Standard+6-+Language+and+Communication


 * __Bringing School Home __**

Since so many children who are deaf are born to hearing parents, communication and the language barrier at home can sometimes be a problem. Some students are only able to communicate when they are in the school setting for many reasons, maybe parents are too busy with work to learn sign, or maybe they have tried but it is a very difficult process for them. I am not going to go into all the reasons that could be true; however I as a future teacher would love to find a way to link what the students did in school and have them bring it home to be the teacher for mom/dad. This idea came up when I was doing my 60 hours for CEP 433. I thought it would be a neat idea as the teacher, that at the end of a lesson or activity, the teacher would print out a sheet of vocabulary words used in the activity and a description to the parents of what went on that lesson. The student could then go home and interact with their parents telling them what they learned. This is then giving more opportunity to the students to re-visit what they have learned but also giving them an opportunity for communication at home. The parent could point to a word and the child could then sign it, helping for an at home interaction. I really liked this idea when my CT talked to me about it and would love to try it one day as a teacher.


 * __Voice Thread __**

I was doing some research today on a technology called voice thread. This is a program that can be used in the classroom where students can do projects and share their information with other students around the world. I think that this can be very helpful for any student but also those that are deaf/hard of hearing. If there is a deaf/hard of hearing child in the general Ed classroom, this could be a tool that will bring the hearing and the deaf together. For example, you could have the students get together in groups and do a report on something. For this program you can incorporate pictures, voice overs, and video feed. For the hearing, they could do voice overs, and the deaf could video themselves signing. This facilitates communication between students while working in groups and develops cognition because they are doing a report on something. The students, for example, could do a report on mammals. Each group could research a different mammal and use this project to teach the rest of the class about it. The deaf student can implement the video of themselves signing, which would be a neat idea in teaching the classmates the animal signs. I also feel this website can be very beneficial for the deaf/hard of hearing. Since this program can be used throughout the world, it can be used to share ideas with other deaf students. Sometimes it is hard for deaf students in your class to have a wide variety of communication with others, since in a general Ed classroom; they may be the only one who is deaf in the school. While the hearing student have access to communication daily, the deaf may be left in the dark, only having limited communication with their interpreter and teacher. This program will help them reach out to other deaf students, share ideas, and relate to one another. I also feel that this program can be useful to facilitate communication between students and their parents. The students can make a project, and then the teacher can invite the parents to be "friends" so that the parent can log into the website and see their child's work. This gives the opportunity for the child to tell their parent of what they have accomplished, giving opportunity for cognitive development on the subject and for communication whether the student is hearing or deaf.

Here is a video demonstration about voice thread. [|Voice thread description]