McNemar1

Loryell McNemar
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
17 March 2016
Essential Question: Do our public schools have a lack of certified sign language teachers?
Working Thesis: More certified sign language teachers need to offer sign language in high
schools and middle schools.
Refined Thesis: Having more certified sign language teachers would benefit schools so they can
start teaching sign language earlier in students lives.
Annotated Bibliography
Beal-Alvarez, Jennifer S.1, and Nanci A.2,3 Scheetz. "Preservice Teacher And
Interpreter American Sign Language Abilities: Selfevaluations And Evaluations Of Deaf
Students' Narrative Renditions." American Annals Of The Deaf 160.3 (2015): 315-333.
Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
Beal-Alvarez talks about the abilities of a preservice teacher and an interpreter. To be an
interpreter the person would have to be able to hear and speak. Interpreters need to be
able to see, so that they can read body language like their facial expressions and their
posture. They also need to see so that they can see the person who is signings hands, like
the handshape and the movement it is making. The interpreter also needs self-control,
control over their anger, body and facial expressions such as with their eyebrows and

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mouth. It is important for an interpreter to have these abilities so that that can work with
their client properly. I chose this article because it states most of the abilities needed to be
an interpreter.
Beal-Alvarez, Jennifer S.1, and Susan R.2 Easterbrooks. "Increasing Children's
Asl Classifier Production: A Multicomponent Intervention." American Annals Of The
Deaf 158.3 (2013): 311-333. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Beal-Alvarez talks to multiple deaf and hard of hearing children from grades 2 to 4 about
working with an ASL teacher. The children state that it makes learning easier on them instead of
having an interpreter beside the teacher. Working with a teacher who knows ASL is easier than
having an interpreter because then they have to focus on the both people talking, one for body
language and one to actually know what is being said. After talking to the children they saw that
the childrens comprehension of what was being taught by the actual ASL teacher they knew
better than the teacher and interpreter. This shows that there should be more teachers who know
ASL and that there should be more teachers who teach ASL. This article shows that ASL teachers
are needed and that they are important and vital to the students learning.
Miller, Michele. "Its All In Their Hands; A teacher busy spreading the language of
signing makes another stop." Tampa Bay Times [St. Petersburg, FL] 1 Sept. 2013: 11.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Miller wrote about a woman Rhonda Leslie who goes around and teaches ASL to
students. She was taken by the beauty of the language and its culture. She was originally a
French major and she fell in love with the people, the culture and the language. As Leslie goes

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around and teaches she also passes her love and passion because nearly every student either
major in ASL, use it to have a double major or become some sort of person who helps like an
audiologist, speech pathologist or interpreter. She believes when she shows a passion for her job
she influences others to create a liking, love or passion for the same. As she teaches ASL she
isnt just teaching the ASL she is teaching her passion and allowing people the opportunity to do
the same. From one person loving what they do, they get more people to do the same. If we had
more passionate ASL teachers we would have more students that turn into teachers themselves. I
chose this article because it talks about a teacher who actually has a passion for what she does,
that she is not in it just for the money. It shows how easy it is to influence students and get them
to see the beauty of the language.