I have met the ultimate role model of teachers. I never analyzed what would make the best teacher, other than the common answers (i.e. the one who cares about students, etc). In my 2nd year of college, I approached the criminal justice department to transfer into their program from the arts program. I met my advisor, Professor Gravitz. She apparently was only professor on the criminal justice board that was advocate for the deaf community. She held other job which was advocating for the deaf, lawyer, rabbi, and I don't know what else.
Professor Gravitz also taught several criminal justice courses at RIT as well. I took three courses with her, which were Concept in Criminal Law, Computer Crime, and Cyberlaw. The Concept in Criminal Law class was first one and I was just blew away by her teaching method. Why was that? The professor, herself had been hearing but already a huge advocate for the deaf community so she knew sign language. Rumors is that she had been an interpreter at one point too.
In the classes she teaches, she signs for herself. The deaf students still have to request interpreters to voice for us. Some students still request C-Print as alternative method if they don't know sign language or don't understand her specific signing ways. C-Print is captioning on laptop - student(s) has a laptop propped up in front of them while someone is sitting on the side of classroom typing everything the professor says. It is almost like TV captioning.
Professor Gravitz is the ultimate role model of what every teacher should be like at RIT. There is a large deaf community so I feel it is necessary for every professor to know some sign language. I was the most comfortable in Gravitz's courses. I never had been the type to speak up in classes to participate in discussions or ask/answer questions, however that wasn't the issue in her classes.
She was aware of the deaf's needs and she fit so perfectly in the ultimate teacher for the deaf community. For example, she signed for herself making us more comfortable to be in mainstreamed classes, and I didn't feel like I was "the deaf student". The C-Print people who types captioning cannot go the full class time (1 hr 50 min) so there usually is a second person that shows up for the 2nd hour to complete C-printing. Gravitz often pauses the class at that time to allow them switch places without the C-print students missing a word. In other classes, most often the students will miss at least 5 minutes of what teachers said while the C-print people switched positions. This gave me the impression of Professor Gravitz having that knowledge of the needs with deaf community, it shows that she truly cared for us. I don't feel that impression from the other teachers. Other professors may do care but their way of showing it may not be similar or they don't have the full knowledge or understanding. I am honored to have that experience of being in her classes as well having her as my professor. Professor Gravitz comes highly recommended!
12.9.10
8.9.10
Back to School
September only means one thing. Back to School. Hooray.
I am officially done with my first days of classes for my undergrad college years ever. It's an awesome feeling. Even better when I will be at that point when I'm 5 weeks away from graduation in May. It's weird to think I'm already a senior. College flew by. I have many regrets that I didn't live up the years, but yet have good memories that I will hang onto.
Ok, my first day of classes on Monday & Tuesday were interesting. Why? One of my classes for Monday & Wednesday is Deaf Arts & Cinema. My professor for that class is deaf, with a mainstreamed class of hearing and deaf students. Majority of hearing students are usually the interpreter major students. I have had this kind of class with a deaf professor with mainstreamed classes for second time now. It's interesting perspective for hearing student to be enrolled in that class because they're the ONE who needs interpreters. Imagine that! I think every single hearing person should have that kind experience at least once, because that's what the deaf community is faced with on daily basis. What a better experience than to put themselves in deaf people's shoes? I also have a night class on Mondays. I am the only deaf person in that class with a team of 2 interpreters that changes every 15-20 minutes (it can be challenging to sign for 4 hours straight). I always feel awkward to use sign language even through the students are familiar with deaf community's existence on the campus but yet I still feel that feeling every single class I have took in college.
Tuesday's classes are different from Monday's (Monday's class is only every Monday & Wednesdays... Tuesday's is every Tues & Thurs). I had three classes on Tuesday. First class was Irish Step Dance. I always wanted to take that to learn my heritage (Irish) dance. I cannot tell you how difficult it is for interpreters in P.E. courses. P.E. courses are usually physically moving with exercising in some kind of forms, right? Dance often have 'steps' that are counted. I cannot look at the interpreter to see what count, because I have to look at the instructor and follow what she's doing. It is challenging for me in P.E. classes. Some deaf people don't even request interpreters for P.E. classes due to that challenge, they do mostly focusing on the instructors. I want to learn every possible thing so I don't want to miss a single thing which is why I have an interpreter.
My other two classes were criminal justice courses for my major on Tuesday. Both classes are mainstreamed with team of interpreters just like Monday's night class. This is the usual setup for the majority of my classes at RIT. I noticed something interesting in comparison of the professors in both classes. The first class- the professor had handouts to the students of the syllabus. Interpreters usually want a copy to be aware of what the professor will be discussing about. I was impressed that the professor handed them a copy. Meanwhile, the professor in second class did not. That would give me the impression of which professors are more helpful to the deaf community like I would be more comfortable to ask for help or whatever else with the first class's professor rather than the second class. Little things like that can build up my comfortability level with professors, people, etc.
I had several professors that were either very deaf friendly, somewhat friendly, or not at all. It was challenging to be in the courses with not so deaf-friendly professors. Deaf-friendly is when someone is aware of the deaf's needs in the classroom, work with the access team (interpreters, notetakers, etc), and work with the students with no issues of communication. Not so friendly professors would basically ignore deaf students the whole class term. I had classes when professors never would call on me which I liked but the problem is, it would take away participation for the grades. It was difficult to be in these kind classes because I would have to make the effort to participate. I even faced a class when every time I raised my hand to participate, the professor would ignore me or call on me if students call out to him that I had something to say. Humiliating. It makes me feel horrible about myself but it's really the professors. Just because RIT has large deaf community doesn't mean everyone likes deaf people.
Coming next: The ultimate role model of what all professors should be at RIT.
I am officially done with my first days of classes for my undergrad college years ever. It's an awesome feeling. Even better when I will be at that point when I'm 5 weeks away from graduation in May. It's weird to think I'm already a senior. College flew by. I have many regrets that I didn't live up the years, but yet have good memories that I will hang onto.
Ok, my first day of classes on Monday & Tuesday were interesting. Why? One of my classes for Monday & Wednesday is Deaf Arts & Cinema. My professor for that class is deaf, with a mainstreamed class of hearing and deaf students. Majority of hearing students are usually the interpreter major students. I have had this kind of class with a deaf professor with mainstreamed classes for second time now. It's interesting perspective for hearing student to be enrolled in that class because they're the ONE who needs interpreters. Imagine that! I think every single hearing person should have that kind experience at least once, because that's what the deaf community is faced with on daily basis. What a better experience than to put themselves in deaf people's shoes? I also have a night class on Mondays. I am the only deaf person in that class with a team of 2 interpreters that changes every 15-20 minutes (it can be challenging to sign for 4 hours straight). I always feel awkward to use sign language even through the students are familiar with deaf community's existence on the campus but yet I still feel that feeling every single class I have took in college.
Tuesday's classes are different from Monday's (Monday's class is only every Monday & Wednesdays... Tuesday's is every Tues & Thurs). I had three classes on Tuesday. First class was Irish Step Dance. I always wanted to take that to learn my heritage (Irish) dance. I cannot tell you how difficult it is for interpreters in P.E. courses. P.E. courses are usually physically moving with exercising in some kind of forms, right? Dance often have 'steps' that are counted. I cannot look at the interpreter to see what count, because I have to look at the instructor and follow what she's doing. It is challenging for me in P.E. classes. Some deaf people don't even request interpreters for P.E. classes due to that challenge, they do mostly focusing on the instructors. I want to learn every possible thing so I don't want to miss a single thing which is why I have an interpreter.
My other two classes were criminal justice courses for my major on Tuesday. Both classes are mainstreamed with team of interpreters just like Monday's night class. This is the usual setup for the majority of my classes at RIT. I noticed something interesting in comparison of the professors in both classes. The first class- the professor had handouts to the students of the syllabus. Interpreters usually want a copy to be aware of what the professor will be discussing about. I was impressed that the professor handed them a copy. Meanwhile, the professor in second class did not. That would give me the impression of which professors are more helpful to the deaf community like I would be more comfortable to ask for help or whatever else with the first class's professor rather than the second class. Little things like that can build up my comfortability level with professors, people, etc.
I had several professors that were either very deaf friendly, somewhat friendly, or not at all. It was challenging to be in the courses with not so deaf-friendly professors. Deaf-friendly is when someone is aware of the deaf's needs in the classroom, work with the access team (interpreters, notetakers, etc), and work with the students with no issues of communication. Not so friendly professors would basically ignore deaf students the whole class term. I had classes when professors never would call on me which I liked but the problem is, it would take away participation for the grades. It was difficult to be in these kind classes because I would have to make the effort to participate. I even faced a class when every time I raised my hand to participate, the professor would ignore me or call on me if students call out to him that I had something to say. Humiliating. It makes me feel horrible about myself but it's really the professors. Just because RIT has large deaf community doesn't mean everyone likes deaf people.
Coming next: The ultimate role model of what all professors should be at RIT.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)