Midterm Essay

Learning is a wonderful thing

            I have often wondered how I got to this point in my life without much education. It just didn’t seem fair that I was stuck in dead end jobs as I watched college student’s world’s bloom around me. So what did I do about it? I went back to school. The decision was a hard one at first and when I signed up for my classes for the first time I knew I needed a foreign language. So I did what everyone said I should do, I picked Spanish. I went to school for one term and ended up taking a year off. I just wasn’t ready to truly begin my journey through college. In making the commitment to come back again, I really knew that this was going to be it. I either needed to jump in and do it, or just say “forget it” and be happy with my decision. The “forget it” was just not for me. Back to the same dilemma as before, I needed a foreign language. I knew Spanish was not my strong suit; it just was not a proper fit for me, so I started looking at the other alternatives available. When I came across ASL, I tried to think about what exposure I have had over the years, going back to when I saw the outcome of my aunt’s experience with taking classes, and when I bought my son a sign language alphabet book when he was little. Other than that, I didn’t have any real clue as to the dynamics of ASL. Was it going to be a challenge? Most definitely! Was I up for it? Well I am still learning, I am still moving forward, and I am still excited to keep learning. So yes, this is what it takes to succeed; to keep pushing through, to know you have the ability to see something through even when you’re not sure and have doubts.

            Progress is a strange thing, it moves quickly at times, and very slow at others; so slow sometimes, that it might not seem to be moving anywhere at all. I have learned that during these times is when you push; push to learn, push yourself not to quit, and push to get through. This sounds like life, giving us the skills to use where they are needed.

Last year, I felt that I was learning so much that I couldn’t or wasn’t retaining it all. This theory was put to the test when I had the privilege of volunteering at Emanuel Children’s Hospital in the Pediatric Occupational Therapy Department (OT). Here I encountered many children with special needs. Since my chosen profession was to be in OT or special education, I found it exciting that I was able to be an Aide to the professionals. During one of the sessions I was able to observe a speech pathologist working with a severely autistic child that was non-verbal. As he tried to sign to her, to try to teach her, I mimicked the signs in my head. As I quickly found out, as much as I thought I had learned was really so minute on the big scale. This made me want to learn more.

Throughout the year, I was able to shed some of the nerves I had about making mistakes and signing the wrong things. Our instructor was very helpful in that area. I loved being able to do our stories about whatever we wanted. I think it was very helpful in critical thinking and being able to learn how to interpret what we think and feel into signing. This gave me confidence. This was when I grew the most. Our songs were silly but fun as well. We were encouraged to push ourselves.

Looking back I can see that whenever a new skill was being learned or a new challenge was faced, I became full of nerves all over again. This happened when we lost our tutors and due to budget cuts our emersion class was cancelled. Our instructor set up a meeting with a friend of hers to tutor us on our word lists and to get some of the emersion skills we were missing. This was twice a week for part of the term. It was a great experience, and again made me realize just how much I didn’t know.

Over the summer, I feel I really had a setback in my signing abilities. Some of the students in our class had set up a weekly study group in ASL 101; and we just kept going. It was a great form of support for each other. Over the summer, with college classes and other obligations, we weren’t able to meet like we had over the course of the school year.  

            This year, I see myself on a different level academically. Although dramatically ever changing, ASL has been a constant in my schooling. With new instruction, and a full emersion class it has been a challenge to know where my level is supposed to be for the amount of time I have been learning. Some days my progress is very slow and other days I am excited to say I exceeded the expectations I have for myself. My favorite activity is the grid exercise. I like working in the smaller groups. Copy signing is another exercise I like. Although it is challenging in parts, I am able to learn signer’s perspective and be able to feel how signing space and facial expressions should be used. I do however have a slight aversion to free signing. It is difficult for me not to think, as I tend to analyze just about everything. I do see an improvement in my skills although I am still easily distracted and my brain wants to kick in. I really like performing new skills, learning new signs, and reviewing signs I already know. I like that Professor Carl makes the classroom a safe learning environment, where we can all learn from each other.    

            At this point in my academic career, I have decided to become a special education teacher. I want to be able to teach high school kids with and without special needs the life skills they need, be able to advocate and speak to young people about issues they may face, and give them the tools to help them choose to make the right decisions with confidence.

I see ASL as a plus in my life. I have gained confidence, met amazing people, and have been taught the tools I need to continue to learn. The rest is up to me. ASL is infinite, it is amazing, and I find that even if I don’t think I am making the progress I want to be, if nothing else I am cementing a solid foundation for a lifetime of progress and achievements in ASL.

So if I were to sum up the best thing about my progress, I don’t think I can in terms of an activity or event. What I can say without a doubt is that my progress is based on a desire to learn. The more I learn, the more I crave learning. I want to keep moving forward. I am very fortunate to have Professor Carl teaching me, and I have a strong desire to understand ASL and its culture. The ultimate goal is not just for me to claim success, but also to be able to teach others, so they too, can claim success. I see myself gaining the knowledge to be able to do this and maybe have a little fun along the way.