Literacy

It’s been a long time since I was in elementary school, its hard for me to remember what I knew back then and compare it to what these kids know now.  As I help the kids at Easley with their homework, especially math homework, I’m surprised by how little they know.  I was helping one first or second grader with simple multiplication homework.  Math has always come easy to me, I actually remember doing my multiplication tables in kindergarten so I’m not sure how much the average second grader should know.  I’m also not the best at teaching basic mathematics.  Mathematics and the sciences are subjects that build off a foundation.  These kids are in the process of learning that foundation.  I feel perfectly comfortable using that foundation to teach more complicated topics but I do not know how to build that foundation out of nothing.  While I’m helping the children with their math homework, they are constantly trying to use their calculators.  I can convince them to do a few problems by hand, just to make sure they know how its done, but they are easily distracted and it can take them up to 10 minutes to do a simple math problem.  In the end I usually just let them use their calculators so they can finish up and move on to other things.  In the end though, I don’t feel like this is doing them any favors.  If they can’t do simple multiplication by hand or in their head and have to constant rely on a calculator, it will be a crutch for them the rest of their lives.  Based of my own learning experiences, these children are behind in their mathematic abilities, but I realize that I was ahead of the game and it’’s unfair to compare them to me.  So I’m really not sure where exactly these kids fall on the academic scale.  I would assume they are behind based on all the reading we have done about inner city kids but I don’t actually know. 

Space

When I first started going to Easley, the equipment was falling apart.  It was a rainy day so everyone was inside, right outside the homework room.  As the second hour came around, the children still working on their homework would be distracted by the children playing right outside in the lobby.  The window that connects the rooms didn’t help this at all.  The center had a few table games like foosball and pin pong and some board games like scrabble and chess.   Everything was missing stuff.  The board games were missing pieces and the table games, especially the foosball table, were falling apart.  While I was playing with the children, I was having trouble keeping up with all their rules they had made to get around the lack of proper equipment.  While I was playing foosball I got stuck on the “bad” side, to be honest I don’t think there was a “good” side, which had no backfield (defenders and goalie).   Ping-pong was just as bad, the paddles were all beaten up and had tape on the handles.  This actually reminded me of the pool I work for during the summer.  I know that ping-pong paddles don’t last long when they are for public use.  This last visit I was there was the day after Thanksgiving break.  Like every other time I have been at Easley, it was rainy and wet outside so the children were all playing inside.  Some of the younger girls were coloring quietly with crayons in the corner.  As I investigated further, I say they were coloring in Thanksgiving turkeys.  Now I don’t know if they had chosen to color in turkeys or if that was all there was to color but its now the Christmas seasons, I would expect them to be coloring in Christmas things.  Toward the end of my volunteering, someone invested a lot of money to buy new equipment for Easley, there was a new Ping-Pong table, pool table, air hockey table, and foosball table.  This has added a few more things for the kids to enjoy, the young boys seems to be taken the most advantage of this mystery person’s generosity. 

Easley 8

Today was my last day at Easley.  Being the first day back after break, not many kids had homework to do, so I played some foursquare with the kids.  There was one girl who was constantly on the phone, surprised me.  Even while she was playing other games she would be texting on her cell and everyone would have to wait for her to finish.  I’ve seen similar things among other kids her age so I don’t think it’s a poverty issue.  I just thought it was very rude to constantly be texting while others have to wait for you.  I didn’t say anything but I feel like someone should. 

I also noticed a group of girls coloring in a corner.  When I investigated further, I saw they were all color turkey's.  I have no idea if this was by there choosing or not but I felt like kids back home would be coloring Christmas things now, not turkeys. 

Easley 6&7

            The day before thanksgiving break was pretty empty.  Everyone was just playing games, excited for the long break.  I noticed that there was a lot of new equipment over there at Easley.  They had a brand new foosball table, ping-pong table, pool table, and air hockey table.  I have no idea where they got all this new equipment but it was sure a hit with the kids.  I’m glad to see that someone hasn’t forgotten about the inner city kids and has made a large donation.    

Screenshot

Digital Outline

• Hearing Aids
• hearing trumpets
• carbon hearing aids
• vacuum tube hearing aids
• transister hearing aids
• behind the ear hearing aids
• implants
• cochlear
• auditory brain implants (ABI)
• random pictures

Easley 4&5

Today was the first Friday I volunteered at Easley.  On Fridays, the kids don’t really do any homework, instead they just play games the entire time.  I joined a group a kids playing Foursquare.  The kids are intense players, and they wore me out really fast.  I also played some Foosball with one of the younger ones.  It took all my skills to lose while making it look like I was trying.  Towards the end of my 2 hour session, a few of the little boys had grown attached to me.  That made it hard to leave, especially cause we were in a good game of Frisbee when 5:00 hit.  I was surprised of how coordinated some of them were.  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t throw a Frisbee like them until I was in my teens. 

Easley 2&3

Today at Easley, I was helping a young man with his science homework.  While helping him, I underlined a few things in his workbook for him to read.  When he gave me a weird look, I asked him if it was ok if I could underline stuff in his book.  Apparently he’s not allowed to make any marks in the workbook and has to rewrite every question he is assigned.  I remember the rules that you aren’t allowed to write in texts books but this was a workbook.  Are the public schools here hurting so bad they have to reuse workbooks each year?

easley 1

Today was my first time at Easley.  I’ve never had much experience with that age group, elementary school kids.  I found it very hard to keep this age group on task.  Focus problems aside, what I found most surprising was little girl who was doing her 1^st grade math homework couldn’t add 5+8.  Since I don’t have really any experience with this age group, I’m not sure if this is normal or not.  Thinking back to when I was that age, I feel like I could easily add simple numbers, granted I have always been way ahead of the curve in math.  I found it very difficult teaching her basic addition.  I’ve tutored many people in math but I never math this fundamental.

Blog

I am currently a member of a facebook group called, Hear YA Now.  A lot of what's posted is just introductions, what kind of hearing loss a person has, and discussion about upcoming events.  There are a few posts that tell the story about a persons hardships growing up and I have found these very interesting and potentially useful for my project.  I have posted a few times myself, most recently I asked if anyone would be interested in helping me out with this project by telling me their story.  I've gotten a few responses already and hope to follow up with them as soon as I have finalized my interview questions. 

Glossary

HoH-hard of hearing
Residual Hearing-have some hearing left
Deaf-(in deaf community) completely deaf, cannot hear anything
Deaf-(according to US Census) anyone who has any hearing impairment
CI-cochlear implant
ABI-auditory brain implant
ASL-American sign language
Schwannoma-tumor that forms on a nerve, made of schwann cells
bilateral-on both sides of the body, can refer to hearing loss or Schwannomas
latent hearing loss/deafness-hearing loss that occurs later in life
audio lope-a localized broadcast of a speaker or television that hearing aids can tune into
closed captions-Text display of spoken dialogue and sounds on TV and videos visible only to those using a        caption decoder or TV with built-in decoder chip.
Decible (dB)-loudness of sound
Hearing Dog-A dog which has completed extensive training to alert its owner to a variety of sounds in different environments. These dogs are usually identified by a bright orange leash with black lettering.
lipreading-understanding spoken language by watching the mouth of the speaker
Presbycusis-The term used to describe the slow, progressive type of hearing loss that goes along with          aging. At age 65, one in every three persons has a hearing loss.
Text Telephone-Formerly TDD or TTY – a text telephone is a telecommunications device used by those who cannot understand on the phone. A typewriter-like unit shows the conversation on a screen so that it can be read. The transmission is with a special coding called Baudot or ASCII.
Visual Alarm System-A visual signal (flashing light) giving notice that an audible event has taken place. For example, doorbell, fire alarm, ringing telephone. Some systems monitor a single event, others can monitor several events and indicate which event has occurred.

interviews

            During our quick interview in class, I wasn’t exactly sure what to ask.  I have an idea of what I want to find out for this paper but I haven’t yet completely formed what questions I’m going to ask to get an answer.  So I came up with a few simple questions to just get a feeling for how an outsider (hearing person) may views someone in hard of hearing community.  The answer I got was bit surprising.  I discovered that for this particular person, she preconceptions of young people with hearing aids were not only hard of hearing but also some type of mental problem.  She did explain to me that this was because the only person she knows who has to wear hearing aids also suffers from some mental illness.  Still this association surprised me.   I’m now curious to ask a few more normal hearing people and see if they have similar misconceptions.  I’m glad I got a response like hers cause now I have a new question I can ask and perhaps another direction I can go in.    

Cultural Artifact

Everyone has seen an uncle, aunt, or grandparent fiddle with their hearing aids.  We all lose a bit of our hearing, as we grow old, it’s just the way life is.  What sometimes takes us off guard is seeing a younger person fiddling with their hearing aids.  As a culture, we just aren’t accustomed to seeing young people wear something labeled as an old person device.  I’ve found from talking to other young adults that are hard of hearing that they try to hide or take attention away from their hearing aids.  This was especially true with women who typically wear their hair down to hide their hearing devices.  This isn’t true with all young adults who wear hearing aids, some wear them with a sense of pride.  I’m guessing this comes from a similar mindset as people who modify their body as a way to stand out from society. 

            The history of the hearing aid goes back hundreds of years with the use of old horns to direct sound into ones ears.  Throughout the ages there has really been only two giant leaps in hearing aid technology.  The first pioneered by Alexander Graham Bell and his carbon microphone (telephone) and by Thomas Edison and his carbon transmitter.  This marked the first time that sound could actually be recorded, amplified, and played back.  As technology advanced so did the quality of hearing aids.  The next big leap in hearing aid technology came when Alessandro Volta discovered he hear a sound when he passed an electric current across his cochlear nerve.  From this discovery we now have the cochlear and auditory brain implants which electrically stimulate the auditory nerves creating the perception of sound. 

Humanities Symposium

            During this week past humanities symposium, I attended Dr Klefstand’s lecture on the works the Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich.  The goal of the lecture was to illustrate how Shostakovich used his music to depict the real tragedies happening in Russia under the Communist Party.  The Communist Party kept a very careful eye on the Russian arts, everything had to promote a strong, unified Russia.  Unfortunately the lecture didn’t go much into how Schostakovich’s music helped free the voice of the Russian people, mainly focusing on Schostakovich’s life instead.   We did listen to some of Shostakovich’s work, which was full of openness leaving a great deal of room for interpretation that many believe was purposely build into the pieces by Schostakovich in order to get his message out.    

mini ethnography

Sitting in a gazebo in the quad is my favorite spot to relax.  Between classes before noon there is little activity.  There are a few students also take the time to sit in the quad sitting quietly under trees and in gazebos reading, writing, doing hw, or taking a naps as they wait for their next class to start. All of them have large backpacks and/or purses at their side hinting that they probably live off campus and must carry everything they need with them all day long.  With little activity the squires and birds come down from their trees to play and prepare for winter.  There is one group of people setting up a hammock and talking very loudly.  I’m assuming they are freshman from Pembroke or Hail otherwise why would they be out here at this hour.  I feel like it’s fairly easy to spot a freshman at Belmont especially because they usually hang out in groups.  These groups are typically loud, full of energy, and doing something that weird (like setting up a hammock in the quad).   Some of the others sitting around quietly look at them with an annoyed expression silently wishing they would shut up.  There is an obvious annoyance among the animals as well towards this group, not a single animal will go within 25 yards of them.  I observe go out of its way in order to stay clear of this group. 

As the hour draws to a close there is a sudden burst of activity as classes let out.  Teachers and students all come out of their buildings and bustle off to their next class.  A few of the people who are relaxing with me get up and head off to their next class as others replace them preparing for their hour of relaxation.  Soon after the change of the hour the burst of activity dies off with the exception of a few people running late to their classes.  About 10 after the quad is back to the way it was., silent and peaceful.   

• What surprised me?  
• That there was a group of (I'm assuming professors of some kind) dressed in white lab coats walking around the quad.  I know we have a pharmacy and nursing program here but I have never seen anyone walk around campus in a white lab coat before. 
• What intrigued me? 
• That there was a group of men all dressed in back suits and sunglasses just standing off to the side having a conversation.   None of them was holding an instrument so I don't think it was for any musical performances.  My first thought was that the Secret Service was back on campus but I doubt that was the case.
•  What disturbed me?
• I didn't find anything in the quad that disturbed me, especially in the morning between classes.  I would bet that if I went out there at night, I might see some disturbing things.  

Project ideas

The main idea I've been playing with is the hard of hearing/deaf community, specifically in young adults. I recently became hard of hearing myself and have since just started to scratch the surface of the hard of hearing/deaf community. This project could also help out my future career goal of designing hear aids.

This is just the trailer to the movie Revenge of the Nerds.  The whole movie is build on the premise that a bunch of nerds get tired of being bullied and decide to fight back against the status quo and the jokes.  The relationship  between the jokes and the nerds is perhaps the most culturally iconic discourse depicting these two groups in today's society.

rules of a writer

·      Never start a sentence with “because”

o   Seems like a fair enough rule.  By starting with “because” you are continuing a statement from before.  It is generally better to combine the sentence with the previous one to create a run-on sentence then to start a sentence with “because”.

·      Try not to have to many run-on sentences

o   For the most part I agree with this rule.  There are definitely times when run-on sentences are needed (see above), having run-on sentence after run-on sentence is never a good idea.  Shorter sentences make it easier for a reader to digest then a lot of run-on sentences. 

·      Do not have multiple sentences in a row start with the same word

o   While I’m not sure this is technically a rule, I try to follow it whenever I can.  If multiple sentences in a row start with the same word, it starts to sound more like bullet point presentation then a fluid paper.