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Marie Hodges May 16, 2003

Broken Arrow Public Schools Language Arts

Leisure Park Elementary School

Deaf Educ. 4th and 5th grade

Problem:

Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in the intermediate elementary grades often have less than adequate exposure and experience with vocabulary that is frequently used in reading and spelling materials. Most literature is geared for hearing peers who have had auditory and linguistic practice with vocabulary in these materials thousands of times before being expected to learn this vocabulary in printed form. Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in the elementary classroom may approach this vocabulary for the first time through printed form within the content of their Language Arts curriculum. This presents a big challenge towards mastery of usage and spelling of this vocabulary primarily due to lack of exposure and experience with the vocabulary.

Solution:

Presentation of new vocabulary infused in daily learning and journaling activities has provided my deaf and hard of hearing students with increased success and acquisition of new words in both reading and spelling activities.

The most important first step is to introduce this new vocabulary in context rather than isolation. Pre-teaching vocabulary is not as productive as teaching the vocabulary while it is happening.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing children only have so much memory for storing new words and spelling when it is presented in isolation. Categorizing spelling words and vocabulary words in creative visual ways gives the students more ways to file and retain this information. The hearing child has the benefit of filing into long term memory and categorizing new vocabulary words by using auditory cues as well as background knowledge. The deaf and hard of hearing child approaches this task without auditory benefit or background knowledge and needs visual and fully accessible alternative tools to enable them equal access when categorizing and filing new vocabulary into long term memory.

To provide the deaf child this equal access I have composed a variety of lessons throughout the week which are presented to them in a multisensory and visual way to help them learn the brand new vocabulary. The steps provide them with appropriate exposure and practice with new vocabulary to enable them to experience success with spelling and language needs.

Mondays- I introduce new vocabulary during reading group time and present this vocabulary in meaningful language models often drawing on a previously learned word to enable them to make an inference as to the meaning of this new word. Words with multiple meanings are signed in conceptually correct ASL examples. If a sign does not exist for this particular vocabulary word then we use an iconic ASL example of the word coined with its spelling. This way when giving a spelling test the teacher can sign the word without giving away the spelling.

Tuesdays -the children are given the opportunity to manipulate the new vocabulary in a visual pattern rather than a phonetic pattern of sounds. We categorize the words and make flip charts with construction paper placing each word under the appropriate category. A category can be produced that offers either visual spelling similarities, a particular Part of Speech, a vowel/consonant pattern etc. This way the child now reduces the number of “different” words on his list and consolidates and categorizes his/her words into a category he can make associations with. This enables the student to retain the information more successfully. Practice is also provided the child with the application of a T/C/T exercise. (Try, Copy, Try) Doing this activity the student is requested to write the word, sign the word as many ways as they conceptually can, fingerspell the word, spell it again with their eyes closed, and then try to write it on their own without looking at the example.

We also type our words in computer lab; use the computers thesaurus and other tools to provide exposure. The internet has various search engines which can provide pictures and definitions and examples.

Wednesday- Students are given the opportunity to create meaningful language samples in print with their new vocabulary. They may use the computer for this. An invitation to share these language samples with classmates in small group activities provides experience with reading and language. A fun way to share is to project our Word product onto our classroom TV. which is hooked up to our computer. This becomes a very successful overhead display for the classroom. We can scan copy and print this as well.

Thursday- We give the children opportunities to engage in finger spelling games with the words through human spelling games such as “Cherry Pie” or “Sparkle” where the children all stand up in a row and spell the word by each providing a manual alphabet letter for the word. If they miss they sit down, if they get it right they stay in the game and the final letter of the word is followed by the next student signing “Cherry Pie”. They love this!

A practice test is given.

Friday- The children are given an opportunity to create a paragraph or a story using their new vocabulary and to illustrate it. Illustrations can be supplemented with stickers and creative clip art materials.

A final test is given.

Impact:

Success rate within the classroom usually ranks within 90-100% accuracy! The students like all of the above activities and can perform many of them independently or with peers in small groups.

Review of vocabulary is conducted every 5 weeks, or as often as needed. This step by step strategy is simple, appropriate and effective in teaching new vocabulary to deaf and hard of hearing learners.

For Further Information:

If you would like more information or examples, please feel free to contact me at: mhodges@ba.K12.ok.us

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