Cooperative Link: Winter 2008

Be Silent in the New Building: Don’t You be Labeled as a “TALKER”
By Crista Browne-Krosch

The signs will read “Greetings!” to over 80 students from 11 different school districts in the SOCRATES region as they enter the new SCSC Conference Center March 18. And you should not hear any voices.

Welcome to the 4th Annual Silent Retreat for American Sign Language (ASL) students.

The Silent Retreat has become an anticipated annual event for first and second-year ASL students. While the event has evolved over the years, it has also become an integral part of the curriculum. Support from individual sites is high, student participation is required, and the logistics are daunting. But these distance-learning students will, for the first time, meet their classmates and, for the third time this year, interact face to face with their instructor.

More important, however, is that the students will be using their newly acquired language skills to communicate for the next four hours. By participating in a variety of rotating stations, students will be exposed to deaf culture and language like no other class day can provide. The stations will be directed by either a deaf individual or a person fluent in ASL. Students are required to use ASL, mime, gesture, fingerspell or if all else fail, write it down. If students are caught talking, they will receive a “TALKER” sticker.

The students will begin arriving in busses and cars by 10 a.m. As a large group they will receive some basic housekeeping directives, introduce themselves and be divided into five groups. Each group will rotate to the various stations for 25-minute mini-sessions involving cultural awareness, language development, technology for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and a tour of the audiology center with a short break for lunch.

Following the completion of stations, each student will be entertained by Tracy Koster and Rich Diederichson, both program consultants for the State of Minnesota Deaf and Hard of Hearing Division. Entertainment will be rich in culture, incorporating ASL storytelling, jokes, poetry and much more. By the time 2 p.m. arrives, everyone will be exhausted — but excited. For many, this will be their first deaf experience, hopefully a positive one that they will remember and which will encourage them to continue learning.




SCSC News Calendar of Events *Programs and Services* Accounting Briefs / AYP-Student Improvement / News from the Center for Academic Excellence / Cooperative Purchasing / Health and Safety / SOCRATES / Special Education / Wellness Program *Student Enrichment Programs* Chess Tournament / Fine Arts Conference / Knowledge Bowl / Minnesota Student Inventors Congress / Young Writer's Conference Winter 2008 Issue Home Page Previous Issues of Cooperative Link Return to SCSC Home Page	SOCRATES Be Silent in the New Building: Don’t You be Labeled as a “TALKER” By Crista Browne-Krosch The signs will read “Greetings!” to over 80 students from 11 different school districts in the SOCRATES region as they enter the new SCSC Conference Center March 18. And you should not hear any voices. Welcome to the 4th Annual Silent Retreat for American Sign Language (ASL) students. The Silent Retreat has become an anticipated annual event for first and second-year ASL students. While the event has evolved over the years, it has also become an integral part of the curriculum. Support from individual sites is high, student participation is required, and the logistics are daunting. But these distance-learning students will, for the first time, meet their classmates and, for the third time this year, interact face to face with their instructor. More important, however, is that the students will be using their newly acquired language skills to communicate for the next four hours. By participating in a variety of rotating stations, students will be exposed to deaf culture and language like no other class day can provide. The stations will be directed by either a deaf individual or a person fluent in ASL. Students are required to use ASL, mime, gesture, fingerspell or if all else fail, write it down. If students are caught talking, they will receive a “TALKER” sticker. The students will begin arriving in busses and cars by 10 a.m. As a large group they will receive some basic housekeeping directives, introduce themselves and be divided into five groups. Each group will rotate to the various stations for 25-minute mini-sessions involving cultural awareness, language development, technology for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and a tour of the audiology center with a short break for lunch. Following the completion of stations, each student will be entertained by Tracy Koster and Rich Diederichson, both program consultants for the State of Minnesota Deaf and Hard of Hearing Division. Entertainment will be rich in culture, incorporating ASL storytelling, jokes, poetry and much more. By the time 2 p.m. arrives, everyone will be exhausted — but excited. For many, this will be their first deaf experience, hopefully a positive one that they will remember and which will encourage them to continue learning.	This newsletter is also available as an Acrobat PDF (4.0 MB) Free Acrobat Reader required for viewing.