The Interpreter's Tapestry

 
18th Annual
Summer Institute for Educational Interpreters
 

We had another great year at the Summer Institute for Educational Interpreters at Tennessee School for the Deaf! Here's a recap for those who attended and for those who missed it - we hope to see you next year!

 

Day 1 (topics and order reflect my schedule)

   

Registration
Another great bag and mug!

 

History of TSD
Tennessee School for the Deaf has a fascinating history of serving deaf children stretching from 1845 to today. From the original campus in downtown Knoxville, through the Civil War, to the new (current) campus, TSD has stood strong serving not only as a school, but also as a home, an evaluation center, a Child Study Center, a Comprehensive Educational Resource Center (CERC), an outreach center, and now it has a Post-Secondary Transition Program (PSTP) as well.

 

Roundtable Development
A wonderful feature of the Summer Institute is the opportunity to bring our own topics to the institute. During this session, we brainstormed what topics we wanted to discuss in two roundtable sessions later in the week. Sessions included topics such as Interpreter Advocacy, Student Advocacy, Interpreting for Special Needs Students, Interpreter Standards, Interpreting for Standardized Tests, and Interpreting Special Topics & Settings (Foreign Languages, Related Arts, Assemblies). (There may have been other topics, but I didn't get them all recorded.)

 

"Sign to Voice" Rotation
Resources - Giving Voice to Good Education: The World in Your Hands (Sign Enhancers)- DVD (available through LSDHH)

  • Focus on one or two items to focus on improving at a time. While voicing, it is quite difficult to focus on anything else, so keep your goals to a minimum.
  • Fingerspelling is very difficult for many of us, especially while voicing. Even in context, fingerspelling is tricky.
  • Instead of "feedback," using the term "debriefing" is a more accurate description of what we should do and can help disarm a person who is sensitive to criticism.
 

Evening Social - I can't comment on this because I was unable to attend, but I heard it was a great night.

 
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Day 2

   

"Fingerspelling & Numbers" Rotation
Resources - Charting the Way, Ch. 7 (Minnesota) - Book, ABC 123: Fingerspelling and Numbers in ASL (RID) - DVD & Book, Fingerspelling 1 & 2 (Signs for Intelligence) - DVDs, Number Signs for Everyone: Numbering in American Sign Language (Dawn Sign Press) - VHS/DVD, Master ASL! Fingerspelling & Numbers (Sign Media) - DVD & Book, Signing Naturally Series (Dawn Sign Press) - VHS/DVDs & Books, Fingerspelling: The Final Frontier (Sign Enhancers) - VHS (all available through LSDHH)

  • As a warm-up, use exercises that cross the body's center in order to help balance the right and left brain activity necessary for fingerspelling.
  • Use the context around the fingerspelling to help decode the word - fingerspelling is rarely done in isolation.
  • Numbers can be harder to predict, but context can still help.
 

"How to Prepare to Interpret a Class" Elective

  • Step 1 - Feed your ELK (Extra-Linguistic Knowledge) - read, current events, socialize, travel; believe in yourself to increase your potential of success which will bring about a better performance and so give you positive results which come back to feed your belief in yourself.
  • Step 2 - Go for the point - Sandra Gish's Goal to Detail Model of Interpreting: make sure to interpret the point or goal of the text, not just supply all the details.
  • Step 3 - Resources - The Interpreter's Tapestry (you're already here!) has most resources collected in one place to assist interpreters in finding signs or topics for preparation.
 

Language Development
PowerPoint - 2003 version (.ppt) or 2007 version (.pptx)
(Download PowerPoint Viewer 2007 for free).

 

"Logistics & Demand/Control" Elective
Based on the work of Robyn Dean and Bob Pollard.

  • Demands - stressors of the job: environmental, interpersonal, paralinguistic, intrapersonal
  • Controls - what you can do about these stressors: pre-assignment, assignment, post-assignment, "No"
  • Know what you need to do your job & communicate that
 

"Voice to Sign" Rotation
Resources - The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (Random House, 1963) - VHS/DVD

Know the purpose and goals of showing the movie (of any classroom interpreting). It will affect your interpretation: focus on vocabulary, emotions, shapes, repetition & rhythm - art class, math class, English class

 

Roundtables - large group discussions, no notes

 

Transition with Deaf Students
"First day of adult life should not look different than last day of district services."

  • Transition starts at age 14
  • Set reasonable, attainable, realistic goals
  • PATH - Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope
  • Make sure everyone is involved: student, parents, teachers, advisors, community
 

Evening Social - Performance of King Arthur by the InterAct Children's Theatre for the Deaf

 
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Day 3

   

"Ethics" Rotation
Resources - Decisions? Decisions! (H & H Publishers) - Book (available through LSDHH)

  • Ethical codes protect all people invovled in the provision of professional services (professional, clients, consumers, etc.)
  • Meta-ethical Principles: utilitarian, rights, justice & equality, common good, virtues
  • Ethics (variables change) vs. Protocol (prescribed behavioral procedures)
  • Resolving Ethical Questions/Problems - procedure
  • "Accessibility Expert" - not just an interpreter, we have multiple roles and have to ask what role are we in at the moment and what ethics apply to THAT role
 

"Interpreting for Hard of Hearing and Cochlear Implant Students" Elective
Resources - Teaching the Kids with High-Tech Ears (Seaver Creative Services) - DVD, Cochlear Implants in Children: Ethics & Choices (Gallaudet University Press) - Book (both available through LSDHH)

  • Signing style: more English-like sign; less lag time, more "echo" effect; continue signing even if the student is "not looking" at you (peripheral vision, catch the "echo")
  • Auditory Discrimination (can detect and identify individual sounds) vs. Understanding Speech (can identify words while listening and connect meaning to those words)
  • Considerations: daily maintenance of the technology, unique needs of the child (cognitive, physical, age at implantation), mode of communication, oral/aural rehabilitation, staff proficiency in communication mode, educational modifications
  • Acoustic environment affects listening ability - carpets vs. tile floors, size of room, indoors or outdoors
 

Networking with Deaf Adults
VP has replaced some need for deaf events, but they still happen:

  • Check your local deaf centers or interpreting agencies - most have websites that list deaf events or calendars
  • Check Tennessee Association of the Deaf website
  • Check with local colleges that offer sign language or interpreting classes
  • Check social networking sites (Facebook)
  • Subscribe to deaf newsletters that update events by email
 

Brain Gym - You have to be here to experience it!

 

"Use of Space/Role Shifting" Rotation
Resources - Interpretation Skills: English to ASL (& ASL to English) (Interpreting Consolidated) - Books

  • Use the signer's perspective in most situations (right and left stay on the the interpreter's right and left, not flipped for the student's perspective) - only adjust when it causes confusion, especially for young students or students unfamiliar with adjusting - teach them to adjust to signer's perspective
  • Sometimes eye gaze is all that is needed to reference a shift
  • When shifting to a new setting, re-set-up the characters in their new locations
 

Roundtables - large group discussions, no notes

 

What is TRID?
Your local interpreting organization:

 
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Day 4

   

"Theater/Music" Rotation
Resources - The Storyteller's Start-Up Book (August House Publishers) - Book, Hazards of Deafness (Joyce Media) - Book (this book only available through LSDHH)

  • Make strong choices - word/sign choices, a reason for every choice and movement
  • Performance Interpreting - platform, sightline, zone, shadow - consider costuming
  • Request an ALD (assistive listening device) to assist hearing when interpreting on stage or in an auditorium
 

Performances - You have to be here to see them!

 

Certificates - Every year we get great certificates to take back to our school systems as evidence of over 20 hours of professional development!

 
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Last Updated: June 28, 2010