A little background:
I will be teaching at RIT starting next week, and a significant part of the RIT culture is the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. 9 out of the 75 students currently signed up for my courses are in the NTID; in orientation we've already been given some preliminary tips on how to integrate these students into the class, and of course there are many other resources available at RIT.
That said, in my decade plus of teaching, I've only had one deaf student, and it was a mixed experience for me. I got used to having a translator in the classroom, and had positive interactions with the student in and out of class. However, her written work seemed limited by the grammar of ASL, and I worried that my lectures never quite made it through translation (admittedly, she should have been able to keep up through the required reading).
Do you have any positive (or negative) experiences you'd be willing to share?
3 comments:
Only one but it wasn't good. I think it is may have to do with translation. I'm not sure all philosophical terms have good translations into ASL. Someone in our monthly meeting is a translator. I'm going to ask him if he thinks translating a philosophy lecture into ASL would pose particular difficulties.
Sorry, accidentally posted this on someone else's post! Hopefully this one will make it to the right person :)
Hi Professor Dove. I remember you being one of my favorite professors in my entire college experience, back when you taught at RMWC for one semester. You made philosophy come alive in a way none of the other professors there could. I'd love to be able to stay in touch with you.
Anyway, thank you for bringing such a spark of light, enjoyment, and pleasure into the world of teaching. I once asked you to write a recommendation for me... now as a former student, if you'd ever like a recommendation from me I'd be happy to give you one!
Taught Biology at UVM and had a deaf student and one that was blind (not at the same time). Obviously they both presented different challenges. Getting accustomed to speaking slower and explaining visual aids was a challenge. The translator needed time to spell the difficult terminology and the braille machine was somewhat distracting. While both students were capable and received additional help outside of class neither could get better than a C... the were missing the essence of the material. I found that it made me a better teacher.
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