Service Learning in Interpreter Education: Strategies for Extending Student Involvement in the Deaf Community

CHAPTER 9

156 C H A P T E R 9 Student Perspectives Personal and Professional Impact Starting Point A wonderful lesson has been learning not to be pigeonholed into my interpreter box. Although I may be an interpreter . . . I am not exclusively an interpreter. I can also be a part of the Deaf community and a contributing member! We can so easily say, “I’m an interpreter; that’s [community involvement] not my job.” So rarely do we consider what we can do. I’ve enjoyed making a real and noticeable impact even if it is just as a facilitator. This has been the biggest realization for me. Lee Godbold, UNF graduate student Author Introductions Undergraduate and graduate interpreting students in service-learning courses are the primary authors of this chapter. As their professor, I echo the words of Joseph Joubert, “To teach is to learn twice.” Time after time I have witnessed students coming to a personal understanding of their position in the Deaf community through service learning, and this motivates and inspires me to learn more and improve the way I teach. I was a mere self-directed “student” of this remote concept when I read Monikowski and Peterson (2005), realized it was a solution to our drift away from the Deaf community, and set out to remedy the problem. In my 24-year career as an interpreter educator, I have never learned as much from students as I have in these courses, Service Learning with the Deaf Community and Service Learning with Deaf Children. Some of this chapter’s guest authors were online learners who hailed from diverse locations (rural and metropolitan) and worked in isolation, Slie_09.indd 156 Slie_09.indd 156 2/11/2013 10:27:46 AM 2/11/2013 10:27:46 AM Student Perspectives 157 sometimes having to travel to get to the local Deaf community. Others lived near each other and had the option of working in teams. The undergraduate students met on campus weekly, as their program was based at UNF. They represent traditional and nontraditional students, various ethnicities , and certified and precertified interpreters. During one semester, nine service-learning initiatives were simultaneously underway in seven states, and the separate course sections were merged into one Blackboard shell in order to integrate graduate and undergraduate student discussions . The student authors provided the following descriptions of their projects: Antoinette (graduate student, CI and CT, age 35, Holiday, FL) The project was a community picnic, and the purpose was to provide an opportunity for Deaf high school students, grades 9–12, to connect and communicate with Deaf adults. Our team of four students hosted several presentations from Deaf people in the community as well as representatives from vocational rehabilitation so that these teens would have role models who provided them with information. D’Andra (graduate student, CI and CT, age 30, Davis, OK) The project involved Deaf 4-H students presenting information about deafness and Deaf culture to hearing peers. The planning process involved students, parents, the local school for Deaf students, Deaf community members, and the county 4-H group. The purpose of the project was to allow the students to introduce Deaf culture to people who had minimal experience communicating with Deaf people while they learned self-advocacy skills simply by developing and presenting the information to an audience. Kristen (graduate student, NIC Master, age 37, Tampa, FL) The goal of our project was to gather the top ten graduating students from three local interpreter education programs and invite them to a Slie_09.indd 157 Slie_09.indd 157 2/11/2013 10:27:46 AM 2/11/2013 10:27:46 AM 158 Stakeholder Perspectives one-night-only, ask-any-question-you-want-without-feeling-stupid panel session with local Deaf professionals. A Deaf professional moderated the event. The goal was for Deaf professionals to communicate their expectations of new interpreters and for the graduates to express their questions, concerns, fears, and hopes for the future in an honest exchange and a safe environment. Lee (graduate student, NIC, Ed: K–12, age 28, Austin, TX) The plan for my project was to facilitate the establishment of a Girl Scout troop at the school for the Deaf with the goal of encouraging high selfesteem , leadership skills, independence, and empowerment through projects , field trips, community service, and interaction with Deaf peers and adult role models. This involved identifying Deaf family members (mothers...