Sunday, April 24, 2016

Once Upon a Time...

I recently returned from the Oklahoma Education Association Delegate Assembly. It's an annual meeting where delegates chosen from local associations meet to conduct business and decide the direction of the association for the following year.

I submitted 2 new business items to the delegates for consideration:

Motion:
I move that OEA, through existing publications, share current information and research about hearing health with members to raise awareness about noise decibels in the classroom and ways to make classrooms and schools more hearing friendly.

           Rationale: Current research has shown that due to the immature neurological development of children, the level of ambient noise, and reverberated sound in the classroom, children only hear about 70 – 75% of all that the teacher says. By raising awareness about how noise decibels affect student learning and hearing health, teachers can make their classrooms more hearing friendly – raising student achievement and protecting the hearing of children and adults in schools.
   
          Maker: Bonnie Stone, Tulsa Metro A/B
          Second: Suzette Hightower, Tulsa Metro A/B

Motion:
I move that OEA, through existing publications, share current information and research about how to recognize symptoms of hearing loss in students.

            Rationale: In Oklahoma public schools, students only receive a hearing assessment if the parent grants permission. Unlike vision difficulties, hearing loss manifests itself in ways that are not easily visible or recognized by educators. Hearing loss is often misinterpreted as loss of focus, ADD, poor listening, and/or learning disability. By raising awareness of the symptoms of hearing loss in our students, teachers can more readily be able to advocate for student needs.

            Maker: Bonnie Stone, Tulsa Metro A/B
            Second: Suzette Hightower, Tulsa Metro A/B
Both passed unanimously.

Both are subjects I have grown passionate about since losing my own hearing. My advocacy for students with hearing loss has now grown beyond my own little school into the greater realm of my association. At the very least, 261 delegates have heard my story about the little boy with profound hearing loss who'd been misdiagnosed with a learning disability until he became my student...and they will carry those words -- consciously or subconsciously -- with them forever. They will affect changes in their teaching. And they will affect changes in their schools and in their profession.

The glorious and storybook ending to the day is that our association's vice president wants to take my 2nd motion to the National Education Association as a new business item when the national delegation convenes in July of this year.

Maybe it's not a storybook ending, after all. Maybe it's just the beginning ---

Once upon a time, there was a teacher with hearing loss who met a little boy...


(You can read more about my student in this blog under the October, 2014 posts "Seeing" https://bonniestone.blogspot.com/2014/10/seeing.html and "Seeing: An Addendum".  https://bonniestone.blogspot.com/2014/10/seeing-addendum.html  A follow up post, "Monday" https://bonniestone.blogspot.com/2015/02/monday.html is found in February, 2015.)
     



2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I know. I am just sorry I will not be the one who is at NEA-RA to move this motion. I asked that my student's story be shared in granting permission for my motion to be taken to RA. People need to know.

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