What to do with stubborn students in ASL?

MsHmcd

MsHmcd

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I'm a third level ASL student. I love learning sign, and I'm a very serious student trying to find ways to practice. Whether its with people, on skype, just in general when I'm talking to my mom and dad I'll sign some things without noticing it.
We have 11 students in class. 3 (including myself) do not talk. Our class rules mainly is no voice in class wait till break or go out of class to speak. Since day one level 3 the same students talk. Guess what? We had our mid-term exam last week....and.... they were talking through the parts of it things like " Did you get that? " or " he went to fast i missed that. " I've got a BAHA, Bone assisted hearing aid, and i turned it off for a test, and i could still hear them in class, and I'm deaf in one ear, hard of hearing in the other. Every few minutes I had to turn (during the test) and sush at them, and i missed a sign or two. I got a 23/35 on my test, I could have done better i know I could have.
On break, I signed too my professor outta the class room and confronted him about me being fed up with the talking. So, I'm stuck now with my buddy in class where one is speaking to the class and I"m signing so our proff can feel including in this talk. I'm not sure which way to go for this, should i be a (pardon my french) hard ass? and chew them out? or should I say stop disrespecting the professor and your students? go along that way?

Its not the first time they were talking through the whole class. Its suppose to be level 3 and my friend and I feel like we're redoing level one again just because he has to stop Over, and Over, and over, and over (continues in her head) to get them to stop talking. I read an e-mail he sent me thanking me for speaking this Tuesday , I'm not going into details, basically he's fed up and feels like he wants to quit because of this.

How do you think my buddy and I should do this talk on Tuesday. Soft hear-ted , mean, in the middle, I mean I almost failed the test because of them. I'm not there to make friends, but I managed to make 2 my buddy and the professor. I don't care if they don't like me.

I've been thinking about this all week.... its been driving me nuts....any thoughts greatly appreciated.
 
Since the no voice rule is relevant to the content of instruction, students should lose points for talking. Perhaps the prof could call in the worst offenders for a meeting, and tell them that they are in danger of failing the class for violating that rule. If they talk, it would be the same as skipping class entirely.

It is up to the prof, and he should certainly be assertive.
 
It is the teacher's responsibility to control the class. Why is he letting them talk?
 
The professors at my college are all Deaf. mine is Deaf and can't speak. The rule that they all have is 'no talking' in class, I don't know why that rule is in place. If their talking to one another, their not listening/watching the professor. He doesn't know that their talking during that test. that's why I pulled him aside on break and told him in sign.
 
, I mean I almost failed the test because of them
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I know this is frustrating for you. And, in a perfect world there would not be people who talk in class. Let me be clear that those students are wrong for talking in class even if they are having trouble in that class.

However, I'm a little confused, how did YOU almost fail a test because of them? If you are not talking in class, how is this affecting YOUR grade? Obviously, the teacher knows your position so I doubt you are going to get a bad grade here. In fact, I'm pretty sure you will get a good one.

In my opinion, you've signed to the teacher what you needed to say and now it is up to him whether those students get disciplined.

Someday, you may have the power to discipline students in your classroom. That day may come, but not today.
 
MsHmcd said:
The professors at my college are all Deaf. mine is Deaf and can't speak. The rule that they all have is 'no talking' in class, I don't know why that rule is in place. If their talking to one another, their not listening/watching the professor. He doesn't know that their talking during that test. that's why I pulled him aside on break and told him in sign.
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He must not be very observant if he doesn't notice. I am deaf and have taken ASL with a Deaf instructor.

Nothing got past her.

It's pretty much infantilizing your teacher to think he needs your assistance, and if he actually does, the school needs a different teacher.
 
VacationGuy234 said:
I know this is frustrating for you. And, in a perfect world there would not be people who talk in class. Let me be clear that those students are wrong for talking in class even if they are having trouble in that class.

However, I'm a little confused, how did YOU almost fail a test because of them? If you are not talking in class, how is this affecting YOUR grade? Obviously, the teacher knows your position so I doubt you are going to get a bad grade here. In fact, I'm pretty sure you will get a good one.

In my opinion, you've signed to the teacher what you needed to say and now it is up to him whether those students get disciplined.

Someday, you may have the power to discipline students in your classroom. That day may come, but not today.
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The professor only signs stuff twice on tests. He's faces the front of the room and the chatters were behind me. I've studying for 3 hours a night that week for that test, I'm a great student never gotten below a B+ in ASL yet. The professor e-mailed me saying that he's fed up. If the " Kids " are not listening to him in sign, he thought maybe they'd listen if my friend and I talk to them. This is his decision, I'm just deciding how I should present what I want to say to them, on behave of the professor. Remember that : the professor has asked me to do this, and every now and then this week reminded me in an e-mail to TALK to them on Tuesday. I am not " disciplining" them, I'm just trying to figure out if I should say a 2 minute - 5 minute thing... Its frustrating, they've been doing this since Level 1 Class 1...multiple teachers telling them no talking. Imagine yourself in my shoes. I don't care if I ratted them out. I'm just pissed and fed up with a level 3 course acting like a level 1. I'm not getting my moneys worth out of this course right now. I'm not dropping, I'm not leaving. THEY should leave.
 
Seems to me that the professor is not doing great job. He can fail them. It's not your responsible to babysit them for him - you're there to LEARN, not babysit.
 
All professors are different and they all have different approaches to maintaining control over their class. I've had English teachers that had the attitude of "anything goes" and others, if you forgot your book, you were marked absent. Abesent three times, regardless of the circumstances, you were dropped from the class. Out sick during the exam, you didn't get to take the exam even with a doctor's note. The bottom line is you just have to take it. Life isn't fair and this is expecially true of the life of a student. You brought it to the professor's attention - his choice. Your choice is whether you want to take another course with the professor or not.

Laura
 
Bottesini said:
He must not be very observant if he doesn't notice. I am deaf and have taken ASL with a Deaf instructor.

Nothing got past her.

It's pretty much initializing your teacher to think he needs your assistance, and if he actually does, the school needs a different teacher.
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He is one of the most observant people I know for Deaf professors. He just can't tell how loud the students are talking. I'm not influencing his decision into having him let me speak to them. I honest to god thought he was going to do that himself or get the coordinator into it or one of his higher up levels to do it.
I dunno, I just wish I was 100% Deaf so I won't have to put with rude interruptions in class, including in the assignments. I hate seeing students disrespecting the professors, and breaking a rule. What? I can't stand up for a professor I know out of school? Gee thanks.
 
MsHmcd said:
He is one of the most observant people I know for Deaf professors. He just can't tell how loud the students are talking. I'm not influencing his decision into having him let me speak to them. I honest to god thought he was going to do that himself or get the coordinator into it or one of his higher up levels to do it.
I dunno, I just wish I was 100% Deaf so I won't have to put with rude interruptions in class, including in the assignments. I hate seeing students disrespecting the professors, and breaking a rule. What? I can't stand up for a professor I know out of school? Gee thanks.
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WHy did you change my quote to "initializing"??

Are you a total idiot?

Infantilize is the concept I was speaking of.
 
MsHmcd said:
He is one of the most observant people I know for Deaf professors. He just can't tell how loud the students are talking. I'm not influencing his decision into having him let me speak to them. I honest to god thought he was going to do that himself or get the coordinator into it or one of his higher up levels to do it.
I dunno, I just wish I was 100% Deaf so I won't have to put with rude interruptions in class, including in the assignments. I hate seeing students disrespecting the professors, and breaking a rule. What? I can't stand up for a professor I know out of school? Gee thanks.
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I've been in classes at the high school level where the students were openly disrespectful to the teacher and it made me want to hit them with a chair. It's hard to take but there's little a student can do about it unless you want to take it to the department head, but I can't see how that will help.

Laura
 
No disrespect, but I think the MOST valuable lesson you are going to learn in this class is when to keep your mouth shut. In the real world, you're going to have to deal with things like this for the rest of your life. You see, the real thing about work, which cannot be taught in class, is how to deal with idiots. Believe me, this is not the first time you will have to deal with people who are going to cause problems. But! Here's the thing, in the real world, you can't get rid of those people so you have to work with them. I suggest you try to do that now, work with them.
 
i have tried working with them for the past 3 courses of ASL ...
You know, I'm done reading this for a while, all I asked was whether or not I should go hard or easy on the talk that my proff ASKED me to do. I never go on forums because people tend to not read the ending question, or they say I don't put enough detail into what I'm asking. When I do, I always get put too the blame, or called an idiot, for my computer automatically changes peoples spelling errors. If a friend asked you to help stand up to them would you? Thats what this professor is asking me to do to. Whether or not you guys think I shouldn't do this, I am. All I wanted was supportive comment, too answer my question without bringing me down. Thanks a lot. Just wait till you have to put up with an Algonquin College ASL class, then you'd see why its annoying...
 
MsHmcd said:
The professor e-mailed me saying that he's fed up. If the " Kids " are not listening to him in sign, he thought maybe they'd listen if my friend and I talk to them. This is his decision, I'm just deciding how I should present what I want to say to them, on behave of the professor. Remember that : the professor has asked me to do this, and every now and then this week reminded me in an e-mail to TALK to them on Tuesday. I am not " disciplining" them, I'm just trying to figure out if I should say a 2 minute - 5 minute thing...
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This is the professor's job not yours and it's inappropriate for him to be emailing you with this request. The short answer....

Laura
 
I see, you wrote: "people tend to not read the ending question"

The problem seems to be a reading disability, I'll reiterate:

From Botesinni: "It is the teacher's responsibility to control the class."

From me (VacationGuy234): "In my opinion, you've signed to the teacher what you needed to say and now it is up to him whether those students get disciplined. "

From JMH: "Seems to me that the professor is not doing great job. He can fail them. It's not your responsible to babysit them for him"

From Lau2046: "You brought it to the professor's attention - his choice."

Everyone answered your question...
 
We have two or three students like this in our class (our course is divided into four classes), one in particular just doesn't take the hint and the teachers have openly called them out for talking/texting/otherwise not paying attention or being voice-off in class.

A lot of us are sick of it and the teachers all seem to know (in fact, we were the only class of the four to have a little chat with the teacher to remind us to voice-off) about it but they seem unwilling to take action and either discipline or eject the student in question. We don't know what else to do.
 
MsHmcd said:
The professors at my college are all Deaf. mine is Deaf and can't speak. The rule that they all have is 'no talking' in class, I don't know why that rule is in place. If their talking to one another, their not listening/watching the professor. He doesn't know that their talking during that test. that's why I pulled him aside on break and told him in sign.
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I understand the prof is Deaf but he doesn't see that the students are talking?
 
MsHmcd said:
He is one of the most observant people I know for Deaf professors. He just can't tell how loud the students are talking.
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If it's a voice-off class it doesn't matter how loudly or softly the students are speaking. They aren't supposed to be speaking, period.

I'm not influencing his decision into having him let me speak to them. I honest to god thought he was going to do that himself or get the coordinator into it or one of his higher up levels to do it.
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Let me get this straight. This is your third level with the same prof and same students? This has been going on the whole time? Yet, miraculously, you thought things would change in the third level of this course? :confused:


I dunno, I just wish I was 100% Deaf so I won't have to put with rude interruptions in class, including in the assignments. I hate seeing students disrespecting the professors, and breaking a rule. What? I can't stand up for a professor I know out of school? Gee thanks.
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Sure, you can stand up for a professor outside of class. That's admirable. What's not good is a professor asking you, the student, to do his dirty work of discipling the students. That is not professional behavior by the prof.
 
Hey, OP, do you talk to your classmates about this problem? You know if you want to complain to head of department, that is one thing. However, if you want to talk to your classmates and maybe have few of you lodge complain with head of department, then something can be done about that professor.

You know, if a large # of people fail the course, then that will not reflect well on the professor. So, hopefully, professor has a grip control on the class. If a large # of people fail, then word will get out. Then later on, no one will want to sign up for the course. That will put professor out of commission.
 
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