Starting with kindergartners and preschoolers, we introduce the concept of the interpreter's and the teacher's jobs, and the theme is woven into many of the Connection lessons throughout the year. We also emphasize the students' own job, which is the responsibility to attend school and learn. Starting a lesson we ask: "What's this person's name? What's her job? What does she do here at school that is special and that helps you?" At this level, the role of the interpreter is defined as the person whose job it is to sign what the teacher says and voice what the deaf student signs; the interpreter does not give answers or repeat directions when they are in the interpreter role. We note that the tutoring role that interpreters often assume is separate; when interpreters are tutoring, they are not interpreting. For the youngest students, interpreters don smocks to interpret and take them off to tutor thus making their change in roles clearly visible.

Through explanation, role play and questions within the controlled setting of the classroom for deaf students, we are able to clarify step by step the activities that occur in the faster paced mainstream classroom. Deaf students often may be accustomed to a setting where all the students and teachers sign for themselves. On entering the mainstream setting, the deaf students must work with an interpreter to participate in classroom activities and discussions. This may be a confusing transition. For example, in one instance when the mainstream teacher told the class, "Time to clean up," while standing across the room with her back to the students, the deaf student misunderstood-thinking that the instruction to clean up was coming from her interpreter. "No, I really want to finish this," she replied. A discussion could have ensued, but there was no time; the mainstream teacher was ready to move quickly to a new activity. Fortunately the interpreter realized the student's confusion and this incident became one of our lessons during our Connection Time.

We found that when our students did not understand what was happening in the mainstream, often their first impulse was to look to other students for visual verification of what to do. This could quickly lead to copying without comprehension. As other students in the class don't always have the right answers, the deaf students need to trust their own knowledge. "Think for yourself!" has become an important phrase in our lessons.

Although we emphasize the importance of paying attention to the interpreter, we also realize that 100% attention is impossible. Requesting clarification is an important skill for our students to learn. We teach that it is the teacher's job to explain missed information, not the interpreter's. If there is a sign that the students don't understand, it is appropriate for them to request clarification from the interpreter. These concepts are incorporated into a series of lessons that involve the 'who,' 'when,' and 'how' of requesting clarification. The 'who' means going to the teacher for information related to academic and classroom activities and to the interpreter for sign language information. The 'when' means finding an appropriate break in the class to do this, and the 'how' concerns ways of appropriately interrupting. There are times when it is appropriate for the interpreter to hold information until the student can look up from his or her work. However, if the student is talking or doodling on paper then the student needs to assume the responsibility and accept the consequences. The interpreter has to walk a very fine line of not becoming the deaf student's memory which can lead to dependency.

If inattention leads to a need for clarification, students need to learn that it's okay-everyone makes mistakes. The world does not come to an end! Self-esteem and confidence grow as they pick themselves up and try to do better the next time. Deaf students need to learn that they have a right to understand when people who do not know sign language are trying to communicate with them. In a "when" and "how" role play, we ask people who do not know sign language to come into the classroom of deaf students and talk with our students while teacher and interpreter pretend to be busy elsewhere. Students learn that it is appropriate to seek out and request interpreting services.

Then the lesson is augmented in their mainstream classrooms. For the next few days or weeks, both the teacher and the interpreter find opportunities to prompt the children to recognize that an interpreter's services are needed in specific situations or activities. This situation frequently occurs very naturally when you have two or more deaf students in the same classroom working in different activity groups. The students can learn to determine which group needs interpreter services, such as a reading group versus independent computer work. These lessons give the responsibility of requesting services to the students, empowering them to be in control of their own lives.

We found that flexibility was one of the key factors that needed to be taught in our Connection Time. There are many complex factors in the transition from the intimate classroom for deaf students to the environment of the mainstream. In the mainstream there are larger groups, rotating classes, new teachers, unfamiliar classmates, each with demands and expectations. Many of our lessons revolve around specific events that have happened or will happen in the classroom. By role playing these events, students learn to keep up. Some of the issues we address are grading papers as a class, visually tracking-both vertically horizontally-watching movies and filmstrips, taking turns, waiting for the question to be completed, copying from the board, and reading fingerspelling and numbers.

Another issue regarding flexibility is teaching that individuals may make different sign choices and have different signing styles. This is particularly relevant for younger children, who have only experienced one or two teachers and whose families are just beginning to learn sign. There is a tendency for these students to become rigid in their sign language vocabulary. Working with the preschool teacher, interpreters go into the all-deaf classroom, exposing even the youngest children to a variety of sign styles and vocabulary choices. We encourage the children to be aware that there are different signs for the same concept and different ways of putting signs together, just as in spoken language. When an older child has a hard time accepting sign synonyms, they are challenged to see if they can collect new signs, much the same way some people collect stamps or match box cars. In this game, the children step into the teacher role to show their new signs to others. This results in everyone expanding their sign vocabulary.

Our Connection Time has become an important part of our program and we have made an effort to squeeze it into our busy schedules. When we succeed and our students have a true understanding of a situation and assume responsibility, there is growth in their confidence and self-esteem. With increased responsibility, students become aware of their options. Our ultimate goal is to foster the deaf students' independence while working with interpreters, encouraging them to advocate for themselves, and enabling them to have a successful school experience.

Bibliography

Davies, S. N. (1991). The Transition Towards Bilingual Education of Deaf Children in Sweden and Denmark: Perspective on Language, Gallaudet Research Institute Occasional Paper, 91-1.

Hayes, L. P. (1993). Clarifying the role of classroom interpreters. Perspectives in Education and Deafness 11 (5).

Holcomb, T. K., Coryell, J., Rosenfield, E. (1992). Designing a supportive mainstream environment. Perspectives in Education and Deafness, 10 (4), 17-19.

Johnson, R.E., Liddell, S. K., Erting C. J. (1989). Unlocking the curriculum: Principles for achieving access in deaf education, Department of Linguistics and Interpreting and the Gallaudet Research Institute, Working Paper, 89-3.

Stuckless, E. R., Avery, J., Hurwitz, A. (Eds.). (1989). Educational Interpreting for deaf students, report on National Task Force on Educational Interpreting, Rochester Institute of Technology, NTID: Rochester, NY.