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Deaf Children's Wisdom
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(Note the author's convention of using lower case 'deaf' is reflected in this post).
This book is an interesting reflection of the attitudes of deaf children to the instruction that they receive in schools, and how it can influence teaching in the classroom both teaching directly in sign language and with an interpreter present. The book explains many of the frustrations that deaf students encounter in the classroom... Though many of the aspects described may equally apply to any students, hearing or deaf, but it certainly highlights that even middle school aged deaf children are able to think meta-cognitively about the instruction that they receive through the lens of the language barriers they encounter. I am certain that the same barriers exist I'm science classrooms for all students as the language of science can seem unfamiliar and poorly introduced and explained for all students. The deaf students describe their frustrations when a proper picture is not painted of new concepts before using them. This book is a great reminder of the struggles of language barriers that exist when working with deaf students and give food for thought about how that situation could be improved. For me, it was also a reminder of how alien the language of science can be for all students, and how great attention should be paid to painting pictures of new concepts so students can form sound mental models -- making the science more accessible to them all.
This book is an interesting reflection of the attitudes of deaf children to the instruction that they receive in schools, and how it can influence teaching in the classroom both teaching directly in sign language and with an interpreter present. The book explains many of the frustrations that deaf students encounter in the classroom... Though many of the aspects described may equally apply to any students, hearing or deaf, but it certainly highlights that even middle school aged deaf children are able to think meta-cognitively about the instruction that they receive through the lens of the language barriers they encounter. I am certain that the same barriers exist I'm science classrooms for all students as the language of science can seem unfamiliar and poorly introduced and explained for all students. The deaf students describe their frustrations when a proper picture is not painted of new concepts before using them. This book is a great reminder of the struggles of language barriers that exist when working with deaf students and give food for thought about how that situation could be improved. For me, it was also a reminder of how alien the language of science can be for all students, and how great attention should be paid to painting pictures of new concepts so students can form sound mental models -- making the science more accessible to them all.
Jake's Rating 3.5 out of 5
Pick it up today at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1SQDM1k
Other books to consider reading on this topic are: (Please let me know in the comments if you read any of them!)
