GREENSBORO — Are you lazy? no. Tracy Tonkins wasn't having that.
Ms. Tonkins, who works with elementary students at Johnson Street Global Studies Kindergarten through Grade 8 School, is the longest-serving American Sign Language interpreter in Guilford County Schools. Her ASL name is her initials “TT” and is signed near her chest, towards one of her shoulders.
Last Wednesday, she had the opportunity to reconnect with former students at a picnic for students and staff of the Guilford County Deaf Education Program. When the high school students suggested to Tonkins that the way she signs her name was a little similar to the symbol for the word “lazy,” Tonkins was impressed with her opinion.
When Tonkins began teasing him about his work as an interpreter, students Salem Tsegay and Deyan Adam, now in Year 9 at Grimsley High School, joined in the playful and heated conversation. He grinned, laughed, and signed while moving his fingers. Go back and forth with her.
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It has been more than 20 years since Guilford County Schools began its center-based deaf education program. The district's move comes after the state closed the Regional School for the Deaf in Greensboro.
Of the more than 300 students in the district with some degree of hearing loss, 85 receive intensive services, said Joanne Mapas, the district's lead teacher for deaf education. Of the 85, just over half are receiving these services at the district schools they would normally attend.
For the remaining 36 students, they or their parents will choose to participate in the district's center-based program. The program focuses on a few schools that primarily serve deaf and hard of hearing students. Those schools are Frazier Elementary for preschool; Johnson Street in High Point and Hunter Elementary School in Greensboro. Keizer Middle School and Grimsley High School are also located in Greensboro.
Johnson Street's program is for deaf students who learn sign language, and Hunter's program is for deaf students who learn through spoken language. Kaiser Middle School and Grimsley High School programs offer both services. The best option for each student and their family will vary.
At Johnson Street, where Tonkins works, some deaf students take their core classes in sign language-only classrooms. Other students who are already learning sign language at home may be ready to head into a mainstream classroom where a teacher speaks and an interpreter signs.
Tonkins said interpreting work in mainstream classrooms requires advance planning. For example, she said, if she learns about the moon's eight phases in science class, she will familiarize herself with the associated vocabulary and the sign language that corresponds to those words. She will also be thinking about how she can help the individual students she works with better understand the concepts.
The same applies in mathematics.
“If you know that the student doesn’t understand the teacher, there are ways to switch things up and just explain it in a way that the student understands,” she said.
Tonkins said in the 23 years she has worked in Guilford County Schools, she has seen teachers in mainstream classrooms become increasingly comfortable teaching deaf students because of the existence of deaf education programs.
“I think things are changing because teachers love to see our kids mainstreamed,” she said, adding that teachers in the classrooms where she works on Johnson Street “ He added that he is trying to learn basic signs such as “Good morning” and “Please line up.” ” “They want to be a part of their lives.”
Last Wednesday, students participating in the Johnson Street Program visited the Kaiser/Grimsley Campus in Greensboro with school staff, touring the middle school and having the opportunity to interact with middle and high school students participating in the Deaf Education Program. Ta.
Madeline Griffin, a fifth-grader from Johnson Street who plans to transfer to Kaiser Middle School next year, also attended the celebration, as did her sister.
Madeline said she is “really excited to make new friends, interact with deaf children, and have a new interpreter,” and will also miss her interpreters, friends, and favorite teacher at Johnson Street. I pointed out that.
Her sister Natalie, who attends Grimsley College, said it was cute to see the little kids in the program come to the high school for the celebration.
“When I was that age, I remember looking at high school kids and always thinking they were so cool,” she recalled.
Natalie said that when she entered Keizer Middle School in sixth grade, classroom instruction was conducted online rather than in-person because of the pandemic. Then in 7th grade, everyone was wearing masks. She admitted that it was difficult for her to make friends because she didn't know anyone at her new school.
But that started to change in the 8th grade.
Now she has friends in every class and signs autographs with them. Her ASL classes are held at Grimsley, so most of them are deaf students who have learned sign language. She also has some friends who are hearing impaired.
She said the advice she would give Madeline as she enters middle school is to start the conversation yourself.
“Always don’t be shy, because if you don’t talk to someone, they won’t talk to you,” she said.
Jessie.Pounds@greensboro.com
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@JessiePounds