Life on the sidelines.

One of the side effects of being an interpreter is an accumulation of knowledge. Not all of it is useful. We learn the details of the personal lives of friends and strangers. Things they wouldn't share with their own family, the interpreter is privy to. We are in a unique possition to see things that others can't and yet because of this uniqueness are asked to never input into the process any of the conclusions our outside view has afforded. In my life over the last ten years, I have been "part" of ball clubs, football teams, wrestling, art, drama, anime, and various other organizations. I have also had the opportunity to observe teachers. I remember the best, and the worst. The average tend to get lost in the shuffle. Having been through middle and high school more times than most people gives me an interesting perspective. Even though I am an adult in the building, because I am often the 'voice' of the teen or preteen, the students grow comfortable with their friends and begin to discuss everyday life. In the ten years I have learned a few things. Students haven't really changed. Adult expectations have changed a lot. Zero Tolerance has made the school a safer place. I have yet to see a knife brought to school: However the boys know how to gossip and stab each other in the back better than when I was in school. At least they are not trying to stab you in the front anymore. Some things are better and some are worse but school is still teachers trying to teach and students trying to skate by or do their best. I'm starting my fourth passage through the teen years. I wonder how much I will see this time.

Denial

There is in all of us a desire to improve or at least maintain. In college I learned that one of the five stages of grieving is denial. As an interpreter I ran into this issue head on with a late deafened individual. In a role reversal from what is normally seen with an infant or toddler diagnosis, the family accepted that their relative would be Deaf. The individual refused to accept it. In spite of doctors, therapist, experts, family, and friends their resolve was unshaken. Being a Christian I am used to seeing someone wait for the 'Lord's report' before accepting the doctors verdict. Healing is generally the rule, not the exception for most of my friends. This denial was not based on an understanding of God's power, but was simply an unwillingness to accept the facts presented. I was and still am baffled. This post isn't about how I learned some truth about life. I just wanted to share that people are human and will not always behave in what the observer would percieve to be a logical way. Bet some of you already knew that, but it still puzzles me.

M.A.P. Testing

Oh the joys of being an educational interpreter! There are many little and great things that happen over the course of a year working within a school system. In missouri, the MAP test (Missouri Assesment Program) is not one of them. I am fortunate that the grade level I am assigned to only tests for three days. Imagine if you will. 'This is the test' 'These are the directions.' 'Go ahead and start.'. Do this 6 times in one day and then sit (or stand) and wait for someone to say something that needs interpreted. A normal wait is around thirty minutes between sentences. I am not saying that this is hard. But you may want to bring a good book to read on this assignment. They'll (the teachers) probably make up for it next week by all deciding to lecture on the same day. Then you won't be bored, just tired. I realize that this test has improved the schools here in this district. I don't know what the % is in the state, but at the district level, the level of proficient (A-B) students has gone from about 30% to around 50%. That's a big improvement. All of the teachers that I know are working hard and teaching the state mandated grade level expectations with an emphasis I only saw in the best teachers when I first started ten years ago. I don't agree with everything in the 'No Child Left Behind' bill, but this has made this district a better place to learn.

construction site signing

For the last three days I have been working with my father on a project for my church. We have been leveling the parking lot and covering it with gravel, so members won't be parking on a grassy hillside anymore. While running a backhoe and digging up dirt seems far from the field of an interpreter, I did find that a knowledge of classifiers and spacial awareness is quite usefull. There were many times over the last three days where signs were used to clarify an idea or convey directions. In an all hearing crew this may seem odd; however when surrounded by two front end loading tractors, a backhoe, and a dump truck, turning off the machines every time someone wants to say something is ineffecient. A quick 'you'...(classifier car) 'pull up this way and back over there' seems to work great. Having an entire conversation is out of the question. 'A' , each person is focused on their work and it might cause a distracting accident, and 'B', I was the only person on the site that actually knew sign language. I did find however that it gave me a feeling of satisfaction that I could use the visual language skills from my 'normal' job and transfer them to a completely different environment and still use them.

Songs

For the past few years I have had the opportunity to help judge a sing language competition. The students bring a CD and play it while they interpret the song. Some of the students know what they are doing and some have had no help at all and it is obvious. No matter how they do, there is always a group in the room cheering for all they are worth. Today was a day that made me cheer. We were singing 'God is so good' in church this morning and I looked over and my five year old son was signing: God... good.... God... good... God .... good ... me. The hand shapes were not perfect. The facial grammer was non existant. I was beeming. When he saw me he grinned and stopped for a second. I pretended to ignore him and he started up again. Aaahhhh. Life is full of little joys and today one stopped and said hello to me.