Professional Development Activity 1

Georgia State University

Applied Linguistics
Fall 2009
Jonathan Shive
Workshop Presentation.
Kick Start Your Professional Development

I presented this workshop on September 26, 2009. The workshop was titled Kick Start
Your Professional Development. The workshop was gear toward working sign language
interpreters who are members of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. This is the
national organization for sign language interpreters. Georgia has an Associate chapter:
Georgia RID. The workshop was presented in Valdosta, GA to the membership in that
area.
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf is a national, professional organization that
certifies interpreters and maintains CEU requirements to keep certification. This specific
workshop was focus on setting up an independent study plan, through RID, to earn up to
2.0 CEUs. The independent study plan was focusing on self analysis of interpreters
work and interpretation. We began by making video renderings for a sample of their
work. They had the choice of a slower paced or faster passed audio source as well as
making a Transliteration rendition or an Interpretation rendition. Utilizing Valdosta State
Universitys Sign Language Lab, each attendee produced a video recording of their work.

The reminder of the workshop what attending to the actual independent study plan,
understanding RIDs requirements and how to devise the plan. After instruction of goal
setting and method of analysis, the attendees created their own independent study plan.
They worked individually to map out their plan. After that, they met with a partner to
share their plan and receive advise or suggestions from their partner. We switched
partners and they received feedback from another partner. We also discussed as a group,
their specific goals, adding input and suggestions for improvement from the group.

From the attendees evaluation of the workshop, I feel pleased with my presentation.
There were 13 attendees and each evaluated the workshop in a highly positive manner.
All attendees stated they left with an action plan on how to self analyze their own work
and were able to utilize the documents and analytical material to assist them in looking at
their own work.