Past projects 5
Make My Own: ASL Materials + Resources!
Funded May 6, 2020I want to thank you very much for your contribution to yet another classroom project of mine. I am greatly humbled by your generosity! I asked for a color printer and ink because I know that it will be of great use to my classroom. Teaching ASL is fun, but there are not a lot of materials readily available for purchase like other subjects. For these 9 years of my career, I had to make a lot of materials by hand, but with a new printer, it will be easier for me to create materials, resources, and even facilitate projects with my students.
The equipment arrived at school, but because of COVID-19 and school closures, I haven't been able to get it set up or use it, though I am very excited to do so! This past year online was difficult because I wasn't able to see my students in person or use any physical materials with them via Zoom. I am excited that we will be able to get back on campus to see each other and experience more hands-on learning, like before!
When I return to my classroom, the first thing I will do is power up this printer! I have many ideas for what I'd like to make for my students! These ideas came to me before the school shut downs and I'm excited to get them going. I would like to make storybooks for my students to sign and share with Deaf elementary school children, make custom ASL UNO cards and other games so we can get more receptive practice, and I also want to put together an ASL notebook and journal for my students that have graphics and other visuals to help with ASL learning. I know my students will benefit!
I hope to share photos with you soon!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wolkov
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 5 other donors.Ooo, Ahh! Look at Those Sign Language T-Shirts!
Funded Sep 17, 2019Thank you so much for donating to my classroom. We were able to purchase a Cricut Easy Press along with a starter kit of iron-on vinyl and press pad. The reason I made this project was for the students to be able to work with me on making Taft High School ASL merchandise that we can use to show our ASL pride around campus, but to also use as a recruitment tool. When 8th graders transition to high school and they have to choose their classes, they have to have 2 years of a World Language to graduate. When we have events such as Back to School Night or even Open House, I like for my students to talk to perspective students about choosing American Sign Language. With our new t-shirts, it'll be easy for parents and students to now seek us out and ask us questions!
I had my students take a survey about what they'd like a Taft ASL shirt to look like and I had students give me ideas for what to design. A student who is also a Cricut user helped me design the, "Read My Hands," t-shirt design. I wanted another simple t-shirt that my students can wear that isn't too distracting and can be worn while my students interpreted around campus or attended Deaf events. I designed a simple "I Love You" logo and inside it says, "Taft ASL" using the negative space. My students love it and many have expressed how they want that t-shirt to be the one we use from now on.
I was able to make three prototypes for what we can use as our official Taft ASL design! There were a lot of mixed reviews about which t-shirt should be the "official" one, but I think that we should use all of them! Now that I've gotten better at using the Cricut Easy Press, I think that it will be easy to produce many t-shirts based on whatever design my students want!
Our next big event that is coming up for our campus is our Open House in March. My students and I will be working on producing t-shirts for all the ASL student volunteers that night! We can't wait to wear them and show off our ASL skills. I think that these t-shirts are going to make our program more visible on campus and encourage so many more people to learn American Sign Language an be a part of the Deaf/Signing Community!
Thank you all for much for your contribution to my students and for helping our ASL program grow and become stronger.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wolkov
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 6 other donors.Using American Sign Language as Creative Expression!
Funded May 16, 2019First, thank you again for donating so I can provide technology for my students to enrich their American Sign Language learning. New technology is very important to our 21st century learners, but most people don't realize that new technology can greatly impact the way students learn ASL. There is more to learning ASL than just learning vocabulary and short phrases and greetings. In my classes, I also teach basics of interpreting and creative uses of ASL. The more students are exposed to skills to be able to manipulate ASL, the better communicators they will become. I have been able to implement the iPad that you helped bring to my classroom to teach my students other skills that go hand-in-hand with language learning.
The main reason I wanted to get an iPad was so that we could use iMovie to produce our own ASL films. This semester we learned about creative uses of ASL such as poetry and storytelling. In ASL 2, we spent a few weeks working on ABC stories. After working on team ABC stories, each team performed their ABC story in front of the class. We used the iPad to film each team's story. Since we filmed on the iPad, we were then able to use iMovie to edit their stories. Using iMovie, they are able to add backgrounds, pictures, and other images to bring their stories to life. The next steps would be to add captions and voiceovers so we are able to share these ABC stories with those who don't understand ASL.
We want to have these videos done by Open House so we can show them to friends and family. Learning ASL is not just about my students in the classroom, but I hope that they are able to share and teach ASL to other people so more of our campus and community can be Deaf friendly. We still have many tasks to do on the iPad to finish our entire project, but we're getting there and the students are really excited that they are able to use such helpful technology. Students are super creative, and it's important to me that I foster that creativity. Many of my students have told me that they hardly get to express themselves in other classes, but they are able to do what interests them in ASL class, all while learning another language. I've always strived to make my classroom a safe and fun environment. Thanks to all of you, I am able to support their creativity and hope that this project sparks other creative endeavors that will help all my students become even better Deaf Community Allies.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wolkov
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 13 other donors.They'll Never Forget to Bring Their ASL Binder Again!
Funded Feb 22, 2019First, I want to thank you for fully funding this project! Aside from teaching ASL, I feel that it's important to teach life schools to help prepare my students for what happens after high school. One thing that I want to make sure they understand is how to keep themselves organized. If you're organized and have all your materials, then you're ready to learn and ready to take on the day. In my class, I make sure that students have a binder that keeps all of our vocabulary lists, notes, projects, etc. This way, if you ever need anything, you just have to open up your binder!
One thing that I have been struggling with is for the students to remember to bring their binders to class! Many students will forget their binders in their lockers or at home. If this happens, they are without materials for the entire day! Then they're missing out on instruction! With the crates and table that you so generously bought for my classroom, my students are able to keep their materials in class! My classroom doesn't have a lot of storage space so I wanted to make sure my students have something that will help them out!
Once I set up the crates and table, the students were so excited! I told them that they were for their ASL binders! They started using them that day. Now, students leave their binders in class and they don't have to worry about carrying them in their already-too-heavy backpacks or forgetting them in their lockers. The students have now gotten into the habit of walking into our classroom, grabbing their binder from their designated crates, using them during class, and then returning them to the crates afterward.
Life has just gotten so much easier because of these materials! I'm going to use them every year. So really, it's not just 200 students that will be impacted by this donation, 200 students every year will benefit! I can't thank you enough for your generous donation to my classroom! It's something that I couldn't have provided for my students on my own. I needed your help and you helped me with so much more than you think!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wolkov
An iPad to Help Students Learn about the Deaf Community!
Funded Dec 4, 2018Thank you very much for your generosity! Your donations to get an iPad into my classroom has helped me teaching immensely. Not only has it benefited me and the way I teach, but it has impacted the way my students learn and has changed our classroom environment for the better!
The reason I wanted to get an iPad for my classroom was to be able to use certain apps with my students. As a Deaf Community Ally, I use different apps such as Glide, Marco Polo, and FaceTime. These apps are how I keep in contact with my Deaf/Hard of Hearing and signing friends. I wanted to connect my students with more of the signing community so we're not just in our Taft little bubble. As soon as the iPad arrived, I downloaded so many apps and started using them immediately with my students. I've started doing a new assessment called Receptive Journals. It's a way to connect my students with Deaf people but also test their skills. I have my Deaf friends send questions to my students using apps like Glide and Marco Polo. I show my students the videos and they have to answer the questions. It's been working great because I got an Apple TV for my classroom where I can screen mirror what I'm doing on the iPad. The classes are able to see the videos my signing friends send them and respond accordingly. Right now, we're just writing down our answers, but hopefully soon, we'll be able to record/sign our responses and send messages back and forth. Almost like ASL "pen pals!"
Starting Receptive Journals was the big project that I wanted to work on with my students using the iPad. I wanted to bring the Deaf community to my classroom since it's hard to get the students out there in the community without being so nervous. Receptive Journals have been going great, but I've been able to use the iPad in different ways. Since I've been able to screen mirror the iPad onto my projector screen, I use it to practice grammar and interpretation. When we are doing warm-ups or assignments in class, I can use the iPad to write notes, feedback, etc. and the students can see what I'm doing. For example, when we practice interpreting, we'll take an English sentence and we're interpret it and write it in ASL word order, or what we call, gloss. We can have whole class discussions about how to interpret it and I can use an app called Notability and an Apple Pencil to write on the iPad and take notes for the whole class to see!
The iPad has been so useful that I now use it almost everyday and not just for the project I had intended. I can't believe that I've been teaching without it! The iPad definitely benefits all my students because of Receptive Journals, but it's been so helpful to those students with visual processing delays or are visual learners. Sometimes when I'm signing to the class, those with processing delays have trouble keeping up, but since having the iPad, I've been able to do two things at once. I can give signing visual cues, but also visual aids to help the students understand. I have seen many students' receptive skills improve just by what I do with the iPad in class.
Your contribution to my class has been the best thing to happen to me in my teaching career. Having this new technology has opened my eyes to the many different ways I can integrate technology in my lessons/teaching. I am very excited to use the iPad more in class and in the future years. I can never thank all of you enough!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wolkov