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CARLSBAD: Educator has helped connect students with deaf culture
Over the past three decades, Denise Denn has helped to connect hundreds of students in Carlsbad with other deaf people and their culture through classes and after-school plays.
Her teaching skills stem as much from her experiences as they do her education: Denn is also deaf.
"I think it's really important to have a deaf teacher, because I can help them (students) to understand the deaf culture," said Denn, 57, who lost her hearing when she was 4 after contracting spinal meningitis.
The educator will retire from teaching next month, but said she plans to remain involved with students and with promoting understanding of deaf culture, a term that describes the social beliefs, behavior, history, values and traditions of communities of those who can't hear and use sign language to communicate.
Denn taught at Magnolia Elementary School for more than 20 years before moving to Carlsbad High School about 10 years ago to start the American Sign Language program there.
When she started at the high school, she was teaching only one class of students. Now, there are nine classes in four levels for the language. Carlsbad High's program will continue next year with a new teacher.
Shortly after Denn started teaching, she began putting on plays with her deaf students. Over the years, those plays have grown to include hearing students as well.
The shows are a way to teach the audience about famous deaf people and their culture, Denn said. But perhaps most important, they help build confidence and encourage interactions between the deaf and hearing students.
"They got to shine," said Suzan Westmoreland, whose daughter was in Denn's classes at Magnolia and Carlsbad High. "They weren't the special ed kids in the back when they gave those presentations."
The plays also poke fun at situations deaf people tend to find themselves in, such at being handed Braille menus at restaurants and having people try to speak more loudly when they realize they can't hear them.
Over the years, Denn also has been recognized for being the first deaf teacher in Carlsbad; raising money for hearing dogs, which are similar to seeing-eye dogs; and for winning a lawsuit against a hotel that refused to let her guide dog stay in a room with her. She also helped start the Deaf Education and Arts Foundation, a nonprofit focused on children.
Though she hasn't always welcomed the attention, Denn said she hopes her experiences are useful in teaching people about deaf culture and American Sign Language, which is accepted as a foreign language at most universities.
Many deaf people, including Denn, prefer that "Deaf" be capitalized, saying it refers to a group of people with a distinct culture and shared identity.
In retirement, Denn said she's looking forward to traveling and spending more time with her family. Still, she said she's going to miss her second family ---- the students.
"I feel like I have a real bond with all of them," she said.
She has a particularly strong attachment to the school's deaf teens, many of whom hang out in her classroom at lunch time, she said. Through a deal with the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, the Carlsbad Unified School District serves deaf students from throughout the region. There are about 20 each year at Carlsbad High.
Having a deaf role model to look up to helped inspire Westmoreland's daughter Caitlin, who is deaf, to want to become a teacher, her mother said.
"She's so positive, and she's so bright, and she's so creative," Westmoreland said about Denn. "She made learning a joy."
Hearing students also said that they were glad to have a deaf teacher.
"You get to know the culture a whole lot more," said Tryanne Cabacungan, a senior in Denn's class. Through the lessons, Cabacungan said she has learned that deaf people can be very blunt, and that maintaining eye contact is very important to them.
As part of the class, Denn requires students to spend time in the deaf community when they meet for activities, said Jon Fuson, another senior in her advanced sign language class. This has helped him become less nervous trying to communicate with them, he said.
Sarah Short, another of her students, said Denn has inspired her to become a special education teacher.
"She really puts her heart and soul into everything she teaches us," she said.
Kelly Large, who taught with Denn at Magnolia, will now take over the American Sign Language program at Carlsbad High School.
Large said she already feels a close bond with the deaf students, but thinks it's a shame they will be losing such an inspiring role model when Denn retires this summer.
"As a hearing person, those are huge shoes to fill," she said.
Over the past three decades, Denise Denn has helped to connect hundreds of students in Carlsbad with other deaf people and their culture through classes and after-school plays.
Her teaching skills stem as much from her experiences as they do her education: Denn is also deaf.
"I think it's really important to have a deaf teacher, because I can help them (students) to understand the deaf culture," said Denn, 57, who lost her hearing when she was 4 after contracting spinal meningitis.
The educator will retire from teaching next month, but said she plans to remain involved with students and with promoting understanding of deaf culture, a term that describes the social beliefs, behavior, history, values and traditions of communities of those who can't hear and use sign language to communicate.
Denn taught at Magnolia Elementary School for more than 20 years before moving to Carlsbad High School about 10 years ago to start the American Sign Language program there.
When she started at the high school, she was teaching only one class of students. Now, there are nine classes in four levels for the language. Carlsbad High's program will continue next year with a new teacher.
Shortly after Denn started teaching, she began putting on plays with her deaf students. Over the years, those plays have grown to include hearing students as well.
The shows are a way to teach the audience about famous deaf people and their culture, Denn said. But perhaps most important, they help build confidence and encourage interactions between the deaf and hearing students.
"They got to shine," said Suzan Westmoreland, whose daughter was in Denn's classes at Magnolia and Carlsbad High. "They weren't the special ed kids in the back when they gave those presentations."
The plays also poke fun at situations deaf people tend to find themselves in, such at being handed Braille menus at restaurants and having people try to speak more loudly when they realize they can't hear them.
Over the years, Denn also has been recognized for being the first deaf teacher in Carlsbad; raising money for hearing dogs, which are similar to seeing-eye dogs; and for winning a lawsuit against a hotel that refused to let her guide dog stay in a room with her. She also helped start the Deaf Education and Arts Foundation, a nonprofit focused on children.
Though she hasn't always welcomed the attention, Denn said she hopes her experiences are useful in teaching people about deaf culture and American Sign Language, which is accepted as a foreign language at most universities.
Many deaf people, including Denn, prefer that "Deaf" be capitalized, saying it refers to a group of people with a distinct culture and shared identity.
In retirement, Denn said she's looking forward to traveling and spending more time with her family. Still, she said she's going to miss her second family ---- the students.
"I feel like I have a real bond with all of them," she said.
She has a particularly strong attachment to the school's deaf teens, many of whom hang out in her classroom at lunch time, she said. Through a deal with the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, the Carlsbad Unified School District serves deaf students from throughout the region. There are about 20 each year at Carlsbad High.
Having a deaf role model to look up to helped inspire Westmoreland's daughter Caitlin, who is deaf, to want to become a teacher, her mother said.
"She's so positive, and she's so bright, and she's so creative," Westmoreland said about Denn. "She made learning a joy."
Hearing students also said that they were glad to have a deaf teacher.
"You get to know the culture a whole lot more," said Tryanne Cabacungan, a senior in Denn's class. Through the lessons, Cabacungan said she has learned that deaf people can be very blunt, and that maintaining eye contact is very important to them.
As part of the class, Denn requires students to spend time in the deaf community when they meet for activities, said Jon Fuson, another senior in her advanced sign language class. This has helped him become less nervous trying to communicate with them, he said.
Sarah Short, another of her students, said Denn has inspired her to become a special education teacher.
"She really puts her heart and soul into everything she teaches us," she said.
Kelly Large, who taught with Denn at Magnolia, will now take over the American Sign Language program at Carlsbad High School.
Large said she already feels a close bond with the deaf students, but thinks it's a shame they will be losing such an inspiring role model when Denn retires this summer.
"As a hearing person, those are huge shoes to fill," she said.