Blog Post #1: Welcome to my Professional Blog
My name is Maddie Johnston, and I am a graduate student the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am working on my master's degree in Exceptional Education and a teaching certificate in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education. I am currently a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) at an elementary school in Waukesha. This is my first year as a DHH teacher, and I already love it so much. I started out as a regular education teacher and taught 5th grade for one year, but soon realized that as a regular ed teacher, I had too many students to be able to do my very best for each of them and their families. As a DHH teacher, I have a few students on my caseload that I can individualize my instruction for, taking into account their unique needs and preferences. I can also build even stronger relationships with them across a few years and really facilitate and watch their growth.
One big part of my job is teaching my students all about their hearing technology and assistive listening devices. I want my students to take responsibility for their technology at a young age and to be able to advocate for their needs. This blog will be my journey in finding resources and texts that I can use to teach my students about their devices, how they work and what they do to help. Here is a resource for helping DHH children learn more about their assistive listening devices:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Self-Advocacy-Series-Bundle-5196974
These are social stories with associated activities to spark discussion between DHH teachers and their students.
Testing comments
ReplyDeleteHi Maddie!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your experiences so far; it's so dope of you to focus on a smaller percentage of students so you can get the chance to work with everyone of them completely hands on. I also admire that you work with the DHH community; I've actually worked at a call center for the DHH community for over 5 years now so I have a little bit of exposure to the obstacles that they can face.
Thanks!
Kendall
Hi Maddie!
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for sharing with us. I do not have much knowledge on Deaf and Hard of Hearing education, so I am excited to see what I learn from your blog. Congrats on starting teaching, but I am curious if your classes are instructing in person or over zoom? If you are instructing online, what changes have you had to make in your instruction for things to run smoothly? I am very interested in seeing where your blog will lead me, thank you again for sharing with us.
Hi Maddie,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an incredible journey. I'm really looking forward to reading more about Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education, as I have very little experience with it. As an Art Education major, I want to provide a space for students of all abilities and backgrounds. I think it is important on my end to continue expanding my understanding of student needs. I personally would love to work with a small group of students to build stronger relationships too. I see how this work would lend itself well to really fostering growth and care. Thank you for sharing!
-Carolyn
Hi Maddie! Your journey to educate DHH students is really incredible and inspiring. I really liked that you said you couldn't give your whole class of students enough attention and care you felt they deserved because I think that that is a sentiment that almost all of us (pursuing education degrees) understand. I think this blog of yours and all of its resources will be really helpful to all of us and so I am excited to be along for the journey.
ReplyDelete