Well, I hear that early birds get worms, and since I have a craving for some worms (but more realistically because I am headed up the mountain again tomorrow where I'll have no signal), I figure I'll post now.
Tonight I had the pleasure of going onto a military base for the first time in my little life. As we drove in, I was reminded of the theme song from WEEDS, thus the title of this post. I will admit it: I was creeped out. And I guess I expected to be creeped out. So I'm glad the ASL class that was the reason for my visit was in a part of the clubhouse that really could have been any old room in any other apartment complex on Earth.
It's good to know people with military IDs, or to know people who know people...etc.
Our first of 10 classes went over fingerspelling, numbers 1-10, a few emotions and the word for "homework." I think that all 9 of the students are teachers. 6 of us come from my school. This is a great opportunity for me for many reasons. Our school is a feeder to the high school that has the deaf program. Although I don't have any deaf students yet this semester, taking an ASL class will make it easier for me to communicate if I ever do. It also gets me back into studying a language, which is one of my favorite things to do, and it gets me further into the community of my new school.
It's intense. Our teacher is a deaf man, and we don't have an interpreter. So it's "immersion" ASL. But he's a really good teacher who knows how to scaffold his instruction so that nobody gets lost. And I mean nobody. Because there are 9 of us, he can take the time to make us all practice until our hands hurt, or until we get it right, whichever comes first. It's really cool.
Did I mention that it was intense? It's really difficult to be in a room for 2 hours with so little sound. Even though all of us (students) are hearing, it was a very quiet lesson. I can tell you that I have rarely sung along with the radio louder than I did on my way home from my first class! I'm looking forward to learning more.
Speaking of learning more, tomorrow is Grade Day. I have long been of the opinion that grades are not really a measure of learning, but I am required to assign them, and to religiously report them, so I do. The fact that it's already Grade Day proves that time is flying, and I am happy that my geography students' Five Themes Unit will be reflected in the grades.
I sent some student letters and photos of the project to our class's Vicarious Voyage partner, Nastasa. I'm hoping it'll inspire her to send us more photos and notes from her Semester at Sea trip. Now, it's time to add my hyperlinks and go update the school blog, and then to bed to rest my eyes after their long day of interpreting hand signals.
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