In class last week we were challenged to think about how the
classroom could be organized to create a better classroom environment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. What do you think is the best way for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to learn?
As proposed in class a
few weeks ago we went over a couple pictures and briefly discussed what classroom
environment we thought was best for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I think that the best environment is a class
with a board in the center so that all students can see. In ASL class we have all the seats in a
semicircle so that all students can see the teacher as well as see each other
when signing. It is also important to
have good lighting, otherwise it is hard to see when someone else is signing or
to see someone’s face when they’re using facial expressions. Facial expressions are extremely important to
ASL because that is how an individual expresses grammar. Additionally, I think it is important to
utilize visuals and hands on activities because it would be better to reinforce
the material. In general, I feel as
though visuals would be extremely beneficial when teaching Deaf or hard of
hearing students because they tend to pick up on more fine details and
such. Of course, it would be hard to
implement any auditory lessons into the classroom because it would have to be
very loud for them to hear it. I think
that it also depends on the class size and the environment that you are
teaching in. It can be very challenging
to teach a large class of Deaf and hard of hearing students.
