Abstract
Rationale & Findings
AbstraA
Beginning my career as a teacher for deaf and hard of hearing students, I am constantly striving to find the most up-to-date strategies that work best for my students. Specifically, reading is a prominent issue in the field of deaf education. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Deaf Education and teaching for 2 years, I decided it was time to further my learning in the field that not only presents my population of students with challenges, but all students—reading. Studying reading has allowed me to see the intricacies of this subject and exactly why I have been called to overlap my passion for deaf education and my interest in reading education. The two go hand in hand—I cannot teach my students effectively without having an adequate knowledge of reading. As I have learned throughout my studies in the New Literacies in Global Learning Program here at NC State, the field of reading has a depth and breadth to its complexity. There are certain practices and methods to use at in certain situations. Integrating these practices with my background in deaf education makes this topic even more precise. Therefore, educating students who are deaf and hard of hearing is an inquiry in which I am always searching for the right answers.
Beginning my career as a teacher for deaf and hard of hearing students, I am constantly striving to find the most up-to-date strategies that work best for my students. Specifically, reading is a prominent issue in the field of deaf education. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Deaf Education and teaching for 2 years, I decided it was time to further my learning in the field that not only presents my population of students with challenges, but all students—reading. Studying reading has allowed me to see the intricacies of this subject and exactly why I have been called to overlap my passion for deaf education and my interest in reading education. The two go hand in hand—I cannot teach my students effectively without having an adequate knowledge of reading. As I have learned throughout my studies in the New Literacies in Global Learning Program here at NC State, the field of reading has a depth and breadth to its complexity. There are certain practices and methods to use at in certain situations. Integrating these practices with my background in deaf education makes this topic even more precise. Therefore, educating students who are deaf and hard of hearing is an inquiry in which I am always searching for the right answers.
To provide a basis for my compelling questions, I felt it best to include an assignment I completed in my Teachers as Leaders course. The assignment was to demonstrate advocacy for a topic of our choice. I chose to write to an administrator sharing my heartfelt concerns about deaf students in my county. Highlights from this letter include the saddening statistics of the reading level of a high school graduate who is deaf. Other concerns and explanations I share include concerns about children who are identified late as having a hearing loss and subsequently often have significant language delays. These deficits need to be met proactively with the assistance of researched literacy methods. The implementation of these reading methods will work towards combating the challenges presented to children with hearing loss at an early age.
Throughout this product it is apparent that I have found important lessons and answers to my question in: class assignments and projects, class discussions, literacy and pedagogical texts written by influential educators, Web 2.0 tools, cultural experiences, The Common Core Essential Standards, reading assessments, and instructional reading tools and strategies. I also owe many thanks to both my former and current students for their willingness and participation in my research and continued learning. With their participation, I was able to apply my new skills and knowledge and in turn, find out how it was impacting their learning.
Throughout my journey in the NLGL program, I have kept my deaf and hard of hearing students in mind. Entering this program and aiming to figure out how I can better support their literacy development has been an incredible adventure. If I could sum up my revelations connecting the NLGL courses to deaf education in three words, they would read: LITERACY IS EVERYTHING! It took these courses and my wonderful professors for me to open my eyes and realize that I need to be doing all I can to integrate language and literacy into all aspects of my students' lives. I've found some of these aspects to include: 21st century technology, parent involvement, global learning, and word study.
When executed appropriately, the use of all of these components centralize on language and literacy development for my students. Thanks to the NLGL program and its acceptance of my deaf education integration, the ways in which I capitalize on language and literacy development for my students are numerous.
Throughout my journey in the NLGL program, I have kept my deaf and hard of hearing students in mind. Entering this program and aiming to figure out how I can better support their literacy development has been an incredible adventure. If I could sum up my revelations connecting the NLGL courses to deaf education in three words, they would read: LITERACY IS EVERYTHING! It took these courses and my wonderful professors for me to open my eyes and realize that I need to be doing all I can to integrate language and literacy into all aspects of my students' lives. I've found some of these aspects to include: 21st century technology, parent involvement, global learning, and word study.
When executed appropriately, the use of all of these components centralize on language and literacy development for my students. Thanks to the NLGL program and its acceptance of my deaf education integration, the ways in which I capitalize on language and literacy development for my students are numerous.