Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to open up a fun and interesting new world to kids that will give them a better career path or simply a better understanding of how science lets us take the happenings of the natural world and move it from magic to logic.
You will also be helping a teacher increase his/her knowledge of a subject they may not be well versed in. Once they have learned something, they will be able to apply it to all other subjects with amazing ease.
Teaching is presenting information and experiences in such a way that the learners will be able to understand and apply the new knowledge to other situations. People learn in many ways. Teachers know how the majority of their learners learn best and also how to present things in several ways so children who have unique learning styles have the best chance of understanding. There is much psychological and neurobiological understanding that teachers know from both schooling and experience. Each school and classroom has a different mix of children - take the teachers advice on what ways will work best with their children. Teaching is also a repetition. It takes hearing things many times and in many different situations to really learn. Try to think of three ways you could present what you have to say. Here are some suggestions:
Make something with the students
Use what you make to try something
Is there a song or poem that goes with this?
Can you clap a rhythm to it
Is there a children's story that goes with it?
Is there a video, either National Geographic, NASA, or movie
that ties in?
Can the children stand up or move to demonstrate the concept?
Can it be done as a cooperative group project?
| DO | DON'TS |
| Do check in at the office so other adults know you are safe to be around the children. | Don't discuss sensitive issues. |
| Do ask for help from libraries, colleges, museums, and colleagues. | - |
| Do find out the exact schedule for the day you will be visiting and be prepared for surprises. Schedules change often with less than 24 hours notice - even for the teacher. | Don't let schedules changes fluster you - do the best you can or reschedule. |
| Do present something that they cannot explain but that grabs their attention and that they want you to explain. | Don't do anything dangerous or too loud. Warn them about what to expect. Anticipation is added excitement. Loud flashes or booms often shock and disrupt rather than motivate. |
| Do call and visit the teacher after school. | Don't ask or expect the teacher to answer the phone during classroom hours or sometimes even after school. Teachers' schedules are booked far in advance and often run from 6:45 AM to 9 PM or later without a break. The teachers will do their best to try to call you within a few days. |
| Do bring your activity ready to go. | Don't expect your teacher to hunt down esoteric products or run copies for you. They will provide basic supplies, such as paper, scissors, glue or tape, but are not equipped for much else. Confirm exactly what will be supplied before your visit and fill in the rest. |
| Do be friendly - especially with the children. | Don't expect the teacher to have a lot of time to chat and be social. It is likely that their schedule is already full. |
| Do have visual aids. | Don't hand visual aids around when you want the students to listen. They will stop listening as they look. They will talk as they pass the object and may argue with each other about how much time the other child took with the object. |
| Do bring activities. | Don't pass out supplies until you have explained the project and what to do for at least Step 1. If the supplies are on the desks prior to instructions, they will use them as they see fit - which is not necessarily as planned. |
| Do share yourself. Do you have a spouse, kids, pets, or hobbies? What are their ages, names, what do they do? Kids listen when they like you and feel connected. If you give them nothing to connect with, they will have a hard time listening. | Don't let them side track you too far. Feel free to say "That's not on the subject, but thanks for asking. We can talk about that after class. |
| Do have the children raise their hand and tell you their name. "When I ask if anyone has any questions at the end of my presentation, please raise your hand and tell me your name." | - |
As scientists and engineers, we found that understanding the nature of hearing impairments, amplification systems and communications methods used to work with hearing impaired students and the effect deafness plays in learning, helped us work with these students and educators more effectively.
The material below was developed by our colleagues from St. Joseph's School for the Deaf, Bronx, New York. We especially wish to thank Trisha Hogan for her time and contribution to this material.
Childhood Deafness
Approximately 14% of the population of the United States is hearing impaired. Ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents and ten percent are born to deaf parents.
Types of Childhood Deafness:
The most common cause of deafness is exposure to a virus during pregnancy, a less common cause is heredity. In many instances, there is no specific cause, the etiology is unknown.
Degrees of Deafness
Mild - The student will benefit from a hearing aid and use of a personal FM or soundfield FM system in the classroom. Without a hearing aid the child with mild loss may miss at least 50% of class discussions, especially when voices are faint or speaker is not in line of vision. The child may need attention to vocabulary and language development, articulation or speechreading and/or special support in reading.
Moderate - The student will have marked difficulty in school situations requiring verbal communication in both one-to -one and group situations. Full time use of amplification is essential. The child may require special help in all language skills, language based academic subjects, vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics as well as reading and writing.
Severe - The student may need full-time special aural/oral program with emphasis on all auditory language skills, speechreading, concept development and speech. Often with this degree of hearing loss, communication is significantly effected, and socialization with peers with normal hearing is very difficult.
Profound - Many individuals rely on vision rather than hearing as their primary avenue for communication and learning. The student may need a special program for deaf children with emphasis on all language skills and academic areas. Early use of amplification will most likely help if it is part of an intensive training program.
Educational Placement
Educational settings for deaf children range from a mainstreamed placement in a general education program (mainstreamed is learning alongside hearing peers with the help of an interpreter or tutor) to a residential school for the deaf. Residential schools provide a continuous communication and culturally rich environments for deaf students. There is at least one school for the deaf in every state in America. Many deaf children live at school year round and go home for vacations. There are also schools for the deaf that have day programs. Many classes for profoundly deaf children contain 4 to 7 students and a full time assistant. These small classes support the studentUs individual learning styles and academic needs.
Amplification
Hearing aids amplify the sounds that the deaf children can hear. A child with profound loss may have difficulty hearing many conversation sounds, with consonants being especially hard to hear. In most schools, a deaf child receives speech therapy to help them capitalize on their residual hearing and strengthen speech reading abilities.
Students have personal aids, usually post auricular (behind the ear). During the school day, students wear a classroom aid (worn next to the body with receivers inserted in each ear). The teacher wears a microphone. The aids and the microphone work together as one auditory system. Each classroom system has it's own channel. This setup provides maximum auditory input for each student.
Communication Methodologies
Programs for students who are deaf use a variety of communication systems to instruct their students.
Programs using the oral method instruct their students through speech, speechreading and auditory input. Some programs use a technique known as Cued Speech. This system uses eight different handshapes to assist with the understanding and production of speech sounds.
Programs using Total Communication combine the use of sign language and spoken language in a variety of ways. The two most common are Signal Exact English and Pidgen Signed English.
Signing Exact English is a method where each English word and its inflection are spoken and signed in English word order. Pidgen Signed English combines some degree of American Sign Language and English and is signed and spoken in English word order.
American Sign Language (ASL) is the only sign language that is truly a language since it is a system of symbols and grammatical signals that members of the American Deaf Community share. Signs, fingerspelling, facial and body expressions are all a part of the ASL communication system.
Sign language for the same word varies in different parts of the United States and in different countries.
Each person who is deaf is unique in their ability to communicate. Many factors influence this ability, however, the most important is that of individual choice.
Hints for Working with Hearing Impaired Students
Always face your audience because the children will be trying
to lip read. Placing your hands near your mouth and even facial hair, such as a
mustache,
makes it more difficult to read lips or see the
expression on your face.
Speak slowly and pronounce your words well.
Use lots of visual aids. Consider using an overhead projector
with lots of colorful markers instead of a chalk board.
By using the overhead projector you will always face your
audience versus turning your back to write
on the chalk board.
Keep jewelry and clothing around the neck and face simple
to avoid distraction. Avoid sunglasses, busy shirts, blouses,
or scarfs. Avoid hairstyles which cover a portion of your face.
Avoid using idioms or colloquialisms. Expressions
such as "dress a chicken" may be confusing for a hearing
impaired child who may translate this to mean "place clothing
on a chicken".
Emphasize things these children can do for jobs where their
hearing is not an issue.
Personal Note From the Principal Investigator:
If the students fingerspell have them show you
how to fingerspell your name.
During my first visit at St. Joseph's School for the
Deaf in the Bronx, I had one of the students
show me how to fingerspell my name. Of course I
did not fingerspell it correctly the first few times I tried this
in front of other people. I remember seeing that
same student out of the corner of my eye. He
was respelling my name and cueing me so that I would
spell it right. I always had a special bond with him afterwards.