Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
From "58-IN-MIND: Multilingual Teaching Strategies for Diverse Deaf Students."
Edited by Debbie Golos, Marlon Kuntze, Kimberly Wolbers, and Chris Kurz.
Find out more at https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/58-IN-MIND
Published by Gallaudet University Press.
****This video may not be repurposed or incorporated into other works in any way without the express written consent of the signer and the chapter authors.****
Signed by chapter co-authors Debbie Golos and Sarah Jerger McGaughey.
Debbie is seated on a couch in a room with blue walls with paintings, wearing a purple shirt with her hair pulled back.
Sarah has shoulder-length straight hair, with a black shirt, seated in front of a white background.
Transcript:
Hi! I’m Debbie Golos (name sign D on cheek). I work at the University of Minnesota where I train teachers and conduct research. I used to teach 6th grade reading/writing where I learned that when I connected books to real-world experiences, they were more motivated and excited to learn. For example, we would conduct a mock trial where students got to go to a real court house and they would take the responsibility for running it. They were so motivated! Now in our program, we train teachers to create their own theme-based units integrating reading into all content areas and connecting to real-life experiences.
Hi, my name is Sarah McGaughey. I am currently the director of the Rhode Island School for the Deaf. When I was a new elementary teacher at The Learning Center, I relied heavily on textbooks to guide my instruction. After one lesson of tying in a health unit, I noticed that students were quickly motivated as they were able to share their background knowledge and showed motivation. This experience as a new teacher allowed me to see how important it is for students to make language and literacy connections in the content areas. I quickly realized the benefits of interdisciplinary units!
Our third co-author is Susan Outlaw, who is currently the executive director at Metro Deaf School. As a former teacher from preschool to twelfth grade, Susan developed interdisciplinary units of study with connections between the standards, the curriculum, and students’ everyday lives. A passion of Susan’s is helping teachers from all content areas realize and embrace that they are in fact language and literacy teachers of their subject area.
Why is this chapter important?
Deaf students often show interest in varying professions, such as a veterinarian, teacher, or business manager, but they are not aware of the literacy skills needed to succeed in those jobs. In addition, language delays among Deaf students impact literacy development. Content area instructors may tend to focus more on conceptual knowledge of the subject devoid of any real integrated application of reading and writing. Yet, students need to see how reading skills in particular are needed to make sense of and apply content learning to their daily lives. This chapter is beneficial for all content area instructors to show how you can integrate reading in ways that are motivational. We will discuss multilingual strategies for reading in the content areas, and why this is critical for Deaf students.
The core recommendations of this chapter:
We have identified three core recommendations that guide and support multilingual reading practices along with content learning:.
• Connect print, American Sign Language (ASL), and content to build world knowledge.
• Implement critical thinking strategies.
• Create interdisciplinary units.
From "58-IN-MIND: Multilingual Teaching Strategies for Diverse Deaf Students."
Edited by Debbie Golos, Marlon Kuntze, Kimberly Wolbers, and Chris Kurz.
Find out more at https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/58-IN-MIND
Published by Gallaudet University Press.
****This video may not be repurposed or incorporated into other works in any way without the express written consent of the signer and the chapter authors.****
Signed by chapter co-authors Debbie Golos and Sarah Jerger McGaughey.
Debbie is seated on a couch in a room with blue walls with paintings, wearing a purple shirt with her hair pulled back.
Sarah has shoulder-length straight hair, with a black shirt, seated in front of a white background.
Transcript:
Hi! I’m Debbie Golos (name sign D on cheek). I work at the University of Minnesota where I train teachers and conduct research. I used to teach 6th grade reading/writing where I learned that when I connected books to real-world experiences, they were more motivated and excited to learn. For example, we would conduct a mock trial where students got to go to a real court house and they would take the responsibility for running it. They were so motivated! Now in our program, we train teachers to create their own theme-based units integrating reading into all content areas and connecting to real-life experiences.
Hi, my name is Sarah McGaughey. I am currently the director of the Rhode Island School for the Deaf. When I was a new elementary teacher at The Learning Center, I relied heavily on textbooks to guide my instruction. After one lesson of tying in a health unit, I noticed that students were quickly motivated as they were able to share their background knowledge and showed motivation. This experience as a new teacher allowed me to see how important it is for students to make language and literacy connections in the content areas. I quickly realized the benefits of interdisciplinary units!
Our third co-author is Susan Outlaw, who is currently the executive director at Metro Deaf School. As a former teacher from preschool to twelfth grade, Susan developed interdisciplinary units of study with connections between the standards, the curriculum, and students’ everyday lives. A passion of Susan’s is helping teachers from all content areas realize and embrace that they are in fact language and literacy teachers of their subject area.
Why is this chapter important?
Deaf students often show interest in varying professions, such as a veterinarian, teacher, or business manager, but they are not aware of the literacy skills needed to succeed in those jobs. In addition, language delays among Deaf students impact literacy development. Content area instructors may tend to focus more on conceptual knowledge of the subject devoid of any real integrated application of reading and writing. Yet, students need to see how reading skills in particular are needed to make sense of and apply content learning to their daily lives. This chapter is beneficial for all content area instructors to show how you can integrate reading in ways that are motivational. We will discuss multilingual strategies for reading in the content areas, and why this is critical for Deaf students.
The core recommendations of this chapter:
We have identified three core recommendations that guide and support multilingual reading practices along with content learning:.
• Connect print, American Sign Language (ASL), and content to build world knowledge.
• Implement critical thinking strategies.
• Create interdisciplinary units.
