Laurene Simms, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, M.A. Deaf Education program
Department of Education
I’m Laurene Simms. I work in the Department of Education at
Also, my job heavily involves visiting internship sites. These internships happen the last semester before the students’ graduation. I supervise the students at various locations, from mainstreamed programs to residential schools for the deaf and other sites. Sometimes with interns, it’s one-on-one, sometimes it is in a classroom setting, sometimes it is in a special program. There is a wide variation with these programs.
Additionally, I supervise international internships. Two years ago, I visited
Why do students come to our program at Gallaudet? A large percentage of them come for the culture and for ASL [American Sign Language]. The second reason they come is for the outstanding program we have in deaf education. They’re here for these two reasons primarily. Many undergraduate programs at other universities do not offer ASL classes. Or, perhaps they offer classes in which students learn just the vocabulary, not the real language. Even though some of these students arrive here having taken ASL classes, they’re not quite fluent due to lack of exposure to or interaction with deaf people.
So, they come here because they want to be immersed in this environment and to meet many deaf people. I think this is a good place to come before they become teachers and work with deaf children.
I have done different research projects, and there are quite a few interesting ones. My strongest focus, though, is on multiculturalism -- specifically, how teachers can infuse multiculturalism in the classroom curriculum, as opposed to having a traditional curriculum, and a separate multicultural unit. Having it separate isn’t what we want. We actually want to infuse it into the curriculum and make it an integral part of the whole curriculum. So, we have to expand the curriculum and keep expanding and incorporating it to the nine-month plan, instead of, for instance, having the month of February being specially Black History month, and March for something else. We really want it to be integrated year-round. That has been my main subject of interest in research.
I’m also interested in how teachers do a self-analysis on their pedagogy, particularly how their multicultural and cultural sensitivity is reflected through their behavior, teaching methods, classroom environment, plus the materials and curriculum. Admittedly, it's a huge challenge for teachers. Those are my research interests.
My advice to future teachers? Be true to yourself. Secondly, have a passion for teaching. Thirdly, be a change agent. Once you're in a school system, it's easy to get trapped and become a conformist. It's difficult to change a system. You have to persevere in order to make a difference for children. So, it's important to be true to yourself and to be an agent of change.
"To teach is to learn." It's the reason I have been teaching for many years. I’m always learning from my students. The more I learn from them, the more I realize how little I know. Even though I’ve formally studied for years, I’m continuing to learn from my students. That in turn enables me to be a better teacher, to improve upon ways to adapt to their needs. What I’ve previously known may be irrelevant and obsolete. So, having the right attitude is an important attribute for teachers. Teachers should go into the classroom prepared to learn.
What makes Gallaudet unique? Obviously, Gallaudet is the only liberal arts university in the world for the deaf. Also, there is direct communication here. I didn't graduate from here. I got my B.A. in elementary education from another university. Gallaudet back then didn't have that major. I got my Master's degree from another university as well, and my Ph.D, too. So, all three of my degrees were from other schools.
Then, I came to Gallaudet.
It is so different here from all the schools I attended because of direct communication. At other universities, I always had an interpreter as a go-between. Sure, I learned a lot. However, it's not the same as being here. There is more eye contact here, and more fluid conversations and discussions. There is a strong sense of culture and an unrivaled comfort level here.
Gallaudet truly is unique.
