Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf

Christa E. Bolen

Photoliteracy: Demystifying Writing through Photography
Deaf/hard-of-hearing learners are visual learners. They depend on what they see to create meaning. This presentation introduces the “Photoliteracy” concept of using students’ photography to create opportunities for writing. It describes general requirements for the course and provides an outline of the structure and process for presenting it to students.

Christa E. Bolen has taught at the American School for the Deaf for 9 years. Bolen was awarded the 2011 Bob Costas Grant for the Teaching of Writing by the College Board for her “Photoliteracy” class. She is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership at the University of Hartford.

Katy Brown

Student Jobs: Building life skills curriculum for special needs deaf students.
This presentation will discuss the use of student jobs in the school building and the development of life and social skills. The program was designed for 4-6th grade students who are d/hh with multiple disabilities attending an urban, public school.

Katy Brown is a teacher of the deaf in Northeastern Ohio and a graduate student of Kent State University.

Linda M. Bryant

Tutoring deaf students: What we know, don’t know and need to know.
This session will address what is known, unknown and needed to address tutoring deaf students. Whether face-to-face, asynchronous, synchronous, one-to-one or in groups, there are numerous considerations. These along with technical, instructional and communication strategies to meet the needs of this diverse group of communicators and learners will be discussed.

Linda M. Bryant is an Associate professor who teaches English and chairs the NTID Learning Consortium which supports the academic success of NTID students and experiments with instructional and access technologies to support their learning needs. She recently completed an Action Research study using remote tutoring with deaf college students.

Rebecca Callaway

Grammar Graphics is an innovative language program which taps the proven effectiveness of manipulatives in order to teach English language patterns, sentence structure, and parts of speech. Color-coded symbols and their stories give students a deeper understanding of the parts of speech and their roles as they interact to form written language. In order to make teachers highly effective, Grammar Graphics serves to make tangible an intangible concept and addresses multiple learning styles. An interactive higher level questioning method actively engages both students and teachers while promoting independence and achievement.

Rebecca Callaway, M.Ed., has been on the “front lines” teaching reading and language for over 25 years. She has been listed in Who’s Who of American Teachers multiple times and is the author of Grammar Graphics; The Manipulative Language Program as well as Survival Spanish for Teachers.

Sandra Connatser

Kimberle Kasper

Laura Cothran

Melissa Starr

iTouch the World - Using Technology in Deaf Education
This session will focus on the results of a pilot project at Region 4 ESC which provided an iPod Touch and a flip video camera for each student in four selected deaf education classrooms. The purpose was to provide opportunities for teachers to use technology to enhance academic skill development.

Sandra Connatser is an Education Specialist in the Special Education Solutions department at Region 4 Education Service Center in Houston, Texas. She has been in the field of deaf education for 23 years as a teacher, diagnostician, and director of a Regional Day School Program.

Kimberle Kasper, Brazoria-Ft. Bend RDSPD
Laura Cothran, East Harris County Cooperative for Deaf Education
Melissa Starr, Trinity Valley RDSPD

Patti Durr

Deaf Students and Digital Deaf Cultural Studies
Deaf Students and Digital Deaf Cultural Studies Durr will share several important digital resources developed by NTID at RIT to foster critical thinking, collaboration, creativity in our students on campus and globally. All materials shared are within the field of Deaf cultural studies and/or involve Deaf student involvement.

Patti Durr is Associate Professor in the Cultural and Creative Studies Department at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Her areas of focus are Deaf visual art, Deaf theatre, Deaf cinema, and Deaf People during World War II as well as visual histories. She is intellectual architect for: www.rit.edu/deafartists and www.rit.edu/deafww2 and has produced several short films.

Maribel Garate

Tiff Dodge

Using technology to promote purposeful language allocation in an ASL/English Bilingual Classrooms
The presentation aims to share instructional activities and strategies that promote the bilingual development of Deaf students while providing instruction in the content areas. Presenters will share examples of the use of technology to promote purposeful language allocation for instruction and assessment.

Maribel Garate is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Gallaudet University. Her PhD is in Deaf Education with a focus on bilingual education. She has taught Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in both residential and mainstreamed settings. She teaches, and researches about ASL/English bilingual education.

Arlene Garcia-Gunderson

Learn All About Your Resources
Come to this presentation as this is an opportunity for professionals to learn more about what our regional center has to offer, which is a wide variety of personal and professional development, leadership and outreach programs that address the needs and interests of deaf and hard of hearing individuals, their families, communities, and professionals working with them across the globe. This is also an opportunity to learn how to be an effective educator for our deaf and hard of hearing students and serve in a meaningful and holistic way as possible.

Arlene Garcia-Gunderson, is currently the Director for the Gallaudet University Regional Center Southwest at Austin Community College. Arlene brings years of teaching experience in ASL, Deaf Culture, Deaf Education, Interpreting and Human Services. Arlene earned her B.A. in Social Work from Gallaudet University in 2000 and her M.S. in Deaf Education from McDaniel College in 2004. Arlene currently resides in Kyle, Texas with four CODA children.

Dr. Linda Gottermeier

Web-based Video Applications for Teaching Job Interviewing and Entrepreneurial Skills
Securing employment is challenging in a recession. At NTID, deaf students become proactive learners in response to the difficult economic climate through web-based: 1) interactive, video applications for job interviewing; 2) streaming, video applications to communicate entrepreneurial business plans. Technology that allows for signed/spoken, student/peer/teacher interactions will be demonstrated.

Linda Gottermeier has taught deaf students for 34 years. She is interested in web-based strategies to improve student learning.

Rebecca Gruccio

Beyond Written Words: Tips and Techniques for Working with Special Needs Students
This presentation will discuss the challenges that a student with special needs may face in the classroom on a daily basis. Although the student described in this presentation was a hearing student with Asperger’s syndrome, ideas generated in this presentation may also be applied to deaf students with special needs.

Rebecca Gruccio is a graduate student at Kent State University working towards a MA in Deaf Education. She has a BA in Communication (specializing in Mass Media Communication) with a minor in American Sign Language. Rebecca Gruccio is co-treasurer of the Kent State Student Chapter of CAID. She has been responsible for organizing and carrying out fundraisers to support the newly developed Kent State Student Chapter of CAID.

Cristina Gutierrez

Instructional Strategies for Teaching Early Literacy Skills to D/HH Students with Additional Disabilities
Presenters will share instructional strategies used to teach early literacy skills to two kindergarten D/HH students. Instruction was modified for a deaf student with CHARGE syndrome and a hard of hearing student with learning disabilities. Strategies, behavior management techniques, materials and resources will be shared in this interactive presentation.

Cristina Gutierrez has a Biology Bachelor’s degree from TWU. She is a graduate Deaf Education major who continues to work in a Neurology research lab towards a PhD. Her long term goal is to teach literacy and/or Biology to deaf and hard of hearing adults. Brooke Ramos graduated from TWU’s deaf education program. She has an undergraduate in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She was nominated for student teacher of the year. Dr. Tamby Allman is an assistant professor at TWU. She teaches assessment and literacy and supervises the language and literacy clinic at Texas Woman’s University.

Peter Haggerty

The V. I. C. E. Squad (Visual Integrated Concepts in English)
English composition at a post-secondary level is a formidable challenge for most Deaf/hard of hearing college age students. By using the V.I.C.E. method we attempt in the classroom to give the eye continual access to the key information students need to build a confident understanding of the structure and coherence of the academic essay.

Peter Haggerty received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in CT and his M.A. in English Literature from Rutgers University. He has taught reading and writing courses at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for over 33 years, and he has also taught freshman writing courses to hearing students for 10 years in RIT's College of Liberal Arts. Professor Haggerty is the recipient of numerous RIT honors, including the RIT Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching.

Richard Jeffries

Trainer
In current climate of research-based reading education, it has become necessary for teachers to consider a variety of factors when selecting books for reading instruction. Â The presentation will give an in-depth look at current research on book selection and provide some tips on selecting appropriate books for instruction.

Dr. Richard Jeffries has been involved with literacy instruction for deaf and hard of hearing children for the past fifteen years as a teacher and a literacy specialist. Â He has traveled extensively providing workshops on effective literacy practices to parents, teachers, professionals and administrators.

Barbara Keefe

Delivering Remote Interpreting Services to Deaf Students in Rural Areas
This presentation will focus on a video relay interpreting (VR) pilot that delivered mandated support services to deaf students in Bennington Vermont.

Barbara Keefe has been active in the field of deaf education for over 30 years. She currently works as an Outreach Specialist for PEPNet NE in Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Stephanie Kovalcik

An Itinerant's Journey
The majority of deaf and hard-of-hearing students are educated in neighborhood schools rather than the schools for the deaf. They are served by itinerant teachers of the deaf who travel from school to school, educating the staff as well as the students.

Stephanie Kovalcik began teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing students in 1982 after graduating with masters from Ohio State University. She taught in self-contained and resource classrooms for 19 years and has spent the last 10 years as an itinerant. She has taught all age and grade levels in deaf education classrooms and as an itinerant.

Chris Kurz

Building Networks for Student Learning: Concrete-Representational-Abstract Approach
The ability to understand and use abstract concepts is the chief goal for each and every deaf student. Struggles abound, how teachers can help building bridges for student learning from concrete concepts to abstract concepts. This presentation discusses C-R-A strategies and examples to help build the bridges.

Chris Kurz is a deaf faculty member whose expertise is in Mathematics Education. He holds a doctorate in Foundations of Education from University of Kansas. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Rochester Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in deaf education from University of Kansas. He has made numerous presentations, conducted workshops, and developed educational media materials for K-12 teachers of the deaf and educational interpreters.

Gary Long

Current estimates suggest that more than 4 million students are studying in online environments in post-secondary institutions. Rochester Institute of Technology, home of NTID has been offering online courses since 1987. At RIT the number of deaf and hard-of-hearing enrollments in online courses went from 215 in 2002 to 457 in 2008. A series of studies were conducted to better understand the attraction of online courses for D/HH students and to determine if these students’ perceptions and online interactions were linked to academic achievement.

Gary Long has conducted research and published articles on reading comprehension, student learning strategies, classroom communication ease, teaching in mainstream college classes and online learning. He has received three national awards for his research efforts and has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences. He was the Co-PI on two federal grants focusing on improving instruction of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in mainstream college classes.

Marie Louise Malu Kanda

Ange Lukufu Mupela

Sign language, specific need to improve the quality of Education of the Deaf in D.R. Congo
The insertion of the Deaf in the society requires better education. Deaf people tend to be excluded from the process whereby people in society find jobs because they do not achieve to the same level as hearing people. Sign language could help to reach appreciable results.

Marie Louise Malu Kanda, Under graduate Biology and Chemistry: 1976 Clinician Psychologist: 2005-2010 Teacher for hearing children: 1976-1980 Counselor: 1980-1984 Director of secondary school: 1984-1993 Director of school for Deaf at “Villages Bondeko”: 1993-1998 Coordinator of “Villages Bondeko” 1998-2011 Committee member of Africa Contact Group for Mental Health and Deafness: 2006-2011

Keith Mousley

Fraction: A Challenge for Teaching Mathematics, but WHY?
Teaching fractions to deaf and hard of hearing students is very frustrating. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the development and comprehension of fractional concepts. How teachers can adjust their curriculum to enhance the learning of fractions. We will share the successes and failures.

Keith Mousley has taught mathematics/science for 29 years from high school to college level. He has several research projects to promote better understanding of teaching mathematics.

Nancy Norman

Social and Emotional Well-Being: Assessing and supporting children with hearing losses
The social and emotional well-being of children who are deaf and hard of hearing is highlighted with a focus on the challenges faced by these children and their families, a review of the commonly used assessment tools, and a discussion of appropriate interventions.

Nancy Norman is a second year doctoral student at the University of British Columbia. My area of interest is the social and emotional development of children with hearing losses who are in integrated classrooms alongside their hearing peers. I am also an itinerant teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing working with students K-12.

Sharon Pajka

Researchers have noted advantages of blogging; yet, few studies include Deaf students. Research was conducted in two sections of an English course at Gallaudet University. Findings included that blogging fosters academic and personal writing, offers authentic opportunities to practice English, and builds a community of trust and respect among classmates.

Sharon Pajka is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Gallaudet University. She holds a PhD in English Education from the UVA and an MA in Deaf Education: Secondary from Gallaudet University. She publishes an education Blog and a quarterly newsletter on deaf characters in contemporary Young Adult literature.

Dominic Peroni

Enhancing transference of mathematical concepts to applied manufacturing.
Relevancy is key to student success. In this session, we will demonstrate a strategy used to develop student transfer skills by taking basic student knowledge of Geometry and Trigonometry and coaching them to convert it to direct applications in the production of precision machined projects.

Dominic Peroni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Studies at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Keith Mosley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Science at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Stephanie Polowe

Teaching Introduction to Law to Deaf College Students
Deaf college students can excel in learning how the law applies to them. By the end of a ten week course they are teaching each other about the law. Some go on to study law further, and some integrate their knowledge into the everyday issues they face.

Dr. Stephanie Polowe is a Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, where she has taught English for several years. As a former county legislator (for ten years) she now teaches Law and Society. Stephanie is a past president of CAID.

Patricia Raswant

Standard-based curriculum is possible for deaf students
A case study of two international deaf students enrolled in an accredited inlingua school, a professional learning community, in the area of Washington, DC. The students have been studying under the standard-based curriculum with slight modifications in the speaking and listening parts, without changing the reading and writing parts.

Patricia Raswant is English as a Second Language instructor at inlingua Washington, DC. Patricia earned her Master of Arts in Education, Curriculum, and Instruction with a specialization in ESL from University of Phoenix Online. Currently, Patricia is a doctoral learner in Educational Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction at University of Phoenix Online.

Ben Rubin

Dan Thompson

Dr. Larry Quinsland

Enhancing the Notetaking Support Process for Deaf Students: Empowering Students with New Technological Applications
This presentation will provide the historical context for notetaking as an access support service, and describe emerging enhancements to the process that show potential for empowering deaf and hard of hearing students, as well as other students with alternative learning needs, through a more interactive supported experience.

Ben Rubin completed his MFA in the College of Imaging Arts and Science at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). For the past two years, he has worked together with Dan Thompson and Dr. Larry Quinsland on projects concerning collaborative notetaking and enhanced access support services. Ben, Dan and Larry presented their research at NTID\'s 2010 International Technology and Deaf Education Symposium.

Nancy Grosz Sager

Through Your Child's Eyes
"Through Your Child's Eyes: American Sign Language" is a DVD that has been produced by the California Department of Education and California State University, Northridge. At this presentation, you will see the DVD and learn how it is being used in California.

Nancy Grosz Sager is the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programs Consultant at the California Department of Education. Previously, she was a teacher of the deaf and a special education principal for the Sutter County Office of Education in northern California.

Miriam Santana

Technology in the Math Classroom
In this session I will share how the use of TI-technologies such as TI-84, TI-Smart View, TI-Navigator System, TI-Nspire, Power Point and Clickers have helped me to transform and improve the way I teach mathematics.

At the end of 2008 Miriam Sanana became National Board Certified Teacher. 16 years of teaching experience. 10 years teaching high school mathematics in Mexico. 4 years teaching middle and high school mathematics at the Rochester City School District. For the past three years I have been teaching mathematics to deaf and hard of hearing students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT.

Miriam Santana

Use of clickers in Math classes for deaf and hard of hearing students
The use of new technology in the classroom facilitates teaching and learning. One of these new technologies is clickers. With clickers, students have an input device that allows them to express their views in complete anonymity, and the cumulative view of the class appears on a public screen. The use of clickers in my classroom helped to improve communication with my students and will give equal opportunities of participation to all.

At the end of 2008 Miriam Sanana became National Board Certified Teacher. 16 years of teaching experience. 10 years teaching high school mathematics in Mexico. 4 years teaching middle and high school mathematics at the Rochester City School District. For the past four years I have been teaching mathematics to deaf and hard of hearing students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT.

Kathryn Schmitz

Preparing for publication in a peer-reviewed journal
This session will provide an overview on how to prepare an article for professional publication in a peer-reviewed research journal, particularly The Volta Review.

Kathryn L. Schmitz, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Liberal Studies at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, and Senior Associate Editor of The Volta Review.

Chad E. Smith

Kitchen Science for Deaf Education
This presentation covers a variety of hands-on science activities and experiences for K-12 deaf education classroom using materials that are readily available at home.

Dr. Smith is the Director of Deaf Education at Texas Woman's University. A graduate of Lamar University and Nova Southeastern University, he spent ten years as a K-12 classroom teacher of the deaf.

Gorgeen Spyhalski

Teacher of the Hearing Impaired K-3
Evidences based Research in the Classroom: Establishing Language Baselines and Documenting Statistically Significant Improvement The work of classroom teachers is celebrated as they developed a “unique language program” and then empirically studied their students’ performance, statistically comparing spontaneously written language samples taken in the fall and spring across one school year. Significant gains strongly suggested “program” efficacy.

Gorgeen J. Spyhalski: Professional Experience: 36 years teaching experience Longview Independent School District-RDSPD: recently, RDSPD Elementary Teacher, grades K- and language; various experiences of different school settings including Wisconsin School for the Deaf.

Joe Stanislow

Patterns of Conceptual Problems: A Best Practices Approach for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Learners
A brief glimpse? Past successful deaf learners will be shared. Presenter will discuss some past tutoring and teaching models, and challenges which face tutors and teachers. A “best practice” approach will be presented and discussed, with examples from the technology discipline. A model for working with interpreters will be a briefly mentioned.

Joe Stanislow is an Assistant Professor at NTID @ RIT in the Information and Computing Studies. He works closely with deaf and hard of hearing students as a tutor and instructor to deliver materials related to problem solving and programming languages. 

Kathleen Szczepanek

Business Ethics: How to Develop Ethical Awareness and Introspection in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students
This presentation will address the challenge facing NTID graduates required to demonstrate ethical attitudes and behaviors in business and industry today. The methodology of designing an effective workshop and elective business ethics course at NTID’s Business Studies Department is to increase introspection abilities and a better understanding of demonstrating good ethical behavior and values. The anticipated outcome of my business ethics courses using some of the fundamental concepts of business ethics for students to integrate ethical business leadership and values upon graduation will be shared to help to reinforce ethics concepts in the middle and high school classrooms.

Kathleen M. Szczepanek is a full-time instructor teaching Administrative Support Technology courses at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y. Her instruction consists of teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing students how to produce business-related documents as well as helping to develop best business practices and ethics in the workplace.

Anne Van Ginkel

Markey Hoblit

LK Quinsland

Assisting Deaf/HH Students to Successfully Mainstream into the College Environment
This session will examine the elements of Academic Support that contribute to the success of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students at the postsecondary level. Characteristics of successful and less successful students will be examined in the context of Academic Support options. A brief film designed for incoming freshmen will be shown and discussed.

Anne Van Ginkel has worked with Deaf/HH students for more than 30 years as a counselor in the Counseling and Academic Advising Services Department of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology. In addition she teaches art history and the history of graphic design for the Art and Imaging Studies department at NTID.

Margaret Allerton Hoblit (Markey) has worked with Deaf/HH students for more than 30 years as a counselor in the Counseling and Academic Advising Services Department of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology.

L.K. Quinsland, Ph.D., has been teaching deaf and hard of hearing students for over 35 years. For many years he provided Faculty Development support for new and veteran teachers, both at NTID/RIT and on other college and residential school campuses. Currently, he teaches baccalaureate level science courses for non-science majors (affectionately referred to as “science with an attitude!”) and courses in support of the Laboratory Science Technology (LST) major at NTID. He is a Council (Board) Member of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID) serving as the President of CAID. 

Anne Van Ginkel

LK Quinsland

Counseling and Advising Students in the Digital Age

This session will examine the issues that "Digital Students" (the Millennials) bring to counselor/advisors at the postsecondary level. These issues will be contrasted with issues brought to counselors more than a decade ago.

Anne Van Ginkel has worked with Deaf/HH students for almost 30 years as a counselor in the Counseling and Academic Advising Services Department of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology. In addition she teaches art history and the history of graphic design for the Art and Imaging Studies department at NTID.

L.K. Quinsland, Ph.D., has been teaching deaf and hard of hearing students for over 35 years. For many years he provided Faculty Development support for new and veteran teachers, both at NTID/RIT and on other college and residential school campuses. Currently, he teaches baccalaureate level science courses for non-science majors (affectionately referred to as “science with an attitude!”) and courses in support of the Laboratory Science Technology (LST) major at NTID. He is a Council (Board) Member of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID) serving as the President of CAID.

Sharon Webster

Clickers: A Tool to Improve Student Engagement and Assessment
There seems little doubt that clickers, an easy-to-use technology, increase the engagement of students with their learning and self-assessment. Using clicker addresses critical thinking, participation, and interaction. The primary focus is the mathematical learning and assessment. Participates will have opportunity using clickers in this session.

Sharron Webster is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Science and Mathematics at RIT/NTID where she has taught for the past 18 years.

Patricia Wink

Sharon Webster

Doing Math Online
Presenters will demonstrate the online product called MathXL that are being used at RIT/NTID. Discussion will include the advantages and challenges of doing math online.

Patricia Wink is a Lecturer and Sharron Webster is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Science at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Christina Yuknis

This session presents the findings of a study that examined how middle school students who are deaf understand, experience, and approach revision tasks. Learn about significant factors that impact these processes. Strategies for improving instruction in this critical need area as well as recommendations for future research are offered.

Dr. Yuknis is currently an Assistant Professor at Gallaudet University. She earned a PhD in Education Policy from the University of Maryland, an MA in Deaf Education: Multiple Disabilities from Gallaudet University, and a BS in Exceptional Education from Buffalo State College. Her research interests include writing development of deaf children and working with children with disabilities.