This week I decided to focus more on how I could start using ASL in the classroom environment - not specifically for science this time, but for classroom management. The resource I used this week was a resource that I used in the past called "Learn How to Sign" on YouTube. I used the video "ASL Signs for Teachers to Use in the Classroom | Public Service Pt. 7".
This video goes over many signs that you might use in the classroom with classroom management, such as "wait", "sit", "be quiet", "pay attention", "line up" and many more.
The other type of signs in this video are instructional commands, which are signs like "help", "focus", "work", "to read". These signs are incredibly helpful because even if you don't have a full grasp on sign language, you can still communicate to the student what they should be doing. Often, we give instructional commands with our voice, but students who are deaf or hard of hearing may not get those instructions unless we write them on the board. This gives an alternative for deaf or hard of hearing students to understand what they are working on. "Help" is also a really big one because it allows the student to communicate with you that they are struggling, or with directional signs (as she shows in the video) allows you to show the student that you are working with someone else, or ask them if they need help.
Different subject signs are also covered in this video, like math, history, and science, which helps with transitions in the classroom to let students know that you are moving on to the next subject.
What I love about these videos is that Meredith (the ASL teacher) shows the signs multiple times and as she's doing that, she goes over ways to remember how to do each sign. For example, with "pay attention" this is a sign where you have both your hands, palms facing inwards to the side of your face and they move back and forth from your face. She describes this sign by saying "think of horse blinders, narrowing the view of what they can see". These little tips are so helpful when learning as it can become hard to just memorize the signs, so this way you're able to actually understand why the sign is the way it is.
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