Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 18:48:57 -0500
From: Diana & Alan Smith
Reply-To: SignWriting List
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Valerie Sutton
Subject: Web Report #1
To: SignWriting Literacy Project
Valerie Sutton
From: Caldwell Elementary
Wichita, KS
RE: Web Report #1
1. Why do you want to learn SignWriting?
We want to learn SignWriting in order to reach more of our deaf
children. Many of the children that we teach are multicultural.
Sign language may or may not be used in the home. We are looking for a
way to increase the literacy level of our students.
2. What have been some of your past frustrations when teaching?
Reading and writing are difficult when you do not have a command of
the language in which the story or article is expressed. SignWriting
can give the children a method of expression on which to build English,
which is a necessity in our society. SignWriting can enable the
children to learn different styles of expression in their native
language and thus make understanding English a little easier.
3. Are you hoping that SignWriting might help? If so, in what way?
We believe SignWriting can benefit not only the deaf children but
also their teachers and parents. It will be a way to share ideas with
someone else. Every language needs a written expression to preserve
ideas as they were expressed. Personal stories and expressions can be
shared from home and school in precisely the way that they were
expressed.
4. How would you like to use your web page?
We would like to use the web page to send pictures of our students
using SignWriting and to communicate our progress. It would be an
excellent way for the children to set up pen pals with other deaf
students. It would be interesting to compare how ideas might be
expressed in SignWriting from different areas of the United States and
possible build a bridge to other countries.
5. Please write any other information about your group.
As a staff we welcome the participation of our students' parents in
projects that we are incorporating in our school program. Language and
communication really take off when the students can see it in every
aspect of their lives. Through our parent organization and letters to
the homes, we will share this program. We hope to receive feedback from
the parents. We also would like to have input from the Deaf community
in our city. We have started a program where deaf adults come and read
or tell stories to our students once a week. One of these readers has
expressed an interest in SignWriting when it was shown to her.
Diana & Alan Smith
Teacher
Caldwell Elementary School
__________________________________________
Valerie Sutton :-)
https://www.SignWriting.org
Sutton at the DAC
Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting
Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
(619)456-0098 voice
(619)456-0010 tty
(619)456-0020 fax
|
SignWriting List Forum