Blog #4: Connecting it All Together (Switched at Birth)

http://abcfamily.go.com/watch/switched-at-birth/SH55120583/VD55131806/portrait-of-my-father


Back by popular demand! Since you all seemed very interested in this topic and tv program, I have decided to continue with it again this week. Please watch the third episode of Switched at Birth and answer the following questions. We will continue to ponder over last week's questions and venture out a bit as well. I will ask you to think about our lecture this week as you watch this episode. Happy Watching!

1. From our lecture this week on American Sign Language discuss the three areas of Intercultural Communication (promemics, paralinguistic, and kinesics). Provide examples from each. Be sure you discuss both English and ASL.

2. How are facial expressions different between the hearing and Deaf world? Give examples you see in episode or past episodes.


3. Speech and Sign rate was discussed in class. Provide examples when the actors engage in code of switch. Is it evident and how? We know that Daphene is confirming to allow successful communication. But really, how successful is it? What does she do? What about Emmett? What about Emmett's mother?


4. What signs of oppression continue to be evident?



5. People say ASL is so beautiful,  but really that can be degrading to the language. Why? Can you think of an example in this episode or past episodes that showed ASL in a different light?


6. How do you think the hearing audience sees Emmett and Daphine? Which do you think they would think is more successful? Why? What about the Deaf audience? Support your responses.


7. ASL is not a passive langauge. Find examples of this in the episode.


8. What are some culture differences between the hearing and Deaf world thare you have seen? You may use past episodes. How have these differences been protrayed?


9. Discuss a topic of your choice here. Be sure to create a discussion question that we can ponder in class.

10. Take something from our required text and apply it to what you have seen/ learned in this week's episode.

Blog #3: Switched at Birth

Since you all seemed very interested in this topic and tv program, I have decided to continue with it again this week. Please watch the second episode of Switched at Birth and answer the following questions. We will continue to ponder over last week's questions and venture out a bit as well.

http://abcfamily.go.com/watch/switched-at-birth/SH55120583/VD55130708/american-gothic

1. What evidence of audism is present?

2. What stereotypes are shown? Are they obvious stereotypes? Do they teach or help support these misconceptions?

3. We know that Daphene  is confirming to allow successful communication. But really, how successful is it? How does she hinder this process? How does she enhance it? Where does Emmitt fit in?

4. What signs of oppression continue to be evident?

5. Is this a good educational tool to learn about Deaf people and their culture/community? Has your opinion changed? Provide detailed examples of how this can be used to educate?

6. Do you think the audience sees Emmitt as weak or strong? Stubborn or self assured?

7. Research stateschools and their imporance to the Deaf Community, how is this protrayed here? Did they show enough for something so important to Deaf people?

8. Deaf and hearing relationships, what do you think? What can be barriers?

9. Other thoughts?

Blog #2: Switched at Birth

Please watch the first episode of Switched at Birth and answer the following questions.

http://deaftv.com/film/This-Is-Not-The-Pipe--Switched-at-Birth/

1. What evidence of audism is present?

2. What stereotypes are shown? Are they obvious stereotypes? Do they teach or help support these misconceptions?

3. Who is confirming to who to allow successful communication?

4. What signs of oppression are evident?

5. Is this a good educational tool to learn about Deaf people and their culture/community?

6. How do you feel to learn that Daphne is hearing?

7. Other thoughts?

Blog #1: To See or Not to See our Differences

"Someone told me that Deaf people and hearing people aren't that different; we all want the same thing, nice friendly service, just like you get at McDonald's. Others feel that Deaf people are lucky to be living in the enlightened 21st century, where the Americans with Disablilties Act (ADA) guarantees them the right to have an interpreter who will translate English into sign and vice versa." mindness pg 14

What do you think of this statement? Is this an appropriate perspective of recognizing cultural differences? How is this statement harmful? Support your responses. I look forward to reading your comments!

Weekly Lessons

Here is where you will find our class lessons and discussions

Week #1 Class Syllabus

Hello Everyone! Welcome to our class blog! I am very excited to begin
our journey together. Below you will see that I have posted the class syllabus.
Please post any questions that you have here and I will address them in class
on Monday and/or here.
This is the announcement section so be sure to read and respond to the post
below.

Deaf Culture in the United States (2 credits)
MW 10:30-11:40 4414T
Instructor: Monica Marciniak
Email: mbutche@css.edu
Office: 3607 Tower Hall
Office hours: MWF 1:00-2:00, F 10:30-11:45, T 11:00-11:50 or by appointment

“Every one of us is different in some way, but for those of us who are more different, we have to put more effort into convincing the less different that we can do the same thing they can, just differently.”

“I’m a proud person who happens to be deaf. I don’t want to change it. I don’t want to wake up and suddenly say, ‘Oh my God, I can hear.’ That’s not my dream. It’s not my dream. I’ve been raised deaf. I’m used to the way I am. I don’t want to change it. Why would I ever want to change? Because I’m used to this, I’m happy.”
-Marlee Matlin Deaf Actress


General Education Pathway and College Outcomes

This course directly addresses the college outcome of Intellectual and Foundational Skills in that it helps students recognize the need and importance of living and working in a diverse community. It also examines the influence of personal, social and institutional factors on discrimination and prejudice. Additionally, it helps develop an understanding and appreciation of service in service learning activities. Students will engage in intercultural competence as well as responsibility to community by understanding the importance of advocating on issues of diversity and take responsibility for one’s personal actions and its impact on self and others. Students will contribute to their community by participating in activities that will promote a sense of community. Students will also engage in holistic growth by utilizing the process of problem solving and conflict resolution skills in decision-making.


Course Goals

This Course is an introduction to various aspects of the deaf community as a linguistic and cultural minority group. Designed for individuals who may or may not have had prior experience with Deaf people, course raises questions concerning the nature of sign language and its varieties, education of deaf people, historical treatment of deaf people, sociological and cultural issues important to the deaf community, and political activism.





Course Objectives cont:

A. Cultural
1. Students will begin to understand the American Deaf Culture and its dynamics (social, political, audiological, and linguistic).
2. Students will recognize the differences of being disabled and being Deaf
3. Students will identify similarities and differences between Deaf Culture and other world cultures
B. Functional
1. Students will compare and contrast American Deaf Culture to other world cultures.
2. Students will engage in online journaling concerning the social, political, audiological, and linguistic aspects of Deaf Culture.
3. Students will engage in directed group discussions regarding current issues and trends of the American Deaf people (new technology, education, families, politics, etc)
C. Linguistic
1. Students will recognize that American Sign Language is a natural language that was created for and used by Deaf people.
2. Students will recognize that American Sign Language is a visual gestural and true form of language used by American Deaf people with complex grammar, structure and rules just as other traditional spoken languages.
3. Students will comprehend ASL as the basis of Deaf Culture as a linguistic minority.



How to be Successful

Success in this course requires study outside of the classroom, including researching on your own time regarding information pertaining to Deaf Culture/Community and American Sign Language. Learning another Culture requires student to be receptive to ideas, concepts, values, traditions, language, and folklore that they may not be familiar with. It is best to keep an open mind and respect what you learn. Please do not plan to “coast” along and cram when exams and quizzes are given. Put your time and effort into the course. You will get more out of it if you put more into it. Be an active listener and create discussions that are insightful and thoughtful.



Required text

Mindness, Anna. Reading Between the Signs: Intercultural Communication For Sign Language Interpreters. 1st. Yarmouth: Maine, 1999. Print.
Moore, Matthew, and Linda Levitan. For Hearing People Only: Answers to Some of the Most Commonly Asked Questions About the Deaf Community, its Culture and the "Deaf Reality". 3rd. Rochester: New York, 2003. Print.

Course components and grading

Success in this course requires study outside of the classroom, including completing the blog assignments, engaging in class discussions, bringing articles to class, reading required texts before attending class and putting in your “two cents”. It is best to set aside some time each day to read over the required materials and write notes about areas your wish to address during class time Please do not plan to coast along. Be prepared to be challenged; a large part of the learning process in this class is to increase our open-mindedness and develop respect for cultures and minority groups.

Class participation, preparation, and attendance: 10%.

In-class contribution is a significant part of the grade, and an important part of our shared pedagogical experience. Your active participation helps me to evaluate your overall performance as a student (as well as making the class more interactive and engaging for all of us). The quality of your participation is more important than the quantity. Given our limited amount of time together, talking without positively contributing to the discussion will result in a lower grade for in-class contributions. However, I want to stress that positive contributions are not necessarily “right” answers. I encourage you to experiment and take risks. “Wrong” answers can also be instructive and debate is often a good way to learn. Positive contributions are those that advance the discussion by presenting new ideas or insights, or building on others’ comments, or presenting a counterpoint to others’ comments in a respectful way. Contributions that are not positive are those that simply repeat points already made or deride others’ contributions in a discourteous way.

Students are expected to attend each class and participate in a meaningful manner daily. Attendance and class participation are an important part of the final course grade. Every day I will assign each student a class participation grade. This is inherently a subjective evaluation that I will make based upon my observations of the behaviors noted below. I will qualify these grades with a “–” or a “+” as appropriate. Participation includes volunteering answers and comments as well as asking questions. It also includes sharing writings with the class, arrival on time and staying through the entire class.

A: participates readily, assignments completed, works diligently, does not stray from the task in group/partner work, uses time wisely if completes an in-class activity ahead of the rest of the class, contributes positively to the class. It is extremely obvious that the student has come to class prepared and is making every effort to participate.

B: participates often, assignments completed, works on the task in group/partner work without significant distraction, uses time wisely as much as possible, contributes positively to the class. It is apparent that the student has prepared for class. However, the level of participation is not as high as noted above.

C: makes a small effort to participate, assignments completed, distraction from the task in group/partner work is evident. The student appears to make little effort to contribute to full class or small group activities, but can respond when called upon.

Note that for the above grades the student is taking the initiative to participate in class.

D: no real effort to participate is noted. Incomplete assignments or working to complete them just before class begins. Student appears apathetic about learning and practicing; when called upon he or she does not know where we are. It is apparent that student spent little time preparing for class.

F: does not participate, assignments for class are not completed or is working on it while class is already in progress, student is unable to participate in class activities or declines to do so. No effort is apparent. Student is absent either physically or mentally. Student is attending to electronic communications during class.

Leaving class early or arriving late will always have a negative effect upon the daily grade.

Please turn off your cell phone or other electronic communications equipment during class. Checking messages or texting during class is highly disrespectful to the instructor and other students in the class and will result in a substantial class participation penalty (F for the day).

Attendance: A student will be granted one “free” absence without penalty. Otherwise, failure to attend a class will result in a grade of “0” for that day. A waiver of the “0” will be granted at the discretion of the instructor in emergency situations. The “0” will also be waived if the student must miss class due to an official CSS-sponsored activity, with advance warning. The “0” will not be waived if the student schedules an appointment (medical, job interview, leaving early for breaks, etc.) during class time. The average of the daily participation grade at the end of the semester will determine the student’s class participation portion of the grade.
Preparation/Written Assignments: Incomplete or extremely poorly done work will not receive any credit. I expect you to turn in assignments that show that you have taken the time to do them, and you have thought about what you are doing. Late assignments will not be accepted unless the student was absent (excused). It is up to the student to turn in the assignment at the beginning of the period the first day the student returns to class.

Blog (30%) activities are a large component of this class. Students are expected to blog weekly. Dedicate time daily to keep up with these assignments to be prepared for class. Do not wait until the day before the due date to do them – you will not get instructor feedback on your work. Blogs will be posted every Friday and are due Sunday at 12:00am (Monday before class) and Tuesday at 12:00am (Wednesday before class). Students are required to comment on my post and then their second comment need to respond to two students. Please address both of these students in one post.

Integrative Projects/article summaries: (5%). Several times throughout the semester students will make short small presentations. Students will collect 4 articles to share with the class. These articles should be valuable to you (explain why). Students will need to summarize the article and discuss if they believed their article was a good representation to the Deaf Culture/Community. Your reflection and support of your opinions, thoughts, ideas need to be supported with other sources (be sure to include a reference page. The article as well as the summary needs to be handed in together. This must be typed, 1 page, double spaced and the article must be attached. Additionally you need to create three discussion questions for the class to engage in after you present and summarize your article. Credit will be given for completing this assignment in a satisfactory and neat manner (free of grammatical errors and professional reflections). Incomplete or extremely poorly done work will not receive any credit. I expect that you show that you have taken the time to do them and that you have thought about what you are doing. If you turn in substandard work for a college student, do not expect to get credit for doing that work. Students will be told the week prior when to bring their article and summary. Reminders will not be given. Plan accordingly. Students will be assigned weeks starting week 3 to present week 3.


Chapter Tests: 20%: There will be two chapter tests, given upon the completion of lessons. Each test will cover the blogs, power points, readings, and class discussions. Students absent on a test day will receive a “0” unless previous arrangements have been made. Dates of these exams will be given in a timely fashion.

Community Event 10%: Students will create an event for the community to learn about Deaf people and their culture. Students may wish to contact the Deaf Culture and ASL club on campus to explore options. Further information will be given in a timely manner.

Oral Presentation 25 %: Students will give an oral presentation on a topic of their choice with approval of the instructor. These presentations require an oral report, research paper and power point presentation. Further information will be given in timely manner.


Final Exam: 10%. The final exam is a presentation on a topic related to Deaf Culture. Further information will be given in a timely fashion.

95-100: A 76-79: C+ 65: D-
90-94: A- 74-75: C 0-64: F
86-89: B+ 70-73: C-
84-85: B 68-69: D+
80-83: B- 66-67: D















Tentative Course Schedule
Read each the assigned pages before Each Monday
(Use this schedule as a guide, changes may be made throughout the semester, these changes will be discussed in class)

WEEK OF:

Week 1 Wednesday: Introduction to the course & attendance
Lecture: Who are Deaf People? What is Deaf Culture?
Cultural Identity of Deaf People



Week 2 Monday: Who are Deaf People Anyway?
Wednesday: What is Culture
What is Deaf Culture?
Deaf Paradigm
Blog #1


Week 3 Monday: Mindness, pg 1-39 The Study of Culture
Wednesday: American Sign Language and its importance to Deaf people
Other signing systems
(1) First group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W
Blog #2



Week 4 Monday: Mindness, pg. 39-69 Selected topics in Intercultural Communication
Wednesday: The differences between the Deaf Culture and the Deaf Community
Who belongs?
The importance of CODA
Film: The Deaf Community
(1) Second group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W

Blog #3

Week 5 Monday: Mindness, pg. 69-81 Do Americans Really Have a Culture?
Wednesday: Living in Other’s World
Learning to be Deaf
Our place within American Culture
(2) First group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W

Blog #4

Week 6 Monday: Mindness, PG 81-127 American Deaf Culture
Wednesday: Deaf Social Norms/Values/Beliefs
(2) Second group of students bring an article to and summary to class on WBlog #5

Week 7 MIDTERM Monday
Film: TBA

Week 8 Monday: Mindness, pg. 127-153 The Impact of Cultural Differences
Wednesday: Education choices
(3) First group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W


Week 9 Monday: Mindness, pg. 153-185 the interpreters Roles
Wednesday: Oppression and politics
(3) Second group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W

Week 10 Monday: Mindness, pg. 185-207 Techniques for Cultural Adjustment
Wednesday: Deaf Cultural Arts, Humor, Media, and Folklore
(4) First group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W


Week 11 Monday: Mindness, pg. 207-229 Cultural Sensitivity
Wednesday: Pathological view- we must fix them
Cochlear Implants, hearing aids, FM systems
The meaning of Sound
Documentary: Sound and Fury

Week 12 Monday: Paden and Humphries, PG 1-56
Wednesday: The influence of new technology
“Technology of Deaf Culture”
(4) Second group of students bring an article to and summary to class on W

Week 13 Monday: Padden and Humphries, pg. 57-121
Wednesday: What is the Future of Deaf Culture?


Week 14 Film TBA
Week 15 Oral Presentations

Final Exam TBA

Grade Sheet
Deaf Culture in the US

Name__________________________________________________________________________________________

Paricipation/attendance_____%

A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F


Blogs_________%

#1_____/10 #2_____/10 #3_____/10 #4_____/10 #5_____/10 #6_____/10 #7_____/10

#8_____/10 #9_____/10 #10_____/10 #11_____/10 #12_____/10 #13_____/10

#14_____/10 #15_____/10


Article Summaries__________%

#1_____/10 #2_____/10 #3_____/10 #4_____/10


Exams_____%

#1_____/_____ #2_____/_____


Oral Presentation__________%

Presentations_____/_____


Community Event__________%

Community Event_____/_____


Final Exam__________%

Final Exam_____/_____

Assignment Corner

Here is where all of your assignments for this class will be posted