from Nancy Berrigan, Literacy Coordinator

To Parents and Families of KDES,

Time has sped by at the Clerc Center. It is hard to believe the winter break is just around the corner! I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the progress of Language Planning at Clerc Center. I am also pleased to let you know that there are many activities occurring here.

Activities to Date:

Language Planning Parent/Family Committee

Language Planning Parent/Family Committee was formed last spring and has had several meetings. There are currently fourteen members on this committee whose children are primarily in ECE and Team 1,2,3. We want to have multiple perspectives represented on the committee, including representation of all different age levels. There was a sign-up sheet during the Back-to-School Night – KHSO on Sept. 21st and Winter Festival last Saturday, Dec. 9th. So far, two parents have signed up. If you know of anyone who may be interested or may contribute, please feel free to send me their names. It would also be good for you to talk with them yourself and help encourage them to join us. Often person-to-person contact is the best.

In addition, we will be meeting on December 18th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. The agenda topics will include sharing ideas and information on how ASL and English language acquisition and language learning may be facilitated and support within their homes, communities and/or school. This will also give the opportunity for them to discuss, share perspective and experiences relating to language planning.

Clerc Center Language Planning Team

We have a Language Planning Team at Clerc Center. This is different than the committee for parents. The purpose of this team is to facilitate the process of language planning for ASL and English within the Clerc Center. The team consists of different representations within the school which include teachers, staff and administrators. We would like to have parents serve as members of this team and will be developing criteria for parents to be on this team soon. If you are interested in more information about this, please let me know.

Schoolwide Language Planning Workshops for Teachers and Staff

An introduction and overview of language planning was presented to the teachers and staff on Nov. 3rd and Nov. 20th. They had the opportunity to discuss the concept of language planning and reflect on how the Clerc Center may support language planning efforts and think about how they may incorporate language planning as part of their ongoing work at the Clerc Center.


National Stakeholder Meeting

The Clerc Center convened its first national Stakeholder Meeting on November 6th and 7th. The purpose of these meetings is to have our constituents around the country provide us with feedback on our current and future initiatives. There were four groups of stakeholders present – Parents with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children, Speech/Language and Communication Specialists, Teachers of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in mainstream settings and Administrators from both residential schools and mainstream programs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I shared with them the critical needs in the area of literacy development and provided an overview of language planning. Then, participants had the opportunity to discuss with their small groups what products and services the Clerc Center could develop that would have the greatest impact on language planning in their respective settings. I am happy to report that their feedback and recommendations were positive. Information about this will be posted on the web soon.

Upcoming event in January 2007

By now, you may have received a flyer about the presentation on January 17th by Dr. Stephen Nover, Director of the Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education (CAEBER). He is a well-known and well-respected deaf researcher in the field of language planning for ASL and English bilingual education. I have also enclosed a website about CAEBER for your information – http://www.nmsd.k12.nm.us/caeber/index.html. This will be a good opportunity for you to learn more about language planning and what you can do as parents and/or caregivers to facilitate and support your children’s language development – ASL and English.

If you have any questions or need more information, you may contact Maureen Burns, Assistant Principal and me.

May you have a restful winter break and blessed holiday season.

Sincerely,
Nancy Berrigan,
Literacy Coordinator