A language I need to just know.

[Alyx Hodges]

Hello! I am 32 and a Montessori Upper Elementary teacher of 4th-6th graders located outside Seattle, WA. 

In college I majored in Sign Language interpreting for about 1.5 years before I realized it wasn't quite the right major for me. I absolutely loved holding conversations in ASL, but I really struggled balancing taking sounds in while simultaneously signing. I later was diagnosed with ADHD and learned more about my brain, and that my brain has a really hard time holding words and messages in a holding space. I naturally gravitated towards education thinking about maybe venturing into Deaf Education after my Language and Culture in the Deaf Community class when I did my term paper on the history of Deaf Education. Along my journey into exploring various education paths I ran across Montessori and fell in love! Now, I have completely happy teaching, but I'm missing my connection to those in the Deaf community, and talking with my hands. When I worked customer service in college, I loved having a Deaf customer whom I could talk with in ASL, but now as a teacher I never have those students since my school isn't a Deaf school.

I don't want to lose this language. I want to be there to understand any Deaf individual who needs to be heard.