Personal Statement For Deaf Education

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First and foremost, my dream and career goals have always been centered on being an ally to the Deaf community since I began learning sign language almost a decade ago. My college career has focused on ASL, Deaf culture, the Deaf community and their history. I feel at home and at ease in this space. My goal for this program is to gain new skills as a teacher while continuing to learn from the vibrant Deaf community of America. Even though a majority of my work experience from the last five years is in early childhood education, I only recently (within the year) decided to pursue a teaching credential. I love my job as a D/HH para educator but I want to take on a larger role in these kids lives. It is my opinion that Deaf education is misunderstood …show more content…

The CSUN campus was amazing. I was able to expand my knowledge of topics that interested me like Deaf literature, Deaf history, ASL linguistics, etc. In addition, I was offered positive Deaf spaces, I was able to meet new and diverse people (teachers, students and other faculty) and I could attend fantastic workshops with speakers that talked about unique subjects such as international sign language, the Deaf Art Movement and the Deaf community in Europe during WWII. Aside from the Deaf Studies program, I was allowed to explore other areas that have always interested me and added to my education. This was becoming a part of the Jewish Studies program. That experience resulted in a scholarship, an internship at a Jewish Community preschool and a trip to Poland. What made CSUN unique was not only the opportunities it gave me as a student but that the Deaf Studies program focused on education in culture. This meant explaining and exploring intersectionality between communities, understanding privilege and how people can identify themselves in this world. I can’t imagine receiving these experiences anywhere …show more content…

I focused on education because that is where I felt most qualified and because I enjoyed the idea of working with young children everyday. I was able to find employment in the Mountain Empire Unified School District working as a D/HH teacher’s aid and I work there to this day. Recently, I applied into the San Diego Mesa College Interpreting program. I started out with two classes and decided to see how the semester would go and if I would want to continue or pursue my masters in Deaf Education. Both career options were important to me but as a working single mother, I believed that the best option for me would present itself later on. I enjoyed being back in school and what the courses had to offer but was frustrated with the structure of the program. I felt that with the many things going on in my life, that it was not the path I wanted to take at the time. Becoming a teacher and furthering my career as an educator seemed more appealing and more rewarding to me. In time, the choice was clear. I wanted to become a

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