Chapter 6: Question 2

Just like with hearing students, independence comes with age and through experience. Younger students still need that guidance on how to organize their assignments and school work and still need reminding here and there from their teachers. Eventually, as students get older more responsibility is placed on them to remember their own work and have to become more self reliant. As an interpreter it is my job to convey these skills that the teacher may implement through sign language. Working with younger deaf students it will be my job to re-direct their attention from time to time, but as they get older, it is their responsibility. In my opinion I think repetition is the best way to remember how to do things. If I see something that works for the deaf student in one classroom, I might say something to the next teacher if the students seems to be struggling. As far as mnemonics, if the teacher shows the class how to use them then the deaf student will be able to see them in use and understand the idea behind mnemonics.   

PLE 4

As interpreters our goal is to first match the language skills of our students. We need to be aware of what level the student is on language wise so we can match their style in order to help them grasp the material. Once we figure out where the student's language skills are we can slowly start to add in new signs to help them expand their vocabulary. When new signs are introduced to the student, it is important that we make sure he/she understands the meaning before it is used again in the future. This will help the student to see that there many different ways to sign different concepts. Also, to help the student with working memory and sensory register, after introducing a new sign one day we could ask them to use it the following day and the entire week to make sure it is stored into their long-term memory. However, even though this is an ideal hope for interpreters in order to help expand the student's vocabulary and understanding, it is very hard to implement. The majority of the time, interpreters are trying to convey the teacher's lessons and goals that are set for the student. Interpreter really have little freedom to add or work on goals while in the classroom with the student. The interpreter's main and first goal is to make sure they are being a good language model for the student and following the standards set in the IEP. It is more of the teacher's responsibility to set up goals for the student.