General Classroom Teaching Tips

Table of Contents

• Teaching Tips
  
  
• Classroom Setting Tips
  
  
• Information for Teachers
  
  

Teaching Tips

• Do not assume that deaf students have the same experiences and backgrounds as hearing students. Rather, encourage all of the students to share their experiences related to the topic being discussed.
  
  
• Involve deaf students in a wide variety of experiences including people and objects.
  
  
• Always use visual materials to support communication/discussions, especially Powerpoint slides, overhead projections, smartboards, or the basic white board.
  
  
• Multiple visual demands:
  
  
  
  • Give one source of visual information at a time.
    
    
• English language is a challenge for deaf students, especially assigned academic readings. Include adjunct questions with reading assignments (see Dowaliby, F. & Lang, H.G.).
  
  
• Give the students sufficient time to complete their tasks.
  
  
• Make eye contact with students while teaching
  
  
• Wave at the students to get their attention. Set up an agreement with the class on how they will also gently help each other know when you want complete attention.
  
  
• Try to satisfy all students' preferences for communication (ASL, total communication, spoken communication). This is not always easy. A good teacher will develop a bag of tricks overtime.
  
  
• Reply directly to students' questions.
  
  
• Ask students questions to encourage participation in class.
  
  
• Have students participate in the classroom by replying to the questions, giving reports, and volunteering for presentations.
  
  
• Circulate among the students while they perform their tasks.
  
  
• Hands-on activities are critical, but minds-on activities even more so.
  
  
• Write important announcements on the board to keep students informed (assignments, deadlines, tests/quizzes, class instructions, and procedural changes).
  
  
• In advance, give students the lesson/activity outline along with the objectives.
  End each class with a written summary of the most important "big ideas" from that session.
  
  
• Bring role models with disabilities to the class.
  

Classroom Setting Tips

• Arrange chairs and desks in a semi-circle (when possible) for deaf students to see each other better.
  
  
• Visual posters on the wall may facilitate incidental learning overtime. Include general rules for certain classroom or laboratory areas, or quotes that apply to academic achievements. The posters should not interfere with the classroom communication, however. Young deaf students are easily distracted.
  
  
• An ideal class room will have many different technologies available to students and teachers, including overhead projector, calculators, television and VCR, computers (with access to the Internet), TI-83 or TI-79 graphing projector, Lens Camera Document (LCD) projector, smartboard (connected to computer).
  
  
• Use colorful chalk and markers to make things more interesting and to identify items being discussed easily.
  
  
• Display real-life objects that apply to the math or science being taught.
  
  
• Be aware of the possible glare from windows or doors that can interfere with students' concentration.
  
  
• Provide visual clues to students so that they know who is speaking/signing. Point to a student who is asking a question, for example, and have that student wait until most/all students are watching before beginning the question. Slowly, the students will develop a habit of doing this.
  
  
• Restate a student's question before answering it.
  
  
• Be sure that students understand what has just been taught before starting the next topic.
  
  

Information for Teachers
From Educating Deaf Students

Since only 10% of all deaf learners have deaf parents, most deaf learners will come into the classrooms with language differences. In many cases, these learners will have significant language delays, smaller vocabularies than the other students, and a variety of essential linguistic experiences that will differ considerably from those expected from hearing students (Marschark, 1993). Deaf students are less likely than hearing students to:

• Be read to by parents on a regular basis
  
  
• Have experience with museums and zoos
  
  
• Have ready access to science programming on television
  
  
• Have crucial science knowledge building discussions with parents (such as when parents teach parts of the body to toddlers), etc.

Deaf students need a variety of both object-oriented and people-oriented experiences. This includes participation in museum exhibits; exploration of the world around them with their parents, siblings, and peers; signed reading of books pertaining to the natural world; opportunities to participate in games that build cognitive and social skills.

Teachers must have some way of determining differences in experience and background of diverse students, (which is not judgmental, as in an IQ test). This includes sitting down with the student or students to find out what they know. Many teachers ask students to share with the class their activities through the summer. It is a good idea for science teachers to ask their students to share specific science experiences with other students or with their families. Portfolios, journals, and pre-tests that will not be graded can all be used to determine levels of science knowledge acquisition.

Teachers must be aware that there is a fine line between helpful visual curricula and visual input that is distracting to deaf students

• Avoid overly busy web sites and software
• Avoid placing students so that they are distracted by traffic moving by windows or doorways.
• Use large and clearly marked maps, diagrams, posters, etc.
• Avoid too much use of either black and white medium, or ostentatious color

For example, in science, the simplest word can have the opposite meaning. An example of this is the word 'positive'. Normally, positive means 'good' in English. However, in science and medicine, if a 'test comes back positive', that indicates that whatever is being tested for is present. While many people assume that through television and radio, most will be familiar with this alternative meaning of 'positive', this assumption cannot be made for deaf learners. In a mainstream class, it would be important for the teacher to provide the context and definition of the word being used to the interpreter, the notetaker, and the deaf students themselves. Such a special emphasis on vocabulary meaning during instruction will help enhance learning.

It becomes increasingly difficult for a deaf student to process information when there are multiple demands for receiving the information primarily through the eyes. For example, if a deaf student is using either an interpreter, a computer, and having to watch the board for equations or formulas, or watch the teacher perform an experiment, learning becomes especially difficult. While a hearing student can watch one thing and listen to another at the same time, this is not possible for a deaf student. Looking away from an interpreter for a brief moment to perform a task on a computer will result in lost information. Frequently experiencing these multiple demands can lead to frustration and eye fatigue for deaf students.

• Multiple visiual demands include more than one person talking at the same time, or side talk among the students. Restrict such behaviors as much as possible.

A sensitive teacher will plan the activities so that there are pauses which allow the deaf student to perform one task without losing information. For example, a teacher can give the student time to finish a step in an experiment and wait until the student indicates he/she is ready for further discussion.