This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
I teach at a Special Education Center High School for students ages 14-19. Our amazing program is located in Detroit, Michigan. We have three wings that serve students with Autism, Cognitive Impairments, and Severe/Multiple Impairments. We service students from the entire City of Detroit. Our school has 204 beautiful, young people with varying strengths and weaknesses. Their backgrounds are as diverse as their abilities. I have students whose parents are my colleagues and students who live in boarded up houses. Some come from 2-parent homes, and some come from three different homes. We are all unique, but we are definitely a family here.
My Project
Our room is a fantastic combination of students, including one lovely young student who is Hearing Impaired. We also have classmates who are do not speak, and 80% receive Speech and Language Therapy. Due to these differences in communication, as a class, the students decided they wanted to learn American Sign Language so they could all communicate together! In our school, we spend up to six years together as a class, so learning a new language to be friends was no big deal! We started three years ago.
It has been beautiful to watch the students work so hard to open communication doors to each other through sign language.
Students who previously had limited social interaction can now communicate. New relationships have formed, and the class has signed at various events at the school, such as the Summer School Wrap-Up Program and our Black History Month Assembly.
We would like to do a class project in our Life Skills course, telling short stories using American Sign Language. The stories will be instructional life skills videos directed at the special needs community that we will publish and distribute via social media.
We would like to utilize this HP Laptop with built-in video camera (and case) to record, edit, and distribute the movies. This HP ProBook laptop would enable student groups to work and review independently, as they would not have to hold a video camera or tablet. Story telling is a very impactful way to increase sign language vocabulary and fluency, and will be very helpful for my classroom and their language development. Finally, we need the locks to secure the laptop at the end of the day.
Please help us share our stories, and help us as we strive to improve our new language and inclusive communication with each other.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Paterson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
