Developing a Deaf Studies Curriculum Guide for Preschool–Eighth Grade

Melvia Miller-Nomeland
(Abridged Version for Proceedings)

“Good Old Days” Before the Explosion of Deaf Culture Awareness

The awareness of Deaf Culture has been traced from the 1940s to the present day. “Deaf World” was used to identify what is now called Deaf Culture, and it was pointed out in the 1970s by two researchers, Drs. Carol Erting and James Woodward, who made it known that Deaf people do have a culture of their own.

Increased awareness of Deaf Culture was achieved in the 1970s, with the publication of Jack Gannon’s (1981) Deaf Heritage, and followed by the Deaf President Now movement in 1988 and The Deaf Way Conference and Festival in July 1989.

After The Deaf Way conference, a one-week workshop sponsored by the Pre-College Programs was held at Gallaudet University. A total of nine volunteers, Sharon Kay Wood, Janet Weinstock, and I completed a draft of a Deaf Studies Curriculum Guide with the coordination of Dr. Margaret Hallau, the director of Pre-College’s Curriculum Development, Research, and Evaluation.

During the fall of 1990, a survey, in the form of a questionnaire, was mailed to 250 schools and programs serving the Deaf in the United States. The purpose was to survey the current state of Deaf Studies instruction in schools. A total of 120 schools responded to the survey.

Survey Results

The data indicated that 68 (57 percent) schools are currently teaching Deaf Studies in their programs.

Within these 68 schools, the most-frequent topics in their Deaf Studies offerings were, in order, Deaf culture, Deaf history, self-knowledge (concepts), communication strategies, ASL, and assistive communication devices.

Seventy-eight percent reported that Deaf Studies were offered only at the high school level, and a large majority of the instructors were classroom teachers who were responsible for teaching social studies. Deaf Studies instruction was usually provided either daily or weekly.

According to the responses from the 52 schools who are not teaching Deaf Studies, the reasons were the lack of curriculum or materials, and the lack of time on the part of teachers to search for resources. However, 49 out of these 52 schools indicated that they would like to see Deaf Studies taught in their programs.

The survey indicated that the time was ripe to develop a comprehensive Deaf Studies Curriculum Guide.

The Deaf Studies Curriculum Guide, currently being developed and refined, is scheduled for completion during 1992.

All About the Curriculum

The goals of the KDES Deaf Studies Curriculum Guide were listed:

1.It is our goal to make our curriculum easy to use and acceptable to any type of schools/programs (ASL, Total Communication, or oral schools). The reason is every Deaf and hard of hearing child needs to learn about his/her own culture and language.

2.We are very much aware of the importance of including the concepts of different cultures such as hearing, Black, Spanish, and others in our curriculum. Clearly, we are talking about the bilingual and multicultural approach as our goal.

3.Our future curriculum certainly will be loaded with helpful background information for the teachers in regard to language (ASL) and Deaf Culture before they teach a concept.

4.Going with each concept, there will be several suggested related activities. A list of books and resources for students to read will be provided, as well as another list for teachers to read for additional information about the theme.

5.Deaf Culture experts in the Deaf community have been consulted so the information in the Deaf Studies curriculum will be as accurate as can be.

Sample Lesson Plan

A preview of a sample lesson plan on the topic of vision was shown and discussed. This sample lesson plan includes a statement of goals, an overview, and some objectives and related activities that will be included in all lesson plans in the curriculum.

Topic: Eyes (Sample Lesson Plan)

Goal: Recognize the value of our eyes.

Overview: Vision is the most important characteristic of Deaf culture.

We depend on our eyes. It is the way we live.

Objectives:

1.Describe our eyes.

2.List the things our eyes see in the classroom.

3.Identify ways to take care of our eyes and eyeglasses.

4.List the things that can interfere with our vision and learning.

5.Describe what one can and cannot see.

Related activities:

1.Draw a picture of our eyes and color them. Count the number of students with black eyes, brown eyes, blue eyes in class. Make a chart.

2.Play the game “Simon Says” (eyes goes up, down, in a circle, blink, shifting of eyes, etc.) in signing or fingerspelling.

3.Find five familiar non-linguistic visuals in the school environment: flashing light (telephone, doorbell, caution), red and green traffic light.

4.Make a list of do’s and dont’s about caring for our eyes.

5.Make a list of ways of keeping the eyeglasses clean and scratchless. Also help plan routine time for eyeglasses cleaning.

6.Write a caption or paragraph (depending on a student’s age/writing skill) about “All About My Eyes.”

7.Brainstorm and make two lists of good and poor environments for vision and learning. The possible lists go like this:

8.For eye exercise, practice speed reading. Use flash cards or overhead projector to show a sentence of two words, three words and so forth. The sentences can be about colors, size, classmates, animal, food, or school items. The longest sentences may be like this: “Find the big red square.”

9.Prepare an “Our Vision” bulletin board. It can be a drawing of class members’ eyes, the number of eyeglasses and non-glasses wearers in the department using a bar graph, and students’ compositions about the value of eyes and others.

10.Take an eye test on a one-to-one basis with a teacher or school nurse. Find out about your eyesight with and without eyeglasses.

About the Presenter

Melvia Miller-Nomeland, a graduate of the Texas School for the Deaf, received her B.A. in physical education and M.A. in Upper Elementary Education from Gallaudet University. She has taught at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) for more than 13 years. In her present position as ASL resource teacher at KDES, she works with teachers to incorporate ASL into the classroom. She has authored five Deaf culture-related articles for several magazines and is much in demand in the United States and overseas as a speaker on ASL and Deaf culture.