More Than Meets the Eye: Revealing the Complexities of an Interpreted Education

Appendix C

183 Appendix C OverarchingThemes From Interview andVideo Data VISUAL ATTENTION • Attention-getting • Directing the student’s gaze by pointing or looking at something/ someone • Holding or adjusting the pace/timing (e.g., wait time) • Identifying the speaker by name or attribute • Summarizing, paraphrasing, or omitting information; adding visual information • Consulting, collaborating, negotiating or brainstorming strategies for working more effectively with interpreters and meeting DHH students’ visual needs • Admonishing, directive talk: “Put away your drawing and pay attention; you need to be working on this now.” • Prioritizing and assessing what is most important for the student to see19 BRIDGING/SCAFFOLDING TO EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD BASED ON DHH STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE Provide opportunities for DHH students to have access to the same knowledge and opportunity to succeed academically as their hearing peers • Tutoring, explaining, helping—the interpreter is responsible for or takes on the task of tutoring or explaining class content, especially in relation to what peers know and can do 19. Italicized font signifies an implicit feature, not directly observable, reported during interviews. 184 : appendix c • Making connections between ASL and English—use fingerspelling and other techniques to promote language acquisition and learning • Fostering student independence—encouraging or teaching students how to be assertive and take control of their own learning needs and interactions with peers, teachers, etc., such as by prompting them to ask the teacher directly PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC INCLUSION • Evening the playing field by serving as a sounding board, providing general guidance, etc., so that DHH students are more likely to participate actively 0 Adjusting timing or omitting less significant parts of the message to allow student to participate in group discussions 0 Prompting and encouraging students to raise their hands 0 Providing reinforcement/praise/encouragement • Fostering student independence—Encouraging or teaching students how to take control of their own learning needs in interactions with peers, teachers, etc. • Building rapport with students by chatting socially and/or about class activities and content; being a partner in communication. Negotiating preferences regarding interpreting and access. • Collaborating, negotiating or brainstorming strategies to better meet students’ language and learning needs and also to facilitate inclusion/full participation 0 Informing other staff about language and learning needs of the deaf and hard of hearing students. 0 Teaching signs to staff and students. • Helping other kids—Helping kids who are not deaf or hard of hearing so that none of the kids will feel interpreters are “just there for the Deaf kids” RESOURCES AND LIMITATIONS • Consistency—Interpreter indicates that a regular interpreter would have a better understanding of the classroom context, teacher approaches, student needs, etc. Appendix C : 185 • Uncertainty—Interpreter checks in with researcher as to whether or not he/she is thinking along the right lines, e.g., “Is this what we should be doing?” Especially regarding read-alouds, captioned video, spelling and sound-based lessons, and (spoken) recitations. • Teacher as resource—Interpreter seeks to discover what the teacher wants or asks the teacher to do something differently to meet the students needs • Collegiality and teacher comfort—Teacher respects interpreter expertise and accepts or invites collaboration. 0 Teacher is perceived as being more or less comfortable/good at working with interpreters and sharing space. 0 Varied teacher expectations and understanding of interpreter responsibilities; role confusion 0 Interpreter and teacher develop rapport by chatting and joking • Collaboration—Interpreter works with other school personnel to glean ideas, materials, and resources to better meet the deaf and hard of hearing students. Collaborating, negotiating or brainstorming strategies to better meet students’ language and learning needs and/or to facilitate inclusion/full participation • Skill and knowledge—Interpreter discusses that her own limitations in terms of understanding content and ability to deliver an equivalent message puts DHH students at an extreme disadvantage that are in addition to the disadvantages students already encounter, e.g., spelling, phonetics, visual access, common or shared language, timing of interpretation, world views and experiences, etc. • Self-reflection and monitoring—Believes reflection on effectiveness of interpretation is a means to improving professional practice. Concern that students pay the price while interpreters figure out how improvements can be made. • Consulting—Informing other school personnel about the language and learning needs of deaf and hard of hearing students. • Team interpreting—Lack of team interpreter leads to concerns regarding fatigue, the quality of interpreting, and physical injury. Desire to work with colleagues to discuss strategies toward improving their work, better...