Methods That Enhance Print-based Academic Literacy for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of

New York

Sue Livingston, Ph.DProgram for Deaf Adults/Education and Language Acquisition

LaGuardia Community CollegeCUNY

CATW ESSAY PROMPT

• Read the passage above and write an essay responding to the ideas it presents. In your essay, be sure to:

• Summarize the passage in your own words, stating the author’s most important ideas.

• Develop your essay by identifying one idea in the passage that you feel is especially significant, and explain its significance.

• Support your claims with evidence or examples drawn from what you have read, learned in school, and/or personally experienced.

CATW RUBRIC

Critical Response to Development of Ideas Structure of Response Sentences and Word Grammar Writing Task and the Choice Text

(SCORE DOUBLED) (SCORE DOUBLED) (SCORE DOUBLED) Ideas in the reading are Most big ideas are Relevant ideas are Most sentences are Grammar is understood and integrated developed through competently grouped controlled and varied. mostly correct into the writer’s ideas details: reasons, examples together. These ideas Words clearly convey and meaning competently. and/or personal experience support the writer’s meaning. is usually thesis. Transitions are clear.

usually used.

AVERAGE PASS RATES ON THE CATW FOR DEAF AND HIGH- AND LOW-LEVEL ESL STUDENTS

2010-2013

DEAF STUDENTS

69%

  HIGH-LEVEL ESL STUDENTS

71%

LOW-LEVEL ESL STUDENTS

12.1%

Sources: LaGuardia Community College Office of Institutional Research and Assessment CUNY Language Immersion Program – LaGuardia Community College

“ Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy”

SELECTED WORDS/PHRASES IMPORTANT TO KNOW TO UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE OF THE TEXT

mannequin

plastic surgery/ cosmetic surgery / implant surgery

extreme proportions

commercialism

“making ends meet”

“beauty is only skin deep”

inner beauty

GROUP ANNOTATION OF/COMMENTS ABOUT TEXT’S PARAGRAPHS (1)

GROUP ANNOTATION OF/COMMENTS ABOUT TEXT’S PARAGRAPHS (2)

PRACTICE INTEGRATING READING INTO WRITING

Good Morning Students! For this Coursesites discussion, I'd like you to select one quote that you want to talk back to from "Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy” and to write an explanation and comment about the quote. Here is an example:

Quote: “For Mr. Sosa, the longtime head of the Miss Venezuela pageant, beauty really is skin deep: ‘I say that inner beauty doesn’t exist. That’s something that unpretty women invented to justify themselves.’”

Explanation: Mr. Sosa is saying that beauty only exists on the outside of a person – seen on that person’s face or body. So, if someone is kind, or generous or thoughtful, that person is not beautiful because we cannot see these qualities. He says that women who think that qualities on the inside are important are probably not good-looking. They want you to focus on their hearts and minds and not their face and bodies. Comment: I find Mr. Sosa’s opinion very distressing. Obviously, he only cares about superficial things and not real things. It seems to me that he wouldn’t mind having a significant other who is mean, self-centered and uncaring just as long as he/she has the looks he considers beautiful. I’m wondering how long he thinks he can have a relationship with someone who is not a nice person. At what point will he admit that relationships are sustained due to deeper traits other than those that you see. There is good-heart beauty and intellectual beauty and, yes, women and men can be beautiful in these ways which will keep them together longer than physical beauty which tends to fade quickly.

PRACTICE INTEGRATING READING INTO WRITING - II

Quote: "Over the last two years, the local news has reported several cases in which women died after receiving faulty injections meant to firm up their buttocks, often in unlincensed clinics."Explanation: This means that women had died by getting an operation with a false doctor.Comment: What?! Women needs to be careful on which doctor they pick because these unlincensed clinics just want your money but they will inject you with too many medical or toxicant uses. This is why women are not being aware of the life in Venezuela because Government feel that they are just throwing their money for implant surgery and end up getting hungry. Women are not going to afford their food to feed their kids! How would their kids love their mom if they didn't like her new look after the operation? It will make their kids feel embarrassed because they will think their mom would become a prostitute in order to get money for a living after being broke.

PRACTICE INTEGRATING READING INTO WRITING - III

• On Invading Your Child's Privacy• QUOTE: "The technology in their hand can be

used for bullying, sexting, and life-damaging mistakes, and the person most responsible for that behavior is you, the parent."

• Explanation: The quote means that kids that have a smartphone could do things horribly such as being stalked by or committing suicide. Parents are responsible to supervise their kids' privacy.

Comment: Kids can do anything that we can't expect because technology is taking over the world. Parents should be involved in that situation because kids are not mature enough to handle the blog sites (social nerworking) and they are not yet aware of limiting the posts because once you post it stays there forever. For my kids in the future i would go over the line who's he/she talking to because i don't want my kids contacting an adult or sexing someone at a young age. I would rather teach my kids what is technology is ABOUT and how to control it wisely. I will still have the authority to limit my kids' posts because i don't want their future to ruin their life. Teaching is always a good thing to do with kids privately. I will restrict my kids to bear either an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy with the software backup to make sure he/she are safe. Life is not perfect so danger can be anywhere at any moment.

STUDYING THE CRAFT OF INTEGRATING READING WITH WRITING: INTRODUCTIONS

Lisa Belkin in “Whose Failing Grade is it?” writes that instead of blaming teachers for not educating students properly, politicians are now starting to blame parents. Researchers know that successful schools have parents that are involved. Two state legislators, Linda Lawson from Indiana and Kelli Stargel from Florida, created bills to require parents to get more involved with their children’s education. Ms. Stargel’s bill stated that it will be “a requirement to grade parents on their involvement in their child’s education.” When children get a report card, it will show parents’ grades on the report card too. It will show if they are satisfactory, unsatisfactory or need improvement. I feel it’s ridiculous to grade parents, but I like the other bill that requires parent-teacher interaction.

STUDYING THE CRAFT OF INTEGRATING READING WITH WRITING: BODIES

I don't think giving cash rewards for good grades is important for kids. They need to become motivated about school in other ways. "Many educators maintain, among other objections, that children have to learn for the love of it, not for cash." Students might become successful because of the cash, but they should succeed without money because they just want to. In my middle school, I hated reading books. Each of my teachers gave me wrong books which I wasn’t really interested in. So, one of my teachers decided to set up a new game to see how many books students could complete. I could choose the books I liked. Once, I liked a book and fell in love with reading and even tried to be a better reader than the others. This game helped me to realize that reading books was very important. So, it was simply choice that got me reading, not money. Children need to see that money isn't as important as passion for learning.

STUDYING THE CRAFT OF INTEGRATING READING WITH WRITING: BODIES

The new mannequin sales have been increasing because of women’s fantasy to be the same as the mannequin. Really? There are other women that don’t need to have “better self-esteem” about themselves. This makes me mad that women want to get different types of surgery just for attention and feel good about themselves. I feel bad because I am a girl and I think this is making us worry about our looks or making us want to feel beautiful. Aren’t we beautiful no matter how we look or feel on the outside?! No makeup on is the best to me because I’d rather show my natural face than hide my natural face with makeup on or having surgery. Yes, those women that want surgery make other women feel bad about themselves. If women don’t love the way they are in Venezuela, then they should ignore these feelings because they are superficial. Natural is better than fake and, for those men that want women with skin deep beauty, I say, Why do we have to please these guys? We shouldn’t! Are women their objects or their pets?

STUDYING THE CRAFT OF INTEGRATING READING WITH WRITING: CONCLUSIONS

In the article, Diane Ravitch, an education historian, mentions “Punish the teacher. Punish the parents. It’s Dickensian. What we should be doing instead is giving a helping hand.” What politicians should do is give good resources to parents as parenting education, so it will give parents a chance to be parents to their children. I hope this will help students to be able to pass their classes and tests.

RESPONSE TO FIRST DRAFT WRITING AS CONTINUED DISCUSSION OF THE READING

Ms. Mietes said, “an operation at a private clinic can cost about $6,350” which means that women are spending their allowances on surgeries to change their body. Do you know that you could end up being broke after surgery? Most of these women don’t realize how hard is life especially in a country where is poor system. For example, women are requesting their spouse’s money and that could be in a worst situation such as no trust when husbands refuse to give money to their wives.

V/XD

ALTHOUGH SUEL ENJOYED HER SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH LA

X VPRIETA, SHE CAN’T ACCEPT HERSELF AS A LESBIAN. SUEL AND V/X0 V/XS

LA PRIETA STARE AT EACH OTHER, BUT SUEL KEEPS LOOKING AWAY

V/XD

FROM HER. “SUEL WORE HER PELO IN A BUN. WHEN LA PRIETA

V/XD INF V/XD X VASKED HER TO WEAR IT DOWN, SUEL SAID, ‘DON’T BE SILLY. X INF X V INFIT’S TOO HOT TO WEAR IT DOWN.’” SUEL DOESN’T WANT TO MAKE

HERSELF ATTRACTIVE FOR LA PRIETA.

READING AND GRAMMAR I

V/XS

MRS. DUTTA FEEL LIKE SHE DOES NOT FIT IN HER SON’S FAMILY.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V/XD

SARAH FELT JEALOUS BECAUSE OF THEIR SIGN, AND SHE WISH SHE

V/XD INFHAVE THAT SIGN TO COMMUNICATED WITH HER HUSBAND,

MATTHEW.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V/X0 THE PEOPLE CHOOSES WHICH CAFÉ THEY WANT TO EAT AT.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XI WERE ENJOYED THIS TRIP A LOT.

READING AND GRAMMAR II

 IDEAS TO BE DISCUSSED WITH WRITING CENTER DIRECTORS

• Hire a designated ASL + tutor highly literate in both ASL+ and English.

• Request models of the written work expected of the students from their content teachers.

• Have samples of different ways students quote in academic writing available.

• Train tutor to:

– do warm-up discussions using Google Images/YouTube clips to help clarify new concepts students will face in assigned readings;

– word-process the readings creating wide margins to enable students (and tutor) to work the readings with annotations and responses;

– do quoting activities with students that are context specific (based on assigned readings).