SignWriting List Forum| Message 3045 | Previous | Next [ Up Thread ] | Message Index |
|
SignWriting List Forum |
|||
|
|
From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Sat Mar 11, 2000 12:40 am Subject: Re: SignWriting as a gateway? | |
|
On 3/10/00, Don & Theresa G wrote: >I mentioned SW to my wife, who is an elementary teacher of the deaf at a >school for the deaf. One thing she said, in addition to the fact that SW is >not "English" (as it shouldn't be), is that for her, she finds no way she >could make room in her schedule to teach English AND SW, even if she were so >inclined. How do the classroom teachers out there make time for both SW and >English instruction? How do the classroom teachers help the kids make the >connections and transitions between SW and English? > >--Donald Grushkin > Ph.D., Language, Reading & Culture (Bilingual Education) ------------------------------- SignWriting List March 10, 2000 Of course the teachers who are teaching SignWriting are the ones to really answer this question, Don, but it is a good question that your wife poses, and I do have one thought.... I know the reality in the school systems...teachers are not given enough time to try out new ideas. To give you an example, I donated some SW materials to a teacher in New York State, and the poor teacher was given exactly "fifteen minutes" to introduce SignWriting! Kind of silly, don't you think? smile So the barrier of money is taken away, because we donate the materials to teachers of deaf children, but the barrier of "scheduling enough time" can still be an issue depending on the school. Administrators seem happy to accept the donated materials, but they sometimes do not give the teacher enough time to use them... Now...having said that....there is a way around this....Your wife is welcome to have some donated materials if she would like, and rather than teaching it officially, she could show the videos in class once, and then ask who likes it? Then those students who are interested, could take some books and videos home to share with their parents. That will not take much time from class... Also SW can be useful in private tutoring, with students who are having trouble learning to read and write English anyway...it seems to inspire reading and writing in general...so if they are being tutored privately, that will not take time from class... So there are ways to get around the scheduling issues... Val ;-) ------------------------------------ Valerie Sutton SignWritingSite https://www.SignWriting.org SignWriting List Archive https://www.egroups.com/group/sw-l/ Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA |
|