Interviews

My mother, Susan Sterman-Jones, has a self-described 'hearing deficit,' which is helped by wearing hearing aids, and was the inspiration for this project. She described to me the difficulties she has experienced while teaching during the pandemic.

Ms. Sterman-Jones does not use lip reading as a means of fully understanding what someone is saying, but she does use the shapes of ones lips for context. She says that doing so "adds more layers to [her] ability to understand what they're saying." Mask wearing affects her ability to understand people because it takes away the option of lip reading and can muffle sound.

She finds it helpful when people who are wearing masks are able to speak more loudly to her, and has had to inform all of her students to try their best to speak up when in class.

In-person school also poses another difficulty in that the classroom windows must stay open at all times, and the noise coming up from the busy NYC streets makes it difficult for her to hear what's going on inside of the classroom.

Zoom is a solution for this problem, and she herself has experienced no difficulties with the software in terms of hearing people, besides difficulties with glitching and the like. She describes feeling "lucky" that she is able to utilize Zoom to her advantage, given that she doesn't know, or need to know, ASL. But she stresses that Zoom is only better in terms of hearing people, as she much prefers actually seeing her students and teaching them inside the classroom.

She told me that she herself is very interested in learning ASL, and believes it would probably be helpful if it were to be offered as a language in school, as if even just some of her students knew ASL and she could communicate with them that way even a little bit, her difficulties with teaching during the pandemic would be slightly eased. She stresses that she is not considered with the teaching of ASL just to make her own life easier, but because it would be immensely helpful for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people everywhere.

I was put in touch with Mr. Lopatin through my independent projects advisor. I was able to talk to him about how his school was functioning during the pandemic, and what unique challenges they were facing. He highlights the difficulties of teaching virtually during the pandemic. I think the information he gave me is best articulated in his own words, below:

"There are numerous logistical elements to education and many of these have been challenged by the pandemic.

Until recently, Lexington School for the Deaf has been operating as a fully virtual school with most using Zoom as the platform for instruction while utilizing a Learning Management System (LMS) called Schoology. We have been using Schoology for about five years now.

As of this week*, we have implemented a hybrid system. Our youngest students were able to return yesterday (preschool and elementary) and in the coming weeks, middle school and then high school students will be permitted to return. Each family must decide whether they want their children to return or continue virtually. Regardless of the decision, Mondays and Fridays are fully virtual while Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have the possibility of in-person instruction. Even when in the building, however, students and staff are masked and distanced from each other and instruction is happening via Zoom to accommodate those who are not attending in-person.

Virtual education is extremely difficult for any “hands-on” activities. I am not a fan of lecture and, on a virtual platform, you need to be creative with interactive elements. Breakout rooms, online quiz games, and discussion become invaluable. Specifically for the students I work with, the nature of instruction changes significantly. For example, in a classroom, it is easier to control the flow of conversation, to make sure everyone has a chance to speak, to know who is speaking; virtually, it becomes more difficult. You must sign the name of who is speaking (in the classroom, you just point), it’s not as easy to interrupt, you can’t make eye contact, etc. Classroom management becomes that much more challenging as students might be watching television, looking at their phones, talking to their families, etc. Engagement is a real factor of virtual learning. I frequently use Schoology for asynchronous learning and QuizIzz for synchronous instruction.

Pinning and spotlighting can be effective means of focusing in these moments. One of the difficulties with Zoom especially is that it is audio-based. The platform automatically focuses on sound. If it automatically shifted to signing, that would be better, but I don’t know how that could be accomplished.

Another difficulty is the lack of access for some students to WiFi. We are a 1:1 school, meaning each student has a device, which is not the case for all schools. However, access to WiFi is essential for education right now and not all of our students have that. Faulty or unstable WiFi also causes glitching and freezing, which is detrimental to teaching in a virtual world. Again, I don’t know how this could be accomplished, but if we want students to succeed in a virtual school, each home would need a steady, consistent internet connection and a stable device."

*I spoke to Mr. Lopatin on February 24, 2021.