Do you have ideas for using Start ASL in the classroom?

by Nancy
(Ohio, US)

I am a HS ASL teacher in Ohio and just discovered your site....this is absolutely awesome!! It is so comprehensive and organized...I am using it for supplemental assignments in my classes. Thank you thank you! If you have any other ideas for use in the classroom I would welcome your thoughts.

Answer:

Hi Nancy,

Thank you so much! I'm very flattered :) I'm so glad you find my site useful!

I haven't really thought that much about different ways to use this website in the classroom. Here are some things I've come up with:

1. For anyone having difficulty, I think taking the online class is a good supplement. It's good for self-study and for students to learn at their own pace and move on when they understand. It may not be exactly what you're teaching in your class, but I think this works well for extra studying for students who are having difficulty. :)

2. Resource recommendations are also helpful. For students who want to learn more about a certain subject or find a great book to learn from, it's nice to know what resources are the best. I have a Deaf Products page on my site that could help with this.

3. You can even make a fun assignment for the skilled students in your class--teaching a lesson! You may notice that a lot of the videos in my lessons aren't very difficult. Some of your students might find it fun to be in one of the videos in the upcoming lessons. There is more information on my Submit Video page. I know they aren't experts, but if they can sign, some of these videos are very easy and it would be good for the online visitors to see younger people sign as well :)

4. OR...I just thought of a fun idea!! I can hold contests! These contests can be monthly, bimonthly, per-semester, or whatever. They can be contests like "Best ASL version of the Pledge of Allegiance," or "Best ASL version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and the winner will be featured on the homepage every month/semester/whatever. This would be a great assignment--even for extra credit! What do you think? I might do it just for fun :) Thank you for getting my mind rolling! :)

5. I'm also working on two e-books and a "software" version of the ASL class. One e-book will be about learning ASL and getting involved in the Deaf community--a lot of helpful info. And the other e-book will be strictly about ASL grammar and learning the difference between ASL and English in a straight-forward format. These might be helpful in a classroom--I'd just have to figure out the "educational use" policy I'd want to use. :)

Well, those are a few ideas I just came up with. I'm really kind of excited about the contest idea. Because the way I would have it set up is where the entries are all able to be seen on the contest page--with comments and everything--and the winner would be featured on the homepage. That could be really, really fun :)

Thank you again for your email--this was truly a great question.

So many smiles! :)

God bless,

Michelle Jay