OCTOBER MONTHLY REFLECTION

Micah HinsonPeriod 3October 30, 2013

GOALS FOR THIS MONTHMy goals for this month were to edit “We Shall

Overcome” and “Overcomer” to a point where I can sign both without hesitation. For President Johnson’s speech, I really wanted to try and simplify larger words to something I understood and that was easier to sign. For example, dignity was changed to respect. (One thing that I had to keep in mind as my mentor and I were glossing words, was that not all words have a sign.) For ‘Overcomer”, I wanted to fit signs with the song beat. There are some signs that I could’ve done, but they didn’t match the lyrics and/or tempo of the song… like the literal sign for overcomer.

MENTORPeggy and I only met once this month, but we got a

lot done. We spent 45 minutes going over the speech I am signing and glossing it. We were able to use the videos I taped last month to correct mistakes in the first part of the speech. Peggy showed me words that I was signing literally and what should be signed. Also, she talked about honorific names and how are signed differently. If I am referring to God, I won’t point with one finger, I would use a flat, face up palm. We also worked on “Overcomer” by Mandisa. In this song we worked on coming up with signs to match the lyrics and beat. For example, I won’t be signing the literal word overcomer because the sign doesn’t match the song’s message.

WHAT I LEARNEDI learned a lot this month! The first thing I learned

was glossing. This is when interpreters go through a piece of writing or a song and put the sign word next to the word or lyric. Next, Peggy taught me about honorific signs. In the speech when I was referring to God, I was just pointing with my index finger, but I needed to be using my palm. When writing on paper which word is honorific, it looks like this, (H). Also, I learned that if I sign a place and then refer to it again later on I can point to where it is. That way, when I refer to it again, I won’t need to sign the whole thing again, I will simply just gesture to where I indicated that place to be earlier.

PROGRESSOne of the major

things that helped me this month was the videos that I taped last month. That is why they are included here. Also, there are pictures of the notes I took and the glossings done to both the speech and song.

These are words that Peggy and I glossed and words that are new/different from what I originally signed in the speech.

These are the edits that Peggy and I made on the song “Overcomer” by Mandisa. While it doesn’t look like a lot, it took us 45 minutes to get half the song glossed. Glossing is hard work because there can be so many different possibilities. Songs are especially difficult because of all the different meanings they can have.

These are the glossings Peggy and I did for “We Shall Overcome”. Speeches are difficult to sign because of all the political, big and fancy words. Another problem with speeches is proper nouns and having to finger spell a lot of long words. For example, in this speech, I have to spell out Lexington, Concord and Appomattox.

NOVEMBER GOALSMy goals for November are to be 100%

accurate with the glossings in both the song and speech. It is really important that I practice frequently or else I could lose all the signing momentum I have accumulated. Also, I need to work on my finger spelling. I want to be able to finger spell Lexington, Concord and Appomattox with out having to stop or restart. Finger spelling is really important in sign language because of all the proper nouns and unfamiliar words that one might encounter.

WORKS CITED "American Sign Language (ASL)." American Sign

Language (ASL). ASL University, 20 July 2007. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/ily.htm>.

Butterworth, Rod R., and Mickey Flodin. Signing Made Easy: A Complete Program for Learning Sign Language, Includes Sentence Drills and

Exercises for Increased Comprehension and Signing Skill. New York, NY: Perigee, 1989. Print.

Flodin, Mickey. Signing for Kids: The Fun Way for Anyone to Learn American Sign Language. New York: Perigree, 1991. Print.

WORKS CITED "Mandisa - Overcomer (Lyric Video)." YouTube.

YouTube, 09 July 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29olPjFbqg>.

Stewart, David Alan. American Sign Language the Easy Way. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's

Educational Series, 1998. Print.

Jackson, David. "White House: Review Will Address Global NSA Concerns." USA Today. Gannett, 28 Oct.

2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.usatoday.com/ story/news/world/2013/10/28/obama-national-security-

agency-surveillance-germany-merkel/3286709/>.