Jeremy S. Beaver

Literature for Young Adults

San Jose State University

December 10^th, 2009

Through Eyes and Hands

The Story of My Life and the abandonment of writing

RATIONALE:

With technology advancing communications to the point where deaf people from all corners of the world can simply dial someone up, converse with them through their mobile devices, portable videophones, pagers with recording devices, posting vlogs (video blogs) expressing feelings and thoughts, enhancing our dependence on visual communication. Where I work, the California School for the Deaf, it takes all the resources I have just to convince someone to do a writing assignment. It is even more difficult getting them interested in reading a book, especially when it has no relevance to them, whether historical or contemporarily. Even each classroom is equipped to the hilt with state-of-the-art technology centers, SMART Boards, document readers, and more. All the while, our writing suffers. It also leads to a lack of interest in reading. Ultimately, a high percentage of Deaf students fail the California High School Exit Exam. Out of my senior class this year, only 4 of 38 students are graduating with high school diplomas. The rest either return as 5^th year seniors and take remedial HSEE courses, attend community college, or into direct employment. At worse, we lose some through the cracks within the California agency services, such as the NorCal Center for the Deaf, the Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency, amongst many others. I am hoping that through Helen Keller, who was born deaf and blind, I can perhaps persuade and convince students the importance of the written language, all the while preserving our American Sign Language, both through writing and sign. What better than to use someone from within the community to prove that we are capable of such an achievement, that of writing with a purpose. Using this as a springboard, I will then progress further into the unit with other prominent deaf writers with the ultimate goal of creating a written work from the students.

LAUNCHING THE UNIT:

Helen Keller�s The Story of My Life is the central book, showing the students how someone deaf AND blind managed to create such a work of art. However, before beginning to read, I will show an ASL poem as told by Ella Mae Lentz, who is one of the Deaf community�s well known artist and performer. I haven�t decided which poem yet, her website isn�t operating at efficiency. I was told she has some powerful poems and I would definitely pick those that allude to ASL as a language. During and after viewing the ASL poem, I will encourage students to view the poem in both ASL form and think of it in an English sense (written form):

1. Watch for power lines, quotes, but DO NOT WRITE IT DOWN. This encourages the students to keep it in their thought and not �ASLize� it. To ASLize it means writing in ASL, such as �man go store� instead of �the man is going to the store.�

2. After watching the poem, I will ask the students to write out their power lines, quotes in proper English.

3. Upon creating several properly written lines, quotes, and perhaps full poems, we will have a discussion of how transformed the poem is:

a. Does re-writing the poem make it lose or gain significance? How?

b. Which students preferred the ASL version or the written version? Why?

4. For extra credit, students can write out the ASL poem in full written form and write an essay justifying their word choice for the signs because ASL is very abstract so there might be several interpretations.

MAIN TEXT:

1. The Story of My Life is an auto-biography of Helen Keller and I�d have the students read upon the history of her education and why she wrote so prolifically. I want the students to then list and point out what about Helen Keller�s story was so compelling and made an impact on them.

2. We will also watch the film depiction of this book, The Miracle Worker, and see how much of the film is true to Helen Keller�s story. I will also make an exercise out of what differences between the methodologies of education for the Deaf was between Keller�s times as compared to today. What do the students prefer? Why?

EXTENDING THE UNIT:

In keeping with the theme as ASL as a visual and written language, I would then assign a project where they can write a poem then enact it in ASL based on what they learned about Helen Keller and her achievements. This would bridge the activities within this entire unit, seeing writing as a tool that enhances their ASL, not as an impediment to their natural language.

YOUNG ADULT SELECTIONS:

Not having much in way of literature for young adults, the following books however have important information related to Deaf History and Deaf Culture. Through perusing the historical resources, students will also have insight into the pulse of the deaf communities in America in the past. Via the cultural books, students can see how written English illuminates ASL use in specific books. This unit is all about attempting to show deaf students how important it is to be able to make connections with the past, treasure it, yet at the same time, realize that our current mode of education is just as significant:

Director Arthur Penn. The Miracle Worker, United Artists: a film on the life of Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, this film goes hand in hand with Keller�s book

Jack Gannon. Through Deaf Eyes, A Photographic History of an American Community. Washington, D.C., Gallaudet Press: a travelling exhibit headed by Jack Gannon, this is one of the most well-known authority on Deaf History; there are several editions/versions of this publication

Holcomb, Roy et al. Deaf Culture, Our Way: Antidotes From the Deaf Community. San Diego: Dawn Sign Press, 1996: penned by one of the most well-known figures in the Deaf community, this is a humorous outlook on how the Deaf live, asks questions about things that �hearing� people take for granted, and is filled to the brim with Deaf jokes and stories

Kelley, Walter Paul. Deaf Culture A to Z. Austin: Buto Ltd, 2003: another book with insight into Deaf culture, using A to Z which is one of the culture�s staple method of telling a story, from A to Z

Padden, Carol and Tom Humphries. Deaf In America: Voices From A Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988: a very important addition to any young adult�s Deaf book library, dealing with growing up in an oppressive society as a minority

Josh Aronson. Sound and Fury. Aronson Film Associates, 2000: a very powerful documentary on the Deaf, questioning the community about cochlear implants and turning deaf children into hearing children; a very controversial film that we can use to discuss education methodology

Mather, Susan M., and Cathyrn Carroll. Movers & Shakers: Deaf People Who Changed the World. San Diego: Dawn Sign Press, 1997: a book that documents the major players in the Deaf community worldwide and how they helped shape the world we live in today; this factual book covers a wide range of historical figure, including Keller

John V. Van Cleve and Barry A. Crouch. A Place of Their Own. Washington, D.C., Gallaudet Press: a great book for those who are interested in how the Deaf struggled to discover a place of their own as a minority in ever-developing America

WORKS CITED:

Helen Keller. The Story of My Life. Doubleday Books, New York, 1906.