Classroom Dialogues and Deaf Identities

Abstract

Despite increasing diversity in the classroom, many teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students are unprepared to teach in a way that benefits all their students. Our course for future teachers focuses on understanding these multiple identities, and on practical approaches to using diversity as an opportunity for class growth. Proceeding from the assumption that everyone in the classroom has something to teach and to learn, we describes our approach to teaching teachers in which we make use of the teachers' own diversity and expertise in a continuous dialogue across various methods. Samples of classroom dialogues are included.