This semester I have been working with my pastor Rev. Peggy Johnson at Maryland School for the Deaf. Every tuesday afternoon we drive to Columbia and teach religious education to those Deaf kids whose parents give them permission to participate. The class consists of around twenty five kids ranging from age 4-15 years old. Peggy teaches the older kids and I agreed to teach the two 4 year olds.
Peggy and the other volunteers tried to include the two youngest with the older kids the first week but it didn't prove successful. I joined the seecond week when Peg said she needed help and in the back of my head I thought
"OH, cute little 4 year old Deaf hands signing things like God, and Jesus, and The wonderful love of my blessed redeemer way down in the depths of my heart!" What is wrong with me?? I have counseled for two years now at Deaf Kids camp what planet was I living on?
The first week I felt successful just keeping them from pulling out the cords in Peggy's computer. The second week I took them outside and we played on the swings. I told myself that it was still Christian education because I was showing them Christ's love. The third week I felt guilty so I tried to teach them that God had created the World. I brought little toy earth balls to give them and the lesson went like this:
First I chased them around for ten minutes to get them to sit down, then I gave them the earth balls (Bad idea), then while they (of course) were staring at the toys I had just given them I tried to get their attention. Just for those of you who have never tried to get the attention of a Deaf four year old, it is basically like trying to get the attention of a hyperactive fly.
I signed:
"pay!"...then they would look away.."pay At!"...then they would look away..."PAY ATTEN!"...then they would look away..."PAY ATTENTION!"... by this point I was not signing pay attention anymore I was instead doing that Robert Deniro thing from Meet the Parents where you hold up two fingers, glare at them and point at your eyes and then their eyes.
Then once I had ten seconds of continuous attention I signed "God made the world." and I pointed at the toy while they looked at me confused and I realized they didn't know the sign for God or who God was so to them it look like I had given them a toy, made them not look at it, and then signed "Blwasek(insert any made up word here) made toy."
By the end of the semester we had worked with their mom to implement a behavior management plan that worked (HALELUIAH!) and the two Deaf hyperactive four year old angels knew that God made the world, Jesus was God's son, Christmas was Jesus's birthday, and that God was more important than food, fish, cars, toys, etc..
God was present in the whole process, teaching me to teach more effectively using videos and games and rewards. God was in the glue that they would use to make a ridiculously awful mess while watching the videos because they needed to be doing something in order to concentrate and God was in my hands and theirs. Thanks be to God!
I am still amazed everyday at how God Can communicate without langauge in so many ways. The class is over now until after Christmas break. We start teaching again in January. If anyone has any good ideas that are simple and use little verbal or signed communication to express christian ideals I would greatly appreciate the help! Merry Christmas All!
Last year in December I wrote an entry about our Christmas pagent at church. The group that came to video tape our production was Live B.I.G. Live B.I.G is a United Methodist Curriculum and can be purchased at cokesbury. We are obviously featured in this time of advent as we prepare for christmas. For more information you can go to http://ilivebig.com/
