Expectations

[ecp]

Can anybody who is in a Deaf school provide syllabuses for your English/Literature classes?

I'm starting to think that schools set the goals for deaf students very low so that they look good when students reach the low goals but this severely limits what students can achieve.
Hearing students who learned English as a second language are expected to be able to read and understand all the books read in English classes and even AP and honors classes, yet deaf students aren't held to the same standard.
That sort of double standard basically says that deaf people shouldn't be held to the same standards as hearing people because deaf people can't reach the same goal as hearing people.

Sure, a few people from deaf schools may take AP classes. That is great but why aren't all deaf students challenged to achieve what they can?

The deaf school in my area had an article praising its graduates for being able to ride the bus to their 10 hour per week minimum wage fast food job without help. That was worthy of an article. Our "high school" graduates can ride a bus without help. That is bullshit.

 

[shel90]

Maybe those kids are deaf with additional needs? Did u look further and dig deeper?

 

[Tousi]

I agree with Shel that you should try to ascertain whether or not deafness is those students' primary handicapping condition......

 

[DeafDucky]

Ditto.. if they're 'praising their ability to ride a bus to/from their work' etc that sounds more like a)there are other disabilities involved or b)they're younger (unlikely since you mention 'graduates'.

I've known deaf people who went to deaf schools with better English than ME, better debating and public speaking skills than ME. So while some deaf schools may have horrible English/Literature/Humanities and other subjects curriculum others may have good programs. It isn't just deaf schools either. There are TONS of hearing schools with horrible curriculum that pushes through graduates that can barely read at a 8th grade level or a math level at a 5th grade level.

 

[deafdyke]

Another thing you're missing. Most deaf school attendees aren't K-12ers....The early childhood programming at pretty much ALL Deaf Schools tends to be really good. The problem isn't low expectations...The problem is that deaf schools are a last resort placement. So most kids are transfers from the .....wait for it.....MAINSTREAM.....There are low expectations in the mainstream as well......Not all dhh kids in the mainstream are pushed to high levels....Did you know that there are a lot of dhh kids (including oral and AVT) who are in *gasp* LOWER LEVEL classes?

 

[deafdyke]

BTW, ecp not all hearing students read Camus,etc.....
There are lower level tracks in hearing schools too.... You're being really classist......Yes, there are some hearing high schoolers who read at a very high level....there are also hearing (no other disability) kids who read at a low level. My sister taught 8th grade in NYC, and she was teaching the kids about metaphors and simalies.....something that I was learning in 4th grade.
And yes, sadly there are a high level of mentally disabled or kids who are so delayed from falling through the cracks in the mainstream that they are on the level of a mentally disabled child at deaf schools.

 

[purplewowies]

Unfortunately, the only curriculums I could explain to you from when I did practicum in a deaf school are the MS sped and preschool. The MS sped class was pretty behind for various reasons (from intellectual disability to extremely late language exposure), but they had had a few students quickly progress through the class and get bumped up to a different level for it. Within the class, we used an innovative system and set reachable but not-too-easy goals for the students (which might be considered low by typical hearing student standards but were pretty high for these students), and students who did well got a class reward at the end of each reading/English unit.

The preschool was rather on point with what a hearing preschool would learn re: storytelling, literacy, handwriting, alphabet; there was everything from creative storytelling to free reading to a literacy fair. Some kids were behind, but they were also exposed to language late.

In short, if kids are meeting "low" goals, it's probably (and hopefully) because those are the attainable goals (goals need to be weighed between "too easy", "can be achieved with help" (the best place to set a goal) and "likely uttainable right now"). I'd venture a guess most schools set attainable goals for their students, and all a student's needs should be weighed when creating a goal for either an individual or a group of students.

 

[deafdyke]

Unfortunately, the only curriculums I could explain to you from when I did practicum in a deaf school are the MS sped and preschool. The MS sped class was pretty behind for various reasons (from intellectual disability to extremely late language exposure), but they had had a few students quickly progress through the class and get bumped up to a different level for it. Within the class, we used an innovative system and set reachable but not-too-easy goals for the students (which might be considered low by typical hearing student standards but were pretty high for these students), and students who did well got a class reward at the end of each reading/English unit.

The preschool was rather on point with what a hearing preschool would learn re: storytelling, literacy, handwriting, alphabet; there was everything from creative storytelling to free reading to a literacy fair. Some kids were behind, but they were also exposed to language late.

In short, if kids are meeting "low" goals, it's probably (and hopefully) because those are the attainable goals (goals need to be weighed between "too easy", "can be achieved with help" (the best place to set a goal) and "likely uttainable right now"). I'd venture a guess most schools set attainable goals for their students, and all a student's needs should be weighed when creating a goal for either an individual or a group of students.

Yup. The early childhood programming at deaf schools/programs tends to be really good. I would always pick an early childhood placement at a deaf school or program over a special needs or inclusive/mainstreaming placement.
And the thing is.....HEARING students as a whole do not do very well either.
It also angers me when people act like deaf students get the equalivent of reading Frog and Toad are Friends and hearing students always achieve to AP English levels. Hearing students can be not exactly academic acheivers....Yes, there are plenty of AP/honors kids but there are just as many who are "Ummm who's President Obama?" or who can barely read People magazine.