Part 8:  Classroom and Instructional Guidelines

Research informs educators that their classroom practices have a profound effect on the success of their students.  The same is true of the classroom with a student who is deaf.  According to Paul and other researchers, the following factors have been identified in professional literature as having a positive influence on literacy:

(1) Extensive reading of materials of many kinds, both in school and outside, results in vocabulary growth, comprehension and primarily, in the language or information base of the student

(2) Interactive learning in which students are involved in thinking about,
writing about and talking (or signing) about their learning produces more effective growth than passive instruction.

(3) Extension of background knowledge makes the student better able to construct meaning (decode) from the text.

(4) In depth instruction in reading and writing strategies.

(5) Integrated activities by organizing instruction into broad, theme-base clusters of work through which literacy (reading and writing) as well as expressive language (speech or sign) is inter-related.  This promotes understanding of the connections and significantly assists the deaf child in the classroom.

(6) Attention to skills through direct instruction and not the assumption by the teacher that the student will develop these skills on their own.

(7) Discussion and analysis that is emphasized by the teacher contributes to effective learning.  Rote learning does not stimulate the studentsí cognitive abilities.

(8) Reading and reflecting on a range of traditional and nontraditional literature of high quality can help students increase their language base, promote understanding of others and their values and ideas as well as in the deaf student vicarious experiences.

(9) Emphasis on writing contributes to competence in literacy.  Really good readers are good writers and visa versa.  Devoting classroom time to all the processes involved in writing (planning, outlining, drafting, revising, etc.) contributes to competence.

(10)Highly visual, imaginative, rich and informative language activities that promote interaction, imagination, thought, and various other activities should be provided by the teacher at all times.

(11) Appropriate assessment.  Generally, the schoolís curriculum may have their own assessment guidelines that can include formal and informal testing, teacher observation and standardized testing.  The two most popular standardized tests for the student who is deaf in programs serving the deaf are the: Stanford Achievement Test ? Hearing Impaired Version (SAT-HI); and the Test of Syntactic Abilities (TSA).  Both tests have been normed on hearing impaired populations and can provide the classroom teacher with a fairly accurate picture of student performance.