Published by: California School for the Deaf, Fremont
California News Volume 124 • Number 15 • April 24, 2009
Reaching New Heights
Our Instructional Programs are Soaring!
Letter from the Superintendent Dr. Henry Klopping, Superintendent
Spring 2009 To Cal News Readers: The information regarding our instructional programs that is contained in this special edition of the Cal News shows you the dynamic nature of the instruction that students at the California School for the Deaf receive. Change is constant, and teachers and staff are always looking for new and exciting ways to involve students in the learning process. I am so proud of the fine work that our teachers and staff do in making sure that our students maximize their learning potential, and it is a wonderful feeling to belong to such a great team of individuals dedicated to improving the academic lives of our students. As you read this issue, please keep in mind that our teachers devote much more than the time they spend with students in the classroom to make sure that coursework and materials are challenging and interesting to our student learners. Our teachers work well beyond the normal work week to insure that students are given the instruction they need to bring out their full potential. Please join me, as you read the material in this special edition, in thanking our wonderful teachers and staff for their hard work and dedication to the reason we exist as a school—our students. Sincerely,
Hank Klopping, Superintendent California School for the Deaf 39350 Gallaudet Drive Fremont, CA 94538 hklopping@csdf-cde.ca.gov (510) 794-3685
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April 24, 2009 | California News
Letter from the Director of Instruction Laura Peterson, Director of Instruction
Dear friends of CSD: The Division of Instruction is honored to share this special edition of the California News with the students, families, staff, and friends of CSD. The activities described in this issue represent the dedication, care, and hard work of both staff and students. As a school and as a division, we share a passion for outstanding academic programs and quality extracurricular activities. We strive to celebrate our successes as well as make continual improvements. Our mission is to bring quality bilingual education to our students while fostering the individual abilities of every child we serve. As a school community, we have certainly reached new heights this year. Our teachers continue to participate in staff development designed to support them in delivering bilingual education. Our students have earned accolades and won competitions based on their abilities as scholars, performers, athletes, and community members. Our administrative team is dedicated to providing curricula strong in language development, core content, and leadership opportunities. Please enjoy this issue. If you are a student, family member, or staff member, take the time to feel pride in your many accomplishments. If you are new to CSD, we hope that our commitment to enriching the lives of our students shines. Sincerely, Laura Peterson, Director of Instruction California School for the Deaf 39350 Gallaudet Drive Fremont, CA 94538 lpeterson@csdf-cde.ca.gov (510) 794-3733
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Early Childhood Education Roberta Daniels, Principal
Parent-Infant Program
Serves children from birth through year three and their families who reside in the Mission Valley, Tri-Valley, and the Santa Clara areas, through home visits, a toddler class, and a weekly playgroup. PIP has three credentialed teachers and two instructional staff.
ECE Instructional Program
Continues services for children, from year three through year six, via three classes: preschool, prekindergarten, and kindergarten. There are four credentialed teachers and three instructional staff members. The ECE instructional program is carefully aligned with the state of California learning standards and instructional standards. A variety of assessments are used at scheduled intervals to monitor child development of all students. There are three teacher specialists available: an ECE teacher specialist works closely with all ECE teachers on lesson planning and classroom instruction, and two kindergarten teacher specialists work closely with the kindergarten teachers. In addition to the instructional program, spoken English services are available to all students. The spoken English teacher works closely with the instructional teachers in scheduling and working with students. The ECE program is fortunate to be able to provide a critical mass of 4
students necessary to promote development in cognitive, socialemotional, physical, and language development. American Sign Language and English are utilized in all settings, and the students in ECE have FULL access to learning and expressing themselves. The languages of ASL and English are taught through the natural language acquisition process. All instructional teachers and staff, both Deaf and hearing, are fluent in both languages.
ECE MiLeStOnEs!
• The ECE department has served the Mission Valley and Tri-Valley areas (Fremont, Newark, and Union City and Pleasanton, Livermore, and Dublin) for many years. This year, we welcomed a student from Santa Clara County (Milpitas, San Jose, and Santa Clara). • The ECE teachers have started mapping ECE learning standards and benchmarks using the standards and learning foundations adopted by the state of California for all age levels/classes. Curriculum mapping is a lengthy and detailed process, but it elevates the dialogue of instructional strategies and ideas among the instructional staff. • ASL literacy is a core component of the instructional program. In addition to daily reading aloud activities in class, all classes attend the CSD library to watch the amazing, skilled, articulate librarian who reads aloud to the students every week. There are also visiting ASL storytellers who read aloud to the ECE students. They are often grandparents of the children at CSD, prominent ASL storytellers, ASL linguists, and Deaf education researchers.
• ECE has gone GREEN! We are using cleaning products that are eco-friendly, less harmful to children, and effective in disinfecting toys and manipulatives. • Family-centered special events are always a hit at ECE! The events include: ECE family potluck; Penny Harvest; Friendship Day; parent conferences; Festival of Lights; Grandparent Day; Barnyard Bash; ECE Holiday Tea; Garden Day; Literature & Art Night; and the ECE Ceremony • ECE received a financial donation from APTC of $2000 to add a wooden stage, some perennials, and playground items to the playground! The planning stage has been completed, and we should see changes to the playground anytime soon. A very special thank-you goes to APTC. • Stefanie Ellis Gonzales, a mother of two children in ECE and one child in elementary, won the Parent of the Year award at the California Educators of the Deaf conference in March of this year! Handwaves to her for her dedication and commitment to making CSD a better place for Deaf and hard of hearing children! On behalf of the ECE department, we extend our heartfelt thanks to parents, APTC, volunteers, and CSD community members for their support and involvement.
April 24, 2009 | California News
Elementary School Adele Ann Eberwein, Principal Our ASL/English bilingual program provides content instruction for elementary students using both social and academic ASL and English to promote higher levels of language, literacy development, and critical thinking skills. Our goal is to keep academic work at grade level in both languages at all times. By linking together the Elementary ASL Language Arts Curriculum and the English Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools for all content areas, students are given a wealth of opportunities for language experience in signing, viewing, reading, and writing in both languages. An overview of the ASL/English Language Arts program follows:
English Language Arts • Language Arts Framework and English Language Development Standards for California Public Schools • Balanced Literacy: This framework is designed to help all students learn to read and write independently and in both large and small-group settings. The elements include four kinds of reading, four kinds of writing, and word work.
ASL Language Arts • CSD Elementary ASL Curriculum: All elementary students take ASL maintenance courses taught by two full-time ASL language arts teachers in conjunction with grade-level teachers. Maintenance courses further develop students’ natural language, ASL, and provide a spiraling curriculum building foundations to develop fluent ASL signers. • Signacy Framework: Signacy refers to fluency of a signed language, including both receptive and expressive skills. The elements of the Signacy framework include four kinds of ASL viewing, four kinds of ASL signing, and the element of sign choice and sign use. • ASL Immersion courses: Students who have emerging but limited ASL skills participate in ASL immersion every day for one hour to focus on development of social and academic ASL in support of overall bilingual acquisition.
At each grade level, elementary teachers are paired for team-teaching so that two or more teachers plan toward a common goal for each individual child. One teacher may present a lesson to the class, while the other teacher reinforces students' individual needs and monitors student understanding and behavior. Typically, team teachers design an instructional unit together and model lessons to the students. They plan small-group work and encourage student discussion. While one teacher challenges learners who grasp the concepts more quickly, the other teacher reviews with or re-teaches those students who require further instruction. For the second year, elementary teachers are working with the Curriculum and Media Services department on curriculum mapping for ASL/English language arts, social studies, Deaf Studies, science,
California News | April 24, 2009
physical education, health, and character education. Curriculum mapping helps teachers design units of study that are meaningful, relevant, and interesting to students. The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum; this marks our fourth year in the Character Education program. Character Ed offers plenty of opportunities for social and academic learning, balance between teacherdirected and child-initiated experiences, and a foundation in the values that good citizens should have. We have found that this program improves student behavior and creates a more positive and caring school environment. Students assume leadership roles at monthly assemblies by explaining each character trait and recognizing students from each grade. Department-wide activities are student-centered and literacy-based. The 2008-2009 school year’s variety of events includes: California Young Reader Medal Events; Science Expo; 3rd Annual ASL Festival; 100th Day of School; Read Across America; Deaf PAH Day; Math Festival; National & Global Youth Service Day; Multicultural Celebration; Character Education assemblies; and End-ofYear Ceremony. The completion of our renovated building is coming very soon, and everyone in the Elementary department looks forward to moving back at the end of this school year. The building will have bigger classrooms, a science classroom, an art room, a language enrichment lab, an instructional kitchen classroom, more office spaces, and upgraded technology throughout. 5
Middle School Clark Brooke, Principal
Dreamers, Thinkers, and Doers As we entered the election year of 2008, the teaching staff wanted to implement a theme that would encourage citizenship among our students. We decided that our sixth graders would be the Dreamers, seventh graders the Thinkers, and eighth graders the Doers. During middle school, our students evolve from children into young adults. There is research showing that opportunities during the brief period of adolescence that include providing students with structured character building, leadership, and physical activity will allow us to mold our students into young adults with character. To further enrich our middle school programs, the cottage staff and youth athletic coordinator work closely with the Middle School department in creating consistent expectations, a positive learning 6
environment, and a support system for our students. We are beginning to see the positive outcome of this collaborative effort among the three departments. As the teachers entered the second and final year of our ASL and English Bilingual Professional Development training, we read books and articles related to technology use and assessment in bilingual classrooms. As we wrote last year, we continue to experiment and develop classroom activities that will promote equity between English and American Sign Language. This is done through media applications, writing exercises, stage presentations, videotaping stories and reports, and video essays. Our study will lead to a massive curriculum mapping effort during the next academic year.
Literacy was the main focus of this academic year. We launched a big reading competition, “The Challenge of One Thousand Books.” The main goal was to read more than 1,000 books within a nine-week period. Prizes were given to individuals and groups of students who earned the most points and read the most books. We used the school’s Accelerated Reading program to monitor reading activities at school and at home. Also, we continued our annual stimulating in-house Battle of the Books competition last fall. This spring, there will be six teams competing in the national competition hosted by the New Mexico School for the Deaf. We appreciate the cottage staff and the youth athletic program for their hard work in developing interwoven programs for our students. We look forward to an exciting 2009-2010 academic year!
April 24, 2009 | California News
High School Alan Davary, Administrative Principal David Eberwein, Instructional Principal
New Changes We kicked off the year with a multitude of changes, most notably by adding several new members to the High School department. Administrative principal Alan Davary, instructional principal David Eberwein, fundamentals of English teacher Stephen Farias, American Sign Language teacher Tim Gough, and advanced placement English teacher Ellen Winters (who happens to be our former instructional principal, from years back!). Antonia Chimienti was promoted to office technician. Leslie Firl assumed the chemistry teacher position. The Back to School Night that we held early in the year was a resounding hit, with a large number of families in attendance. We truly value our relationship with all of our students’ families.
riers. Algebra teacher Sulghi Hong and American history teacher Stace Gough also serve as our Digital High School mentors, consulting with our teachers on integrating technology into the curriculum. Special thanks go to teaching assistant Jay Thexton, for sharing his technical expertise. Geometry teacher Allison Gibbons and sophomore English teacher Melinda Harrison quickly integrated video technology in their instruction. Other physical changes can be found in biology teacher Greg Hettwer’s classroom, with new laboratory tables and equipment. Feel free to step into our classrooms and witness a vibrant high-technology community of learners!
ing assistants (Jeff Jones and Laben Hur) who work closely with them. To date, this new approach has reaped rewards: students’ educational and language development have accelerated. Thanks to our collaboration with the Pupil Personnel Services department, our peer advisors provide additional support to new students. As for our continuing students, we re-designed the after-school study hall, adding dividers which allow our students to study better. Adjustment teacher, Jeff Bibb, continues to advise our students whenever they have a need.
Support for our New Students
ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development
We have increased our support of new students by adding the following: ASL immersion classes (for new signers), language coaches (who accommodate our new students, easing their transition into a new educational environment), and teach-
Our teachers, along with the Career/Technical Education department, began their first year of Gallaudet University’s Center on ASL/ English Bilingual Education and Research’s professional development. Our fine mentors, freshman
Instructional Technology A physical representation of high school’s new era is found in upgrades across all classrooms: SmartBoards, document readers, and mobile computer labs. This technology greatly enhances our instruction, which already follows the California State Standards. The SmartBoards and document readers enable our students to see both English and ASL at the same time and without barCalifornia News | April 24, 2009
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High School (Continued) English teacher Vanessa Cristobal and algebra teacher Jeanne Dike, guide our teachers into becoming more knowledgeable about our students’ literacy development and how to continue increasing these skills. Additionally, teachers continue to observe each other in action, fostering a culture of reflection on instruction, methodology, and facilitation. Our teachers are qualified in their subject fields and educating all Deaf students. Student Performance • Among many things that our students do to make us proud, our Academic Bowl team won Gallaudet University’s Western Regional Academic Bowl championship last February! Our student team, Captain Amelia Bernstein, Brittany Farr, Valerie Farr, Dylan Hinks, and Alyssa Romano, will proudly represent CSD at the national competition next month. • Senior Tonique Hunter (as President Barack Obama) debated eloquently at our special assembly on the 2008 Election, facilitated by world history teacher Susana Acosta and the social studies department. • Senior Ronnie Cuartero won the award for ASL translation of the Preamble. Our seniors impressed the Federal Reserve police with their well-thought-out questions during the U.S. government/ economics class trip to the Fed in San Francisco. Our international studies class, led by applied algebra teacher Gene Duve and US government/economics teacher Molly Christensen, took an educational trip to Peru. 8
• Nearly 90% of our seniors who have passed the California High School Exit Examination come from signing families and/or have attended CSD since early grades. • Our students warmly welcome many student visitors from other schools, frequently taking them under our Eagle wings. Collaboration with Other Departments The High School department would like to express our appreciation for the collaboration we have with the other departments on campus. The additional support goes a long way in each student’s educational experience at CSD. Advanced placement calculus/physics teacher Anna Woodbury and senior English teacher Clare Cassidy work often with the Career Center across many issues and activities, ranging from assessments to High School Exit Exam preparation. The Curriculum and Media Services (CAMS) department often goes above and beyond the call of duty when they team-teach and consult with our teachers. CAMS' instructional television classes play an important role in our students’ weekly online news broadcasts. We also want to thank the physical education, middle school, special needs, and the Pupil Personnel Services departments for working with us on several ongoing projects. The Elementary department came and shared their researchbased success with instruction during one of our professional development seminars. Last, but definitely not least, we want to give a big shout-out to the Student Life division for a great working relationship. Onwards and upwards!
Testimonials ► “Though my son grew up in a very loving home environment, he didn’t have the kind of adult role models he has with his coaches at California School for the Deaf.” —Lynn Dunn, Parent ► “While we miss having Grecia at home during the week, we know that California School for the Deaf is a great place for her to get an education. We understand the importance of Grecia being with peers who are like her—who are part of ‘her world’.” —Marlen Solis, Parent ► “California School for the Deaf trained us well in how to become strong leaders.” —Cody Dike, Student ► “California School for the Deaf is the only place where I have felt the assurance that my son was understood, quite possibly better than we even understood him.” —Danielle Reader, Parent ► “California School for the Deaf has taught my daughter what she needs to succeed in a deaf and hearing world.” —Darice Johnson, Parent
April 24, 2009 | California News
Career / Technical Education Charles Farr, Principal
What’s new in CTE? We hired a new construction technology teacher this year. Our existing woodworking teacher of 30+ years is enthusiastically transitioning from his existing program to a facilities maintenance program. Both teachers, along with a teaching assistant, already have some new ideas for this expanded construction technology program, including a focus on green jobs that will keep our students more competitive within the labor market. The new facilities maintenance program will focus on repair: electrical, plumbing, HVAC engineering, sheetrock installation, painting, building maintenance, janitorial, and green jobs such as solar installation. We have established a five-year plan to work on integrating academic standards into the CTE curriculum. The integration of academic standards will serve the dual purpose of boosting our students’ chances at passing the California High School Exit Exam and making the CTE curriculum more meaningful for students through integrating the skills they will need for potential jobs. We will continue to participate in American Sign Language/English Bilingual Professional Development for the next two years in order to assist teachers in becoming famil-
iar with current research in Deaf bilingualism, as well as to promote the students’ readiness for the work world. Teachers are also provided training for both ASL assessments and iMovie so that they can help students use a video format for their work samples. The CTE department would like to thank its planning committee, along with fellow colleagues and school administrators and colleagues, for their support toward developing our CTE goals. CTE would especially like to recognize the following business representatives, students, and parents for all they've done to support career/technical education. They are: Brian Bacher (Vienna Bakery), Mark Call (Sorenson), Mike Cunningham (Woodcraft Supply Corp.), Joel Smith, Britnee Hursin and Alicia Johnson, the student representatives; Marci Wolfangle-Baer and Jill Dean, the parent representatives; Kay Thyrust, job developer from the Employment Development Department; and Liann Osborne, counselor from the Department of Rehabilitation. You are all welcome to visit the CTE department on May 20 for the CTE Competition. The classrooms will be open all day.
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Career Center Steve Orman, Supervisor The Career Center has had a remarkable year with many positive accomplishments. The Work Readiness Program made its debut this fall. The program is being offered to students who have completed their senior year and met all of the academic requirements, but who have not yet passed the California High School Exit Exam. The program presently serves 12 students who are attending a community college or vocational training program, or are engaging in direct employment. The WRP works in partnership with Ohlone College and Laney College, as well as a number of employers who contribute to the program by paying our student’s wages for employment. In addition to the students' daily schedule, which normally involves being off campus for the entire school day, they also enroll in either an English CAHSEE class or math CAHSEE class—or both—during the evenings. These classes are structured around teaching students how to read questions from the California High School Exit Exam and to practice test taking skills and strategies. The classes incorporate a combination of teacher instruction and computer software programs that offer test practice. The Work Readiness Program is proud to announce that two students enrolled in the program have already passed the California High School Exit Exam test this year! We are anticipating that the program will increase to approximately 25 students by next year. 10
Another major accomplishment for the Career Center is our increase in students obtaining successful employment after they graduate from CSD. The Transition Partnership Program, which is the driving force of the Career Center, has an annual goal of 18 successful employments. As of February 2009, we have had 26 successful employment placements! This is a record for the Career Center since the program began more than 25 years ago. We are presently tracking 283 former graduates that are still affiliated with our Transition Partnership Program. It is our goal to continue to work with various agencies and support services to ensure that our students are receiving the best transition services possible. Finally, the Career Center has developed its own mission statement which we believe will maintain our focus on the services we provide to each of our students.
Statement of Beliefs The Career Center is committed to providing the most comprehensive transition services to our Deaf students. The Career Center is always changing and updating its services and program based on the persistent changes and needs of the community. Because learning and the language of instruction are consistent with a bilingualbicultural approach to educating our Deaf children, we want our students to become effective communicators as well as selfadvocating individuals who will gain the confidence to become competitive workers in their community. The involvement of parents, students, staff, the Deaf community, the business community, and the community at large is regarded as essential to the mission of the Career Center. We look forward to new challenges and are always ready to improve our program to meet the needs of our Deaf students. April 24, 2009 | California News
Special Needs Ryan Paulsen, Principal High School Making Connections and Developing Independence
Learning Through Experiencing! The best way to learn about life is to experience it. For students in the special needs program, an ASL-rich environment, coupled with hands-on learning and repetition, helps them develop skills and transfer knowledge that they will use for the rest of their lives. Activities that foster the development of the whole child include: Elementary School Developing and Learning • ASL classes • Character Counts education • Participation in ASL festivals • Science classes • Math and language arts standards aligned with the California Alternate Curriculum Middle School Transitioning and Growing • Pre-vocational activities ► recycling ► Cal News • Science camp • ASL Storytelling Competition • Math and language arts standards aligned with the California Alternate Curriculum
• Eagle Café • Community-based field trips with skills using public transportation • Math and language arts standards aligned with the California Alternate Curriculum • Off-campus work for juniors and seniors ► Central Park ► YMCA ► SuperStation Car Wash ► Ohlone Dog Groomers ► Chuck E. Cheese ► Titan’s Kingdom ► Ortho Vet Surgery ► Michael’s Arts and Crafts ► Senior Center Our work-based program allows high school students to: • Take pride in themselves and their ability to work. • Expand their language development by giving them practice communicating with bosses and co-workers, as well as communicating with school and family members. • Practice their independence by using such skills as taking public transportation. • Develop responsibility through directly communicating with bosses, notifying them of absences, appointments, and other reasons for missed work. • Earn money and, in a safe environment, practice budgeting skills. Meeting the individual needs of each of our students requires a team approach in which we work with several on-campus and off-campus groups to make sure that each of our students has the ability to excel.
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Student Life Participation in athletics, Girl Scouts, and a variety of activities in the cottage allows for the development of social skills and peer interactions. Counseling Individual and group counseling, through the Counseling department, helps students to work on problem solving skills, self esteem building, coping skills, and other challenges that our students may face. Outside Agencies We also work with the Department of Rehabilitation and the Regional Center system to make sure that our students have support in their home environments so that they can continue to grow in all aspects of their lives. Special needs students are often referred to our program because their needs are not being met in an academically-based program. Many of these students have self esteem issues and have a difficult time understanding the rationale for their placement. Having a program that challenges the students helps them to increase their self confidence and both engage in and succeed at meaningful, hands-on activities. 11
Physical Education Len Gonzales, Supervisor Physical Education Highlights • The Physical Education department made some changes to the physical fitness test that allows us to keep the students’ excitement and motivation level soaring. • We recognize a PE Student of the Month for each grade level. This helps our students strive for excellence in all areas of physical education and promotes good character and values. We proudly post the names and photos of the monthly recipients in the gym hallway for all to see.
• We offer our students the Bigger Stronger Faster conditioning program to build strength, stamina, and agility. This program improves their self esteem and confidence in meeting their personal goals. • The California’s Fitness Gram program helps increase students’ upper body strength and cardio aerobic fitness. All students work hard to fulfill the expectations of this program. • Students perform daily warm-up routines such as push ups, sit ups, running laps, stretching, and agility drills. These daily efforts increase students’ strength and stamina and prepare them for the daily PE activities. • Students are enthusiastic about the new variety of PE uniforms available to them. The separate uniform options (gray shirt, orange shorts, gray sweater, gray sweatpants) allow them to mix-and-match what they wear to accommodate the weather, as well as both indoor and outdoor activities. While maintaining our physical education framework and standards, we continue to explore how best to engage our students and teach them activities they can pursue and enjoy long after completing their PE requirements. We are excited about challenging our students and providing them with quality learning experiences and opportunities.
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April 24, 2009 | California News
Athletics Kevin Kovacs, Athletic Director
With Eagle Pride Thank you everyone for your support! California News | April 24, 2009
Our Athletics department continues to adapt and grow as we strive to create positive experiences and programs for our students from elementary through high school. With the addition of Toby Daniels serving as the youth athletic coordinator, we have seen additions in our youth program. We now have T-ball, youth baseball, third & fourth grade basketball, swimming clinics, and other programs that we have carried on in the past. We are excited about having schools across the country come to CSD! On April 24 and 25 we will be hosting the Hoy Tournament, a baseball and softball tournament with six schools vying to win the Hoy Championship. In January 2010, we will again have Deaf schools come to CSD for the Clerc Classic, a national basketball tournament for boys and girls. Another exciting event that is coming to CSD is our wonderful 150th year celebration which will kick off with the Hall of Fame and Big Game with California School for the Deaf, Riverside where we play their cross country, football, and volleyball teams. We continue to be a member of the Bay County League, North Coast Section, and the California Interscholastic Federation. Our girls basketball team recently embarked on a historic run in the Girls North Coast Section Basketball Championship. The girls soared all the way to the finals and earned a second place finish. We know our students' experience in athletics is one avenue for life-long lessons that will help prepare them for the real world. 13
Communications Robin Zane, Supervisor development of ASL language competencies such as: • Communicative intent • ASL comprehension • ASL production • ASL grammatical markers
In accordance with CSD’s Expected Schoolwide Learning Results, the Communication department provides American Sign Language support and spoken English services geared toward helping students become effective communicators. The department evaluates and serves students from the infant/toddler program through high school age through consultation, small pullout groups, and classroom instruction. The activities provided by both the ASL and spoken English teachers support the development of students’ academic and social language.
The ASL teacher assesses the skills of both students and teachers through the use of ASL rubrics. The ASL teacher collaborates with the other ASL teachers in various departments on campus with the focus of improving service delivery to all students.
• The ASL teacher has taken on the role of “language coach” to further support new students (ECE through high school) in the classroom. • The ASL teacher meets regularly with the ASL committee to discuss assessment issues. • The ASL teacher has increased communication with parents. • Staff members have continued their professional development by attending continuing education workshops. • Speech/language evaluations were completed for the infant/ toddler program, including in-home assessments, to obtain the most accurate information. • Staff members are serving on the Spoken English and ASL Assessment Language Planning subcommittees.
Department Goals The spoken English teachers provide support in order to foster the development of spoken English skills, such as: • Articulation • Auditory learning • Speechreading
• Complete a Communication department information pamphlet • Investigate use of videophone/voice carry-over for training students to use voice carry-over • Staff look forward to in-service bilingual training next year
What’s New?
The ASL teacher provides ASL services to students to improve their ability to access the language level used in the academic environment. The ASL teacher works on the
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• The Communication department welcomed two new spoken English/ communication teachers: Amy Parker Lipshutz has returned to work in the Elementary department and Terry Towers has returned to work in the High School department.
April 24, 2009 | California News
Curriculum & Media Services Robin Zane, Supervisor
The Curriculum and Media Services department (CAMS) supports CSD students and staff by providing resources and support in a wide range of areas. CAMS staff is committed to educational excellence and raising student achievement by providing high quality support services for teachers and students in a Deaf-centered learning environment. CAMS services range from direct instruction to curriculum development, instructional coaching, new teacher mentoring, and working with teachers to apply assessment data to instruction. Additional services include organizing school-wide cultural and literacy events and managing the student internship program in collaboration with colleges and universities. CAMS staff also oversees the following: the instructional television studio trains teachers and students to use state-of-the-art visual media technology; the library serves as the center for many school-wide literacy activities and the continually expanding Accelerated Reader program; and the Media Center. The leadership and support from the CAMS department take many forms, and include:
• Working side by side with teachers to create lessons and implement effective program design • Mentoring new teachers, team-teaching, and peer coaching • Assisting teachers with integrating educational technology into daily lessons and training teachers on visual media technology that enhances curriculum and strengthens CSD’s bilingual ASL/English instructional program • Supporting AEBPD, the ASL/ English Bilingual Professional Development project, and data collection of ASL assessments • The pilot Accelerated Reader mentoring program • The bi-annual Latino Family Weekend retreat in conjunction with the Outreach division • Consulting with teachers on individual student learning strategies • Planning community-wide cultural activities and school-wide literacy events • Managing CSD’s annual textbook orders and aligning curriculum materials with state standards • Reading Recovery Early Intervention
California News | April 24, 2009
• Coordination of the school-wide Inaugural Celebration for President Obama • Literacy coach support for elementary, middle, and high school teachers • International Day of Signed Language activities • K-8 Math Festival and Family & Cottage Math Night • Teacher training and support on visual media technology and the ASL Lab equipment • Curriculum Days to support professional development • Expansion of the high school video production and journalism class • Numerous student video projects on a variety of subjects, including a weekly student-produced video broadcast, “Talon News” and a new Deaf Film Festival in June • California Young Reader's Medal project. CSD students have been participating in this exciting literacy activity all year and voted in the spring • Training and support on Accelerated Reader and schoolwide assessment tools such as the Advantage Learning Systems/Star Math and the new M.A.P. assessment • Support for special departmentrun activities such as the middle school’s Battle of the Books and the 1000 Book Challenge • Enhancement of the CSD website with more video technology This brief list reflects just some of the accomplishments, support services, and innovative projects the CAMS department offered during the 2008 – 2009 school year and will continue to provide in the future! 15
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