Senior Project Update

1) What I am doing currently on my independent component is doing an extra 30 hours of my mentorship at South Hills High School.


2) The research that really was beneficial to me was a thesis paper that I found written by Kimberly Johnson. When I was at my mentorship, Mrs. Gough, has me help the student with their math assignment for that day. While helping one of the students I came across a word I didn't know how to sign and the student and I were both stuck. I couldn't help him and he was not able to solve the problem. For the next research check I stumbled upon this thesis paper and reading it during research check it gave me a, what I think could be a possible answer to my essential question: You need to have a wide range of vocabulary. What I want to do next is to figure out which signs, since there are two "ways" you can sign (ASL or English), deaf perfer or helps them to retain the knowledge that they learned.


3)

These pictures are of the notes I take when I go to my mentorship. Some of the things that I write down are how the teacher operate in the class, her method of teaching, even how she moves the desk in the most unnusal way (the litttle drawing are the seating charts for the class). One of my notes talks about how there was a substitute who didnt know any sign language and how she had a hard time runnung the class and how she look relieved when I told her I knew how to sign. She had me interpret for the deaf students.

Blog B: Science Fair Propsal

1.     What is your topic: Deaf Culture

 2.     What is the driving problem behind your experiment and the quote by an expert to support that problem? (Expert citation must be MLA format.)

  “Because English is primarily a spoken language, all hearing children of English-speaking parents absorb it unconsciously, starting from the moment they're born. They're surrounded with English. Children who are born deaf (or early-deafened) are excluded from this process because they cannot hear. The lucky ones whose parents are fluent in SL start school already knowing a language. Those whose parents cannot (and will not) sign are often forced to star school without any real language at all.”

"Why Do so Many Deaf People Have Trouble with English?" The Deaf Way Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <www.thedeafway.org>.

3. What is your hypothesis? (Must be in If-Then form.) : When less students are tested in a cohort group for STAR testing, then more of those students will score in the proficient category.
4. Write a paragraph summary of how you will perform the experiment. Include the tools you plan on using.

Where I will be getting my data is from the internet. I will be looking on the California Department of Education and be searching for the test scores of Language Art in the second grade.


5. Select one of the following Project Categories for your experiment: Behavioral/Social Science

Working EQ and possible answer

(1) What was the working EQ you used during your presentation?
      For the presentation I used "What is the best way for a hearing impaired student to learn in a classroom?" as my working EQ.

(2) Did you decide to revise your working EQ after your presentation? If so, write your revised EQ here. If not simple write "I am not going to revise my EQ at this time".
     I am not going to revise my EQ at this time.

(3) What are possible answers to your current working EQ?
      Some of the possible answers to my EQ is that:

•  For the teacher to have a wide range of vocabulary and to know different home signs
•  Having to give the attention that the students need to be able to focus on their work
• Lastly, is to be prepared so you can be able to meet the needs of the students. 

Rough draft of presentation 1

Content

Independent Study Componet

1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.

• For my independent study componet I will be doing an extra 30 hours of my mentorship at South Hills high school.

2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work required.

• I will just continue to keep on going to my mentorship after school  from 1:10 to 3pm and add an extra day of going to the high school to meet the 30 hours requirment.

3) How does your independent study component relate to your working EQ?

• My essential question that I have right now is: What is the best way for a heaing impaired student to learn? So allowing me to be able to be in a school setting with deaf student I am able to observe how well the teacher is presenting the material to the student and how well the students are retaining the information. Also when I have the chance working with the deaf students, it helps me to challenge myself to think of better ways to help them to understand what they learn and to remember how they got their answer and why it is correct.

Second Interview Questions

Questions

1. What has your experience been like so far since you have been working here at South Hills?
2. When you go to work, do you feel like you are entering into a whole different culture? If yes, then why?
3. Do you feel like South Hills has a good DHH (deaf and hard of hearing) program?
4. Do you feel like the technology that you have is up to date for the DHH program?
5.  Do you feel that the school district are finding enough effective curriculum methods for the DHH program?
    

Working EQ

1. A positive thing that has happened so farin my senior project is that my eyes are being opened to a whole new world . With research and reading from the different deaf blogs, that I do on my spare time, I actually feel like I am slowly being drawn in this culture, which I find very exciting.

2. My interview with Karen-Soza Mesa has helped me understand my topic, deaf culture, better beasue I can read all the books and articles anout deaf culture, but unless I start to go out and apply what I learned, all that knowledge would've limited my understanding . With Karen I got the opportunity to apply my self for the first time in my senior project.

3.Well it's still early in the school year to know what and what hasn't worked for me yet. Though I feel like I have been on top of things on my senior project and in my core classes. If I could just continue to stay focused, I should do well.

4. Something that hasn't worked out for me is transportation. I have a hard time getting to my mentorship since there is no one to take me. But I manage to get to where I need to go.

5. Questions: How do words get their sign? Are there any specific reasons why they are signed that way?  How did these deaf norms, such as: intense eye contact, moving around while talking, story telling, long good-byes, and just always being so helpful, become the norms in the deaf culture?

I live in two worlds: a hearing world and a deaf world, not knowing anything about the deaf world. My goal is to become an expert in deaf culture and put myself in the deaf community.

I would like to talk to either a teacher who works with DDH (deaf and hard of hearing) students or a proffessor who is either deaf, teaches ASL, or teaches a deaf culture class. I would like to speak with them next because I feel that they have had so much experience and could be able to pass down knowlege to me.  

Science fair Blog A: Problem Statement

1. Deaf Culture

2. Problem: Deaf students have a hard time reading and writing in English.
 What will you do when the problem is solved?
I would like to pursue a carreer as a teacher, so I would like to used the best teaching method and use it on my future deaf students.

3. Problem: The lack of Sign Language being taught at schools.
What will you do when the problem is solved?
Encourage young people to take sign language beacuse the deaf community is apart of our world (in 2008 there was 10 million deaf in the United States and 1 million alone in California, which had the highest numbers of deaf population.) as well and we should be able to help each other out.

Interview Preperation

1. I plan to interview Karen Soza-Mesa. Karen is a deaf student at Northridge and has worked at Chaffey college as an ASL instructor and at Glendale community college as a tutor for the deaf students that go there. I chose to interview Karen beacuse I felt that she knew alot about deaf culture and the struggles that the deaf face in a hearing world, since she has faced them herself. She also has a passion for the deaf and she is currently pursuing her carreer path as a DHH (deaf and hard of hearing) teacher.

2. The additional questions that I plan to ask are:

• What are some common misconception that people think of when they hear the word "deaf"?
• If you could choose one word to describe deaf culture, waht would it be and why?
• Are you proud to be deaf?  

Topic Choice

A) My topic is deaf culture. I chose this topic because my eldest sister is deaf and growing up with a deaf sister I also grew up with her friends. I noticed they didn't always follow the same social behaviors as hearing people.When one of my sister's friend came up to me and told me that I looked so worn out, I was embarressed. But seeing from the reaction on my face she took the time to explain to me that deaf people are very stright forward and that whatever they say isn't meant to hurt anyone but is said out of concern and to show that they care. That day I've only learned the tip of the iceberg about deaf culture. There is still a whole other side that I have yet to discover.

B)

• Ipoly Citizen: I plan to learn the whole aspect of deaf culture and to experience it as well. This relates to me inproving as an Ipoly citizen because I am able to to spread the knowledge to my fellow peers and spread awareness anout deaf culture.
• Effective Communicator: I plan on becoming a better communicator by interviewing different people such as: deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) teachers, interpreters, and deaf people. This will make me a more effective communicator because I would have interaction with educators in that field and I can apply what I learned later in life.
• Effective Learner: I plan on shadowing special day classes. This will make a more effective learner because I will able to to see and have the hands on experience to expand my knowledge.
• Effective use of Technology: I plan on learning new skill on the internet. This will make me a more effecitve user of tecnology because deaf are very visual and do lots of net working, so by using the internet I can spread more awareness to my community through the technology that the deaf use.

Blog 1: Mentorship Summer Component

Assignment

Literal (Know)
Mentorship hours and contact info

Literal (Need to know)

• What qualifies a deaf student to be in a mainstream versus a special day classroom?
• What are the requirements for for interpreters?
• What are the qualifications neededto teach deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students?
• How does a relationship between an interpreter and a dhh student effect the educational outcome of the student?
• What are the preparations to accommodate a deaf student?

 Interpretive

When interacting in a deaf class and observing deaf students in a mainstream class, I learned that DHH students need the accommodation and support in order to succeed in their academic learning. It's apparent that their lack of hearing impedes their learning process. Such accommodations that are required are having DHH students sit up in the front of the class so that they are able to clearly see the teacher and the board. In addition, sitting up front allows them to see the interpreter and lip read the teacher's words.

Applied

I had always been involved with the deaf community, so deaf culture was just an idea for my senior project. But with my experience at Sout Hills High School, it reassured me that deaf culture was what I wanted to do for my senior project and to pursue my carreer in becoming a DHH teacher.