Students Communication with Teachers

Carey’s Journal

I am Carey, a fifth-grade student at a school in our neighborhood. I really enjoy going to school because it gives me an opportunity to play and interact with my peers. We are in a special education class of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. Our teachers are usually very good though I wish we could be given more time to play. Since teachers don’t allow us to play in class, I find some of the classes boring.

My typical school today begins at around 7:00 am as I wake and prepare to go to class. I don’t like having to wake up this early as I love my sleep. Actually, I don’t wake up this early on weekends. The first thing after I wake up is taking a warm shower. After taking a shower, I dress up for school, have breakfast, and leave. I normally take around 35-45 minutes to prepare myself before going to school. Since I live nearby, I usually walk to school for about 5-7 minutes. While the walk is usually enjoyable, it’s sometimes difficult for me, especially during winter or when it rains. On this day, I woke up at 6:00 am, prepared myself, and got to school at 7:50 am ready for the first class, which started at 8:00 am.

For the first period, I had Language Arts. In this class, the lesson focused on identifying main ideas and supporting details in a text or passage. One of the lesson objectives was to summarize what we have read through writing. The teacher employed sign language as part of classroom management strategy as well as for teaching. She used sign language to communicate with us from the beginning to the end of the lesson. We were given two pieces of literature to read. The teacher ensured that we could see the book and sat in a position where we could see her face and signs simultaneously. Using the American Sign Language (ASL), she read the story several times and used props, eye gaze, and facial expressions to communicate. The lesson lasted for a period of 30 minutes. While I found it interesting at the beginning, I got bored after about 15 minutes. I think the class would have been more engaging and enjoyable if the teacher incorporated visual elements or presentations. The two pieces of literature in the book had no pictures, which made it relatively difficult for me to enjoy and concentrate throughout.

After the first session, we had a 15-minute break before the beginning of the next lesson. During the break as well as other transition times, I enjoy playing with my peers. The transition times and lunch break gave us opportunities for peer social interactions and social play. Our social playtimes took place at the playground and in the presence of one of our teachers. We played in groups of six students and used sign language to communicate. However, some of my peers lost interest in the games and opted to be alone. The teacher did not interfere with our play unless a student engaged in inappropriate behavior such as being aggressive. For example, one of the students became aggressive and started fighting another because of a disagreement during the play. Her friend was mimicking her walking style, which really angered her. The teacher stopped them from fighting and took some time talking to them about what is expected of them.

The next two classes after Language Arts were Mathematics and Science. For these classes, we had three teachers each. They were in different locations in the class and provided support to each individual learner. Similar to the first class, they used sign language to communicate with us and teach. However, they adopted a slightly different approach to teaching as they utilized visual presentations. For example, during the Science class, two teachers used a PowerPoint presentation to show how to build a tunnel using some of the plastic toys provided to us. After the PowerPoint presentation, they took turns showing different groups of students how to do it practically. We were then divided into small groups of four students each and asked to build a tunnel based on what we had learned from the presentations. The teachers were on hand to offer assistance to groups that struggled with this activity. The teachers then used fingerspelling to help us understand what he was teaching. They also used interactive whiteboards and objects to explain the points. I found these classes more engaging and interactive because of the use of visual representation of lesson content.

During lunchtime, I took the snacks within the first 15 minutes before going to the field to play. While some of my classmates spent time chatting away or alone, I spent the remainder of my lunchtime playing games with two of my friends. We played several games for a few minutes each such as jumping rope, foursquare, and dancing. We communicated using sign language since we are all deaf. It was sometimes difficult to explain the games to each other because some of us don’t fully understand or know how to use sign language.

Samantha’s Journal

I am Samantha, a fourth-grade student at a local special education school. I live a few miles from the school and have to take the school bus each day. My typical school day involves waking up early in the morning around 6:00 am, getting ready for school, and boarding the school bus. Our classes usually begin at 8:00 am and end by 3:00 pm with a couple of breaks in between including lunch break.

To get up early, I use my Fitbit strapped to my wrist. I got up at 6:00 am and started preparing to go to school. The school bus picked me up at 7:00 am for a 30-minute ride to school. By the time I got to school, most of my schoolmates had not yet arrived except those who were using the bus. Most of them stay close to the school and usually arrive about 15 minutes before the start of the first class. Living far away from the school makes me feel bad because I get to wake up very early unlike most of my peers in class.

My first class for the day is Social Studies. In this class, we started by playing a game of Guess Who for about 10 minutes. Being a class of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, the teacher used sign language to give us instructions for the game and to teach. After the game, the teacher taught on the colonization of America. He used facial expressions, drawing sets, and pictures to explain points in the class. The pictures were used to illustrate the key events in the colonization of America and the reasons behind the events. The focus of this lesson was to analyze the reason behind these events while comparing and making connections between them. For example, using pictures, the teacher showed us the size and geography of America during the colonial period. In addition, he used the pictures to map out places and trace events that occurred in them during this period. Explanations of the pictures and their associated events were carried out using the American Sign Language (ASL), which is commonly used in deaf and hard-of-hearing classrooms (Johnson, Liddell & Erting,1989; Winston, 2004).

My next class is a Language Arts lesson, which took place 10 minutes after the first one. I feel the 10-minute transition time is inadequate for me to be ready and adequately prepared for another class since most of our classes last for 40 minutes. We spent the first half of this class in role-playing using sign language mostly. The teacher also used verbal communication since some of the students in the classroom can hear though not as good as students without any hearing disabilities. The teacher used different teaching strategies like signed English, fingerspelling, and cued speech. During role-playing, we were encouraged to translate sign language and English. This was to help us understand our comprehension and cognitive abilities by making connections between the different presentation modes (Schleper, 1997). For example, we were paired into groups of two students each. We were asked to pretend that one of us is a father/mother and the other is his/her child. We then practiced a conversation in which the parent was teaching the child good behaviors using sign language. I enjoyed this activity because my friend was funny and used humorous eye gaze and facial expressions when communicating. By the end of the class, I was refreshed and energized for the rest of the day.

Soon, it was lunchtime. Eating is one of my hobbies. On this day, we had a mozzarella sandwich and a soft drink, which is one of my favorite snacks. Lunchtimes usually last for around an hour. I took my lunch and found my friend who we spent time chatting away. I enjoy one-on-one social situations and conversations with my friend. Both of us can hear most of what is said, which makes it easier to communicate. We looked for a place that was quiet enough for us and spent most of the time chatting away and laughing. I could hear at least 70 percent of what she said and lip-read to fill in the rest. When socializing with my friends, we hardly use sign language since we can hear most of what is said. We discussed several things including how the classes were, our lives at home, and general feelings and thoughts about the school.