SCSDB-Tuesday, March 22, 2011-Classroom Fun and Track Meet

The day was off to a great start with my ability to get up in time for class which started at 7:45am. Lesson plans for the day included addition by writing on paper and by Braille, science lessons about the eye, music class, P.E. class, and other activities. I was really excited to hear that they were going to talk more about the eye for science. Granted that I probably know all of the information that they would learn since I recently went through the ocular section in my biology class, I was really interested in learning about their eye conditions. Mr. Neff wanted to teach the students more about their personal vision problems because every one of them had a different eye disease.

I mentioned before about Cory’s eye condition and my curiosity as to why he was at SCSDB. A student told me that he used to be blind and that he can now see. With that reason, I was completely confused as to why he was at the school. I know that there are hearing students who attend the deaf school so that they could learn to sign in order to communicate with their deaf relatives, but I did not understand the comparable reason for a seeing student to be at a blind school. Unfortunately, according to Mr. Neff, Cory’s vision is the best it will ever be now and that he will eventually become blind. This was a total shock to me since I was expecting to hear some affirmation to the statement that his vision is getting better. Mr. Neff also mentioned that most of the kids in his class will become completely blind as they age. The only possible lucky one is Yanni, who will be able to see better if she gets corneal implants.

A lot of the day was filled with play (with dolls, tops, and we even tried inside soccer and football!) and we also had P.E. class. Coach Keyes, the P.E. teacher, is definitely the most enthusiastic man whom I have encountered in a very long time. He has worked with the SCSDB hornets for over 20 years and is also their track coach. I was very impressed by the way he worked with the students with unlimited patience and energy. He invited us to attend the deaf high school kids’ track meet against hearing teams later today.

We learned today that their deaf girls team were the deaf track team champions last year! After watching a few events, you could really tell that many of them had great talent. Sure, there were times when being deaf could have hindered their success. For instance, I volunteered to help notify our 100-meter dashers if there was a false start so that they did not continue to run to the finish line when everyone else had stopped and returned to their places. Overall, several hornets placed in their events and one high jumper almost set a new school record! While I was always told that deaf kids are just like other kids and that the only difference lies in the fact that one can hear and the other cannot, I did not come fully to believe the comparison until I watched the track meet.

Tomorrow brings with it a field trip! I have not been on a field trip since high school, so I am really excited to miss class with a teacher’s approval in order to do something fun.