ASL in a Nutshell

While this post is supposed to summarize my ASL learning, I feel like this will not be the end of my journey. Although my time learning ASL for this class has ended, this isn’t the end. However, let’s summarize what I have learned about ASL so far.

Week 1: The Introduction

This week, I chose the topic of ASL for my learning project and then did a little research on it. I even created a Google forms poll for my classmates to participate in! While researching, I across quite a few resources which included:

• Methods
• Learn How to Sign – YouTube channel
• ASL Basics Video
• ASL Apps

Week 2: It’s Time to Learn the Alphabet!

This week, I focused entirely on learning the ASL alphabet (which was quite tricky). I noticed that some of the letters in this alphabet were similar looking which can make future applications challenging. I even posed a few questions at the end of my blog post for my readers to respond to. Some resources used this week included:

• ASL Alphabet Photo
• ASL Alphabet Video

Week 3: The iMovie Learning Curve

This week I decided to document my knowledge of the ASL alphabet using iMovie. Since I have never used iMovie before, this was a brand new experience for me. There were a few issues along the way, but overall iMovie worked quite well for me. Some resources used this week included:

• Defining ASL
• iMovie
• SAMR Model
• ASL Alphabet Photo
• ASL Alphabet Video

Week 4: Smartphone Apps Can be Handy!

This week, I decided to look into some smartphone apps that can be used to learn ASL. I found four apps which included The ASL App, SignSchool, ASL American Sign Language, and ASL Search. This week, I decided to make the blog post only about The ASL App (otherwise it would’ve been a very long post). I used this app to learn the numbers 1-10 in ASL. The resources used this week included:

• The ASL App
• SignSchool
• ASL American Sign Language
• ASL Search
• Add Text
• Classmates Blog Post
• Filmmaker Pro
• YouTube

Week 5: Time to Attend School?

This week, I researched a smartphone app called Sign School. After using the app to learn some ASL, I compared it to the app from last week’s blog post (which was The ASL App). With this app, I learned the ASL greetings and documented my progress. Resources used this week included:

• Sign School
• The ASL App
• Dictionary Definition
• iMovie
• YouTube

Week 6: ASL Online?!

This was my final week of ASL documentation for this class. Since I was nearing the end of the semester, I had a hard time focusing. Therefore, I tried out some online ASL games. This was a different but fun experience while learning ASL. I even decided that this game could easily be incorporated into my classroom. Resources used this week included:

• ASL Fingerspelling Challenge Game
• ASL Alphabet
• SMART Board

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Any Main Takeaways?

There were a few takeaways that I had while learning ASL during this class. These takeaways include:

• Do not rush the learning. If you do not feel ready for the next step in learning ASL, take your time and only move on when ready to do so.
• ASL would be an amazing addition to teach to students in my own classroom.
• Ensure that you are confident in the ASL alphabet before moving onto the next thing.
• Lastly, have fun while learning ASL. It can be challenging to learn something new, but incorporating several fun resources to the learning truly helps keep you motivated!

I am not ready to finish learning ASL. While I may not document it as much on my blog now, I will still further my learning. I hope to continue using the smartphone apps that I have discovered this semester along with other resources. This journey does not end here!

I would just like to finish off this blog post by thanking my readers for tagging along on my ASL journey. I hope that you have been able to learn at least one thing from my experience. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my posts!