don't know about your insurance, maybe it's different, but ours won't cover the tiny piece of equipment because too many people wanted deafness to be a sense of pride and to not be fixed.

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't feel proud. I'm not saying it's a horrible thing either way. I'm just trying to point out the ripple effects it has caused. Personally, I don't have a set opinion one way or another, so please don't think I'm saying something I'm not.

Hearing Loss Identification

Sometimes I wonder why people wait so long to be tested for their hearing. Hearing loss, I've discovered, runs in my family. However, we didn't know this until about a year ago. My mom has a slight hearing loss, we've known that for about 5 years. Really, that's not that long ago. Things have gotten harder for her. She's partially deaf in one ear and probably headed towards completely in one and partially in the other.

My brother, last year, discovered he has hearing loss and it will only increase with age. I'm not sure to the degree of his hearing loss, but I think it's interesting that someone could go 18 years and not realize they couldn't hear well. Maybe it becomes the norm to not hear. Maybe he was so used to ignoring what people said if he couldn't understand them that he just didn't care. I'm not sure the thought process on that, but I think it interesting.

Test 3 Information

Good Morning!

For the purpose of CLARITY. . .

The SELF REFLECTION & ASSESSMENT portion of Test 3 which was given out in class as Your Top 5 and is related to the CEC-CED Joint Knowledge and Skill Statements for All Beginning Teachers of Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (referenced in the text) is due this Wednesday, April 20th.  You MUST turn that in to me in class.

The ONLINE portion of Test 3 is due by Sunday, April 24th at midnight.

If you have questions about either one of those please do not hesitate to contact me in a way that is most convenient for you.

Mrs. White

Scholarship Available

Good morning!

Do you know of students who may qualify for this scholarship?  I encourage you to share it with them!!

Students with learning (or other) disabilities who are currently enrolled at the college or graduate level should be encouraged to apply for the KY-AHEAD scholarship ($500). The deadline is April 29, 2011.
Here's a website with details:
http://www.ahead.org/affiliates/kentucky/scholarships 


Mrs. White

Deaf Blind Workshop & Retreat

Hey guys! So the ITP and a few others just finished an incredible workshop about Deaf Blind people, SSP (support service providers), Deaf Blind etiquette, and all kinds of other things. I know, obviously, some of you weren't there, but for those of you who were -- what surprised you? What did you learn? And now, is there anything that you are more looking forward to for the retreat this weekend?

New show!

Hey guys! I just saw the trailer for this new show "Switched at Birth" and I was really excited to see that one of the main characters is deaf!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jgvw1S7FmI

There is a little info video on it. I'm excited to check it out!

Thanks guys,
Natalie

letsgofly08

http://www.deafvideo.tv/vlogger/letsgofly08 <- Check this guy out. His name is Daniel. I love him because he is so ASL and has some really great stories. The link I posted is to his personal website but look him up on youtube too, "letsgofly08".

Test 3 - Timeline

Good evening!

I trust each of you have had a great week and are planning on a wonderful weekend! I am trying to catch up from a terrific week away with work focusing on the Common Core State Standards in New Orleans. I've coupled focused work on our Kentucky Core Academic Standards with some time to enjoy the historic city of New Orleans to which I'd never been.

I am now focusing on FINISHING the semester STRONG as I prepare for the final weeks of Spring semester. The section of the curriculum on which we are currently working entails:

Chapter 9 - American Sign Language and Manual Communication
Chapter 10 - Early Intervention, Infant and Preschool Programs
Chapter 11 - The Acquisition of English: Teaching and Training Techniques
Chapter 12 - Literacy: The Development of Reading and Writing

As discussed before I was gone we WILL complete the chapter on Literacy with YOUR activities on ASL and Reading Strategies that you worked on in small groups the week I was with you in class.

Therefore...time line:

Wednesday, 4/13
**Conclude Reading/ASL Strategy presentations
**Review/Update me on class I missed 4/6
**Ensure we've covered all material to be on Test 3

Wednesday, 4/13 Test Opens
Sunday, 4/24 Test is Due

Let me know if you have any questions!

Talking Twin Babies

Hey guys, here's the video we talked about in class. It's really interesting to watch the communication happening here with no actual words. Enjoy!

Challenging signers

So, I've noticed that as I have conversations with Deaf individuals and just ASL users in general, that I have a really hard time receptively understanding male signers. They are much harder for me to understand and read than a female signer. I'm not quite sure why this is, but I was wondering if you all would like to share what kind of signers are hard for you to understand??

deaf education around the world

I have friends who are missionaries in the Dominican Republic who have twin daughters who are deaf (with cochlear implants). They are very passionate about their work and have encountered many Deaf people along the way. Many Deaf in the DR (dominican republic) have not grown up with a language because Deaf people there are not necessarily given jobs or careers.

I'm not sure about the standings in Mexico, but I thought this video that I found was interesting. It's about a deaf school in Mexico that is being forced to close due to financial strain. If Mexico is anything like the DR, I'm sure the school has provided many kids with education and language avenues that they may not have received without it. It's very touching to see the impact the school has had on some of the students, but also very sad to see that it is closing...

http://vimeo.com/2294498


-Kristi Hamm

CLASS TONIGHT!!

Hello Everyone-

As per request of our teacher Ms. White-I am to inform all of you that we WILL have class tonight, April 6th, just like any other week. We will have Karen Dilka teaching on the chapter of ASL. So, show up to class ready to learn tonight!!!!

I believe when Ms. White comes back next week, we will continue to work on our "project" of the 15 reading instructional strategies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

See y'all in class tonight!!!

86 the country accent with interpreting???

Today while I was in my ITP ASL to English class this topic come up. I can't seem to find an answer or a clear cut answer. Perhaps there is not one. My teacher and peers had input that I really value. I would love to get some feedback from everyone and perhaps that can help me have some more insight. Ok, so here goes. There are common misconconceptions about people with a "country accent". This is really unfair and inaccruate. I know for a fact that accents do not affect an individuals intelligence or personality. Accents are regional and very rich part of regional culture. Accents thick or thin are fabulous and should be cherished. Unfortunately, a "hick" or "country" accent is frowned upon. There are misconceptions that those with this accent are less intelligent and unqulaified for jobs. With that said, I bring up the field of interpreting. In southern regions of the US there are Interpreters with this type of accent. Should these interpreters be expected to lose their accent when interpreting for a Deaf person? I ask this because Interpreters are supposed to present their consumers accurately and appropriately. This is apparently supposed to be done using "Standard English". Clearly, if there is an interpreting setting in which all parties involved have the same regional accent then there is really no issue or even question about whether or not the accent is appropriate. Well, what if an interpreter from the south leaves the south to interpret? Or an Interpreter in the south who is interpreting in a setting where the accent is inappropriate? Should the interpreter lose thier accent? If they do, is this cultural oppression on the Interpreter? What do you think?