My goal is that students will learn to appreciate and respect ASL as an organic, distinctive and wholly naturally occurring language, and recognize Deaf people as a community with their own set of cultural traditions and values. Recognizing the complex and multi-dimensional skillset required to acquire this level of learning, and that not all students learn the same things in the same way, my approach to teaching is an eclectic one.​​



I teach with the hope that my students will not only develop an understanding and respect of American Sign Language and Deaf culture, but also retain the core values they learn and apply their knowledge in their careers and daily lives in their future. I believe very strongly that teaching language and culture are inseparable. The best way for students to learn both language and culture is through immersion and interaction with each other and with primary users of the language. The more students are involved and invested in the communication process, the more they remember. By developing the students' communication competence, language becomes more real and applicable to their lives. I accomplish this through both Interactive Learning and Communicative Language Teaching approaches.



For example, I require students to participate in social events outside of the classroom to reinforce what is learned in the classroom. The interactive learning that takes place in this type of setting is invaluable and gives students the confidence to continue language learning at an even more rapid and effective pace.



A teaching philosophy is a constantly evolving process. While I maintain my core philosophy of an immersion of both language and culture, the approach to making these topics inherently arise in the classroom is partially dependent on the environment of each class. The classroom, level of class, environment (i.e. community college, community class, university and interpreting training program), and group dynamic are all different each time. More specifically, each student is unique, and therefore, the successful approach to incorporating my teaching philosophy varies. Appreciating the diversity in both the classroom setting and student need is the reason I consider it imperative to create a learner-centered environment.



I use curriculum and resources as a base, and then choose activities that align with the students' interests to ensure maximum student engagement. If they can relate to the experience and apply it to their own life, they are more likely to retain the information.

I consider teaching ASL my passion in the way that was deftly described by William Yeats when he said, "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." Ultimately, I would like students to leave my courses with a continued respect and passion for learning ASL. While I know that not all students take ASL courses with the intention of working in the field, I hope to ignite a greater overall blaze of Deaf culture and community-centered appreciation and in the wake of that illumination and understanding, one student at a time, lessen the ignorance, and the linguistic and cultural barriers facing our worlds.

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Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles an interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.- San Francisco State University.

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Rodgers, J. C. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.​