Be the Change

Deaf students have challenges.  From Gallaudet University Press: 

Most Deaf and hard of hearing children have parents who are not Deaf or hard of hearing. According to Mitchell and Karchmer (2004), 92% of Deaf children are from families with two hearing parents, and 8% have at least one Deaf or hard of hearing parent. Only 4% of children have two Deaf parents. The high percentage of Deaf children with hearing parents is significant for several reasons. Although a signed language may be the most logical choice for a student who cannot hear a spoken language, most hearing parents with a Deaf child do not know sign language. Some researchers suggest that “young deaf children of hearing parents frequently do not have any truly accessible and competent language models, either for sign language or for spoken language” (Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002, p. 12).

(More Than Meets the Eye:  Revealing the Complexities of an Interpreted Education)

Good numbers simply do not seem to exist, but very, very few hearing parents with deaf children sign at home.  Deaf children often do not have consistent access to language until they enter the school system, which at its earliest is typically 3 years old.  As it turns out, the ages 0-3 are some of the most critical years for language acquisition and development.  Even then, they still don't have the access at home that their hearing peers do.  This creates significant social and academic delays, to say the least.  My job as their teacher is to figure out how to overcome those delays, and it is a daunting task.  Insurmountable, at times, and certainly frustrating.  We as teachers have so much influence but so little at the same time.

I, with my colleagues, have often bemoaned the disadvantages our students have as well as the effect that has on us as teachers.  But now that I am halfway through my 3rd year, complaining about things that are not in my control is not productive and something I don't care to engage in anymore.  Those complaints aren't going away, and I can't pretend that I will never do it again, but I ache for something more.  A solution I can be a part of.  

So I turned to research.  Lots of googling.  Lots of reading.  Lots of frustration again, but this time it is because the research just does not seem to have what I am looking for.  There are pieces here and there, and certainly some good ideas I hope to implement.  But the research-based, large-scale impactful changes are lacking.  I have talked with like-minded coworkers to see what they are studying, and they seem to be in the same boat.  The buzzword these days is research-based best practices, and it's a buzzword for a good reason.  We want to make sure we are not doing simply what is good for our students but what is best, and the way to go about sifting through all that is out there is through data.  But what do you do if the data isn't there?  How did the pioneers get the data in the first place?  Where does this research actually come from?

All of these frustrations and questions have brought me to my post title:  Be the Change.  This was already a bit of a mantra for me within the work I do to improve life for singles in Houston.  I am now thinking it might be time to apply it to my professional life.  If the research doesn't exist, then perhaps I need to change that.  Perhaps it is time to consider doing it myself.  I can't even express how much fear that instills in me.  It would require at the least a certification but preferably a masters.  I don't really want to go back to school.  I enjoy NOT working and being a student at the same time.  It is also a math-heavy program, which is not my forte.  My top fear is money.  I have other places that I want that money to go to.  I am enjoying fixing up my house the way I want it, and I don't really want to stop doing that.  And yet maybe I am being called to serve the people I love in a different way.  Maybe I am being called to serve in a way that will leave a true legacy...

Obstacles In My Way...To The Bathroom

Thanks to some bad weather and a school cancellation, I actually have some time to look at my blog again...how was my last post in November?  Is that even possible???  I really need to find a regular time to do this...

It's time to get real about one of the less polite realities of life:  the inconvenience of having to go to the bathroom.  Especially when at a movie.  For some reason, my bladder has the uncanny ability to know when I'm at a movie and decides that's a problem. Every. Single. Time.  I can drink nothing for hours beforehand.  I will still need to interrupt my movie.  I can go before leaving the house and right when I get there and still, movie interrupted.  Of course, this doesn't happen at home when "pause" is an option.  Nope.  Only at the movie theater.  And always about 3/4 of the way through.  So the exciting part.

Recently I went to see "Jumanji" with my mom.  Of course, at the final climactic scene (about 30 minutes to the end), that familiar sensation hit.  I refused to give in.  I literally sat at the edge of my seat and danced in it up until the end.  The credits hit, and I shot up.  People were standing and chatting to my left.  Okay, that's the fastest way to the door but the right is an option as well.  I look to my right.  Same.  Frustration and fear of impending disaster started to bubble up.  I resolved not to give in--a solution would be found!  I (politely) pushed my way through the people on my right--including my mother--and practically ran down the steps.

From there I still had a turn to the left and a bit of a walk to get to the door.  I made that turn and saw, again, a crowd of people causally talking and SLOWLY walking to the door.  Whatever.  I'm a small person and am actually quite adept at weaving in a crowd of people.  I can find all the small spaces to squeeze through.  Seriously.  Ask my roommate.  She and her boyfriend were impressed at a concert we went to together.  ANYWAY, I get down there, start plotting out my path, and a lady pulled out her walker.  Her walker!!! In my way!!!  I can't run the risk of mowing down an older woman with a walker!  So I continued my potty dance until I could find a way around this mindfield.  And find it I did.  Until...

I turn into the bathroom and see a line.  Of children.  I don't think there was an adult in that line.  At this point I really was courting disaster.  I REALLY wanted to run those kids over to get to the front of the line.  I was so close to doing it.  Then I thought of how that would look on the news.  "Teacher of Children Maims Them Rushing to the Front of the Line."  Not good.  I am pretty sure my posture looked like a balloon that just popped.  All the air rushed out of me and I just sagged with the weight of my fate.  Then I turned around...

And angels started singing.  All the lights in the hallway dimmed except one:  the one that says "Restrooms" at the other end of the small theater.  The air was back in my balloon.  I practically skipped my way over to the line-less bathroom.  And I am happy to report, this story had a happy ending!