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MEMBER PROFILE Follow the Signs School for the
– Regina Dettra, on AEA
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FOLLOW THE SIGNS
Librarian at School for the Deaf Leads Students to Love Reading
When teachers and students see Regina Dettra walk across campus on Wednesdays, it’s a sure sign that it’s library day at the Arkansas School of the Deaf.
After spending 21 years in the middle school classroom, she now gets to support the entire school, from pre-K to 12th grade, as the new librarian.
“The library, I have always felt like it’s the hub of the school,” Dettra said “It’s where they learn, they explore, they ask questions. It’s more than just reading, and I want that experience for every kid here.”
While the practice of reading is vital in public schools, Dettra believes it is even more important for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. “Our students, their primary language is American sign language. And so English being their second language, they are learning,” she said. “A lot of our library program is centered with me signing the stories to them, to get them engaged, to get them excited about reading, because if you stop and think about it, English is complicated.” In addition to learning English, translating complicated concepts into ASL is an art of its own.
“It may be one or two signs, or it may be an entire mining concept that has to be done,” she said. “Stories when they are signed are brought to life. You become the actual person that’s in the story. You become the characters from the grass to the sun.”
She compares it to the way a teacher’s voice has inflections in the rhythm and the change of sound when reading to their hearing students. “Children who are deaf and hard of hearing are natural storytellers,” she said. “It’s natural with their language, the descriptions that they go into and the details that go into when they tell a story is absolutely amazing and phenomenal.” In addition to tackling a second language, Dettra’s students don’t have the same background knowledge as children with full hearing. “They can’t hear the morning news, or the gossip in the hallway,” Dettra said. “For them to have background knowledge, they must take advantage of books to start asking questions.” Helping students overcome these challenges comes with its own reward. Dettra says watching a child as ‘it clicks’ is one of the most beautiful things she’s experienced, “When they string words together and get that concept on their own, it’s magic,” she said. “It’s beautiful. I love my job, I love that I’m surrounded by books, and I love it when a kid comes up to me and wants to talk about books.”
Dettra spent summers with her cousin of the same age who is deaf, and with three generations of teachers in the family her career path was signaled from the beginning. “He taught me the language and I, I just kind of fell into it,” she said. “My mother always said that I was born a natural teacher because I would line up my Teddy bears and read to them. And so I became the middle school English teacher here at the school for the deaf.”
As someone who teaches those who struggle with having a voice, she understands the importance of being heard and believes AEA does just that for educators.
“The support that you guys have gotten teachers across Arkansas is absolutely wonderful,” she said. “It’s wonderful to have a voice, it’s wonderful to be heard, and it’s also wonderful to be understood.”
