As all of you know, students have a very difficult time not speaking during ASL class. In reality, this is considered very rude and disrespectful to Deaf people. I have struggled with this since I began teaching in 1998. I have always worked hard to make my students feel comfortable and at ease in my classroom and outside of it. Part of this is out of habit. Daily, I need to accommodate the hearing world and make them more comfortable with me. I want students to feel free to ask me anything and everything and by forcing them to sign only, students do not come to me. However, this is an ASL classroom and I am Deaf! Students should be able to give an hour of themselves three days a week when Deaf people are often forced to fit into the hearing world 24/7. Furthermore, they should be signing so that when they need to communicate with other Deaf people they are ready to do so. This vlog that I am going to have you watch and comment on is one idea a Deaf instructor uses in his classroom. I want you to comment on your thoughts and other ideas you have that may help students get the message. I also would like to hear your comments on how I can work to establish this all sign rule and still have students coming to me when they need to talk to me about personal things or class concerns.
Here is the address of Carl Schroeder' blog called Kalalau's Corner.
Enjoy!
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2007/02/table-bells-in-asl-classes.html
Hmmm... this is a good idea. Ringing bells when someone talks will defninitely draw attention. Some students might not take it very seriously though, because a bell is such a gentle sound. How about a buzzer from Taboo(the game). That is annoying and I'm sure that students would not like to have to hit that after they talked. As to worrying about the students not coming to you (Monica) to talk, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If someone really respects you and decides that you're a person they'd like to talk to, the bell won't deter students from coming in to talk to you. I think another good idea is to have the students wear something so that they are reminded that they are in a Deaf classroom... Something as simple as ear plugs, so that they can't hear even if another student talks to them. If they still talk, resort to Duct Tape...
ReplyDelete~L
I agree with Lyndsey that the bell isn't loud enough or have enough sound to make a point. I think that with anything you use, such as a bell, after awhile people will start to ignore it anyway. It will become background noise. I think maybe making the person sign a story or something like that would be beneficial because it would make them sign instead of talk plus it would be good practice for the student.
ReplyDelete-Erin
I think at first a bell would be very effective in quieting someone who is voicing when they shouldn't. But as Lindsey and Erin say, I too believe that eventually it would become not that big of a deal. In reading the comments on the other blog I saw one professor who used ear plugs. It might not be pracital for everyday use, but it would be a fun experience that would maybe help get the message across, perhaps during an activity in a first year class.
ReplyDelete-Melissa
Haha. Lyndsey I like your idea about the duct tape. I think I see where this teacher is coming from. I can see how it would be beneficial in the beginning, but like you all said too, not effective for very long. For the most part I think I understood everything enough to know what was talked about. The only thing I got confused about was when he mentioned the ice cream truck. I guess I'm not sure the meaning behind it. Does it have to do with the bells of the truck? Like getting the attention of people when they hear the bells? And that's maybe how this teacher came up with the bell idea? Ha. Let me know what you think.
ReplyDelete-Erica =)
Erica, I'm not sure about the ice cream truck thing either... I think he was talking about how people stop what they're doing and pay attention to the ice cream truck...
ReplyDelete~L
From what I understood, he brought in two bells. And because he is deaf, he doesn't always know students are talking (unless he sees them.) So the bell(s) are actually used by other students as a 'gentle' reminder to not use voice. I don't think it's meant as an 'annoyance' just a reminder.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the ice cream truck reference...so far I'm getting that the bell sounds like the truck, and when people hear it they start salivating and think its time for a snack? - after that, I'm still unclear.
Of course, if we go with Lyndey's duct tape idea, we could always paste smiley face lips on them!
I think Julie is right, when they heard the bells they stopped just like kids when they see and hear the ice cream truck they stop playing their game and chase the truck. And Melissa, I also saw the ear plug comment and thought that would be a fun idea also! Another thing I wanted to comment on...Did anyone else read Carl's profile? His whole family is deaf (besides his son, but he uses ASL as a primary language) I thought this was very surprising considering that alot of Deaf people are born into hearing families.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone that the bell maybe good at first but sooner or later people are going to disregard it. I was also reading some of the comments under the YouTube video and one person mentioned having to pin a badge to your shirt if you were caught talking either by the teacher or another student and whenever you heard someone talking you gave it to them and they had to wear it. From what this person wrote it seemed to work well in her classroom.
ReplyDeleteI had a quick question about one of the signs he uses about 20 seconds in he puts his middle finger next to his eyebrow and flicks it forward, just wondering if anyone knows for sure what the sign means??
I also agree with Lindsay, that yes if you use the bell students may be a little hesitant to approach you to ask questions, but as they get to know you and the culture their respect will grow.
WELL- to begin... I don't think this is a good idea. (I haven't read anyone else's comments yet... so I will get to that after I do my first post.) Anyway- I don't think students would take it seriously, I feel as though they would ring the bell at other times or it would just be annoying. I don't believe people would be embarrassed to ring the bell or mind if others knew they were talking considering it is their primary language. If the bell was in the classroom I feel as though it would be more of a distraction than anything else. Perhaps another idea would be best. I read on the video page about using a badge, or a money system. I think something like that would work better, because what college student wants to give up money? Or what if you deducted points everytime someone talked? Or what if you split the class up into groups and made it into a commetition? Like whoever has the most points at the end of the semester wins... something? Extra credit on an exam? Ice Cream? Something to get them to not talk. If they feel like they are getting something out of the deal they might work harder. I know they should work hard just because they are in the class, but not everyone does. Those are just a few ideas. I can explain further about the team thing if anyone else thinks it is a good idea. . . Now time to read others and comment more :)
ReplyDeleteIn response to Erin's first comment at: 1/27 @ 10pm
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erin that perhaps making the talking student sign a story or sign all the vocab would make them not want to talk in class and then it would be making them better their signing skills and possibly help them to not be as scared to approach you with questions if they felt more comfortable with their signing... just a thought!
!>. abby
Okay- So far I think that we all agree with the fact that the bells might not be the best idea. I think as an experienced class we might be able to come up with better ideas on how to encourage signing and also to encourage students to approach Monica in a way that is respectful to the culture and Monica. Overall the students simply need to make more of an effort to approach her within the means of the Deaf Culture. As studnets they are learning the culture and by not remaining in that culture they are not getting the full experience of the class, which is again why I think point deduction would be a good idea. Or the team thing... what does everyone else think?
ReplyDelete!>. abby
I like the competition idea that Abby talked about. Who doesn't love competition?? At Sunday school, the kindergarteners that I help teach have that same idea. If, for the whole story they can be quiet, that group gets their snack first, and... it really works. They don't talk for the whole story, making it really hard to judge who gets their snack first. Monica could try using that... Have on the board Team 1 and Team 2, and every time someone talks, put a mark under their team... The team with the most marks doesn't get the point for that day. At the end of the semester, the team with the most points could have some extra credit or something. This idea could work, because then they won't be depending on their individual self, rather they would depend on eachother not to talk, making it more pressure not to talk.
ReplyDelete~L
Interesting posts! I look forward to our conversation tomorrow in regard to this. I would love to take money and use it for something to celebrate later on but... this is not something that is allowed. Drats!
ReplyDeleteMonica
I wanted to ask all of you about the picture I included with this post. Why do you think I selected it?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see all of you tomorrow,
Monica
I think that Carl has a good idea. If it's explained to a class that it's disrespectful to use voice in the ASL classroom, this method should be effective. When the bells ring, people should just feel like they're being rude and stop, rather than being embarrassed by their peers because attention was drawn to them in class. If the students respect the teacher, I think it would work very well. If not, I agree that the embarrassment from the bells would probably wear off.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's totally appropriate for us to sign with Monica instead of using voice. I do feel like I'm intimidated by that, but it's only because I'm not completely confident that I understand everything or that my ASL grammar is quite right; however, I think someone else made the point that if we need to ask questions or ask what a sign means it should be in sign anyway, otherwise we aren't going to learn what we need to learn.
I really like the idea of using ear plugs in class; I feel like that would be incredibly helpful. I think it's easy to use hearing as a crutch in the classroom without even trying to. It would be nice to shut off the hearing and have to rely on other senses to understand/communicate.
ReplyDeleteI like the competition idea too; having people depending on you to get more comfortable with signing might motivate the group to work harder.
Its funny, Monica, that you asked us to comment on the picture. As I was reading the latest comments, I kept thinking to myself "Its really all about respect" ... and then I saw your post, scrolled up to the top - and the picture is of him signing 'respect".
ReplyDeleteI find it unfortunate that in college level classrooms, students need to have a 'system' in place to keep them behaving like proper young adults should. (This is not a post about our class - I hope that is understood.)
Do you suppose the 'talking' students behave the same in other classrooms? I think not ... Respect - I think it is just that simple -
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me... I think Monica, you put respect on here to show that you want respect. This whole blog is about peope respecting the fact that, when they are in a Deaf classroom, they need to follow those rules. I agree with Julie, why, in college, do students need to be reminded of what respect is. I'm sure Monica has informed her student not to tlak in her Deaf classroom, therefore, she shouldn't have to repeat it.
ReplyDelete~L
The intersting thing about the respect aspect is, I don't really think many of the students realize just how disrespectful it is to voice in front of a Deaf teacher. I know first year many of my classmates would whisper questions, and it was distracting, but I don't think they meant to be disrespectful to Monica. Even without meaning to they were being very disrespectufl to both Monica nad their classmates, perhaps feeling like they wouldn't be caught emboldened them.
ReplyDelete-Melissa
So I kind of forgot that I was supposed to do a response post. I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading everyone's responses. Monica- You asked why we think you chose the picture. I definitely agree with Lyndsey and Melissa. You both talk about how respect is something that is a very important and key concept in the Deaf community. I also agree with Julie. I also find it ridiculous that respect needs to be talked about in college.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the question I asked about the ice cream truck, thank you for your thoughts. I find it very helpful.
For my last little thought, I really like doing this kind of thing. I find it very helpful to really dissect ASL the way we have been. I didn't realize how hard it was to get used to someone else's signing. I'm excited to see how the rest of the semester goes!