Forty-five years later in 2007, I had formally retired from teaching and moved from Toronto back to Belleville. I accepted a one-year contract teaching in that same institution where I began my career - now re-named The Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf.
Unfortunately, health issues made it necessary for me to resign this contract after only two months.
However, the act of coming full circle - back to the place where I began my life of work and involvement with Deaf people and the Deaf community - made me do a lot of thinking about all the changes that have happened over those 45 years!
- In 1962, the educational approach of the school was nominally "oral" in the classrooms. There were 550 students, ages 5 to 20. I can't recall how many staff the institution had in total - certainly more than 100 - but of all the employees at that time, only one, a groundskeeper, was Deaf!
- In 2007, I returned to a school with less than one hundred students, but a school where the educational policy was officially "Bi-Bi" with American Sign Language taught and used as the language of instruction throughout. Deaf staff are prominent in every area of the school and Deaf Culture and Community are regarded with respect.
I wish now that I had come back "home" sooner!
This is just the beginning of my thoughts and memoirs. Hope you enjoy reading. [I also intend to include Vlogs later in my sometimes awkward ASL.]
1 comment:
Hi Norm,
My parents and uncles were from OSD as well. It is interesting to see a teacher's perspective.
Dad graduated 1964 and Mom left OSD 1962. My uncle graduated in 1965.
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