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This was the first open house I attended at the school. It was a real, thoughtful and enjoyable experience for me. I arrived pretty early, at 9:AMA. The school is very large and appears even larger when I got there. There were lots of people walking around and registering for the event. I stopped in to register and get some feedback on what to do first. I was advised to get my free ticket to the variety show that was starting at 10:AMA.
Once they run out of tickets you miss out on the vent. I was familiar with how popular the events are at the school so I did that first. Now, I had a bit of time to explore the school. I went by myself so I didn’t have anyone to sign with. I looked at all the tables and displays outside first. I really enjoyed all the gift baskets they had set up to give out for their raffles. I wanted a cup of coffee so I went to that booth. I was able to sign with the people there about wanting coffee and even Equal sugar.
I felt a bit nervous at first but as I got to practice some I felt more comfortable. By this time I ran into some other students from the class to hang out with. It was great to have some company and competence on my side. I really find I need to practice more to strengthen my SSL skills. I went indoors and observed some of the tours that were taking place with other’s via SSL. I really enjoyed watching the children in their classrooms working with their teachers. Some of them were so expressive and even yelled and talked.
I never been in a setting where the little ones were signing with their teachers and eating, learning and playing in class. My heart was really touched by all the hard work being done by all. The teachers had utmost patience and involvement with their students. I could ally tell they enjoyed their Jobs and working with the children. It was time for the Student Variety Show to start so I headed over to the theater. There is always a huge line to get in if you aren’t early you won’t get good seat. I wanted to get a close seat because I had my Flip Cam with me to record all the activities.
The show was great, informative, cute and engaging. I paid close attention to the Mac’s while they were signing who would be performing what acts. The interpreter’s were still very helpful to follow along with the signing. They had the Pledge of Allegiance first with the elementary-middle school children. We all got to get up and participate in that which was neat. Next, was early childhood education which had the most adorable videos of the toddlers (my favorite) doing SSL stories. The kinderg??rtner’s gave an introduction of themselves which was very amusing.
I really warmed up to this age group and I thought I wouldn’t. The elementary and special needs were up next. The elementary school children did language play: Modifying Adjectives by the 3rd grade. The special needs children had a video of SSL handshakes. They were easy for me to follow. The middle school had a student from China speak about his experiences an I really Tell empathetic to ml. HIS parent’s Drought NV nerve to learn AS be able to communicate with other’s better. When he first got here he felt very isolated and left out from communicating with other’s.
As he practiced more on his own and in school; he got much better and was happy to be able to communicate with other’s. They shared a poem about preserving the deaf culture. I really enjoyed the A to Z SSL story by the students. They used every letter of the alphabet to show examples of 3 things that started with that letter. The high school had a similar presentation where they did an “All About SD BBC story’. I enjoyed the conclusion the most because it was their Eagle fight song and they brought out the drummer.
It was so loud and enthusiastic I really felt the drum beat vibrations since I was in the 5th row. They have great team spirit at SD and showed it at their open house. I started to get hungry by then, so I grabbed a snack and was able to use some SSL to communicate what I wanted, I. E: coke and candy. Then off to the gym I went where all the vendors were at. I did some shopping there, picked up some cool SSL stuff. I wish I had known all that stuff was going to be there I would have bought some more f I could of afforded to.
They had a nice idea of doing a Scavenger hunt with the vendors you would get a sticker by talking with them. You then had to go to various landmarks over the school to take a picture at the spot. I did stay to through 1 pm and got to go into the SD museum. I found the history to be very in depth and fascinating. I also was sad by the ignorance of how the term Deaf, Dumb ; Mute was used. I can see how we have somewhat progressed over time but we can always call on ourselves to do more, be better and really understand the Deaf culture.