Celebrating All Abilities

Our school has a number of students with distinct and visible exceptionalities. The students participating in this project will learn the importance of understanding the unique characteristics and abilities of their peers. The project will be designed to interact with a classroom of hearing impaired students of another school. We will share learning experiences via video conferencing. The students at the Hearing Impaired classroom will share their unique abilities and strengths such as teaching our students sign language.

Update (April 30, 2012)

At BCH we have a student population of many differences and are exploring how differences make us unique individuals. This year we have had the opportunity to go into the community and meet people who have overcome challenges and are able to celebrate their success.

In the Fall, some of our classes participated in the 25th Celebration of the Rick Hansen Relay at Variety Village. Students had the opportunity to learn about the accomplishments and goals of Rick Hansen. They also listened to a speaker who told them about the challenges of accessibility for people in wheelchairs. The highlight of the event for the students was participating in sports, such as wheelchair basketball, floor volleyball and a wheelchair race.

In the Winter, one class at our school established a partnership with Davisville Public School which has a deaf and hard of hearing program. Students learned how to sign the letters of the alphabet. They had been working on gear systems and bridge designs and were able to show off their creations to the other class by making a movie and adding captions of key vocabulary to explain the work. The students became very excited about communicating this and started to use the computer as a resource to help them sign words.

The students then put on puppet shows using speech bubbles to share their stories with the students at Davisville. They made backdrop paintings and puppets. The children found it challenging to present the play without sound. Many of them found that they needed to say the words to overcome the challenge of only using speech bubbles. The students had to practice holding up the signs long enough for the words to be read. It was difficult to understand that when we hear words it is faster than when we read them. These plays were also put on a movie format so the other school could watch.

We then had the opportunity of visiting a deaf culture centre at the Distillery District. The students looked at all the amazing art made by deaf artists. The importance of the hand was noticeable as all the art incorporated something with hands. The students were inspired to go back to class to make their own art using hands and are planning on sharing it with their buddies by webcam. We then are going to go to Mayfest (which is a festival for the deaf and hard of hearing) with our buddies and spend the day learning to communicate without words. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you next time.

Update (June 5, 2012)

On Tuesday May 1st, our class video conferenced with a deaf class from Davisville P.S. Our students had finished their hand art and wanted to share it with our buddies. They had a translator in their class who spoke to us and we had a translator in our class who helped us sign to them.

They had 7 students in their class whose ages ranged from 9-14. We took turns between the classes to show our art and tell them a bit about us. They asked questions about the art, guessed what we had created and told us a little about themselves. The age of the students surprised our class the most and we learned that they played many of the same kinds of games that we played. We had a great time video conferencing with them and were looking forward to meeting them at Mayfest (a festival for the deaf).

On Friday, May 11 our class went down to the Queen Elizabeth building at the Ex. We arrived before our buddies and waited anxiously for them. When they arrived we met up with them briefly and agreed to meet them for lunch. It was busy so we all went off in small groups to explore the different exhibits. The students practiced signing to others and most people understood the signing. At times it was difficult for us to understand because they signed so fast and knew more words.

The representatives at the exhibit were very welcoming. They were happy to find out that we were “hearing” people and had come to the festival to learn more about the needs of deaf people in society.

The students enjoyed the dance performances at the festival. As the dancers moved to music, one performer signed the words as he danced. The hearing dogs were also popular and everyone loved playing the games at the Kid’s Zone where they won prizes.

We ate lunch with our buddies and were surprised that a few students had some hearing and could speak. A few of the boys got together to do some “dancing” after they had eaten and before we knew it, it was time to finish visiting the exhibits.

The students had a great experience at the festival and have a deeper understanding about some of the needs of deaf people. Throughout all of our experiences, the students had so much fun learning about one another and celebrating our differences. It is without a doubt that they will continue this meaningful journey by demonstrating respect and caring towards others.