Ninon's Introduction

Hi, I am Niñon Shrigley Shesgreen. I am a teacher of high school students who are deaf and hard of hearing at Capuchino High School in San Bruno. I am a first year Doctoral student.

Professional Life
As mentioned, I am teacher of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. The students in my program are aged 13-22. Both speech and sign language are used to communicate. Most of the students that I work with receive a certificate of completion as opposed to a diploma and the focus of the program is heavily vocational. I am very fortunate to have a lot of freedom in terms of curriculum and teaching methods.

The individuals I serve are quite interesting for several reasons. First, demographically, an overwhelming majority are from other countries, specifically those where services are not easily accessible to individuals with disabilities. Next, many of the students did not have access to services until later in life- sometimes not until they were high school age and enter my classroom and are frequently from families that do not sign. I have many students who are acquiring their first language at a later stage in life. Thus, much of the focus of the class is on primary language development and eventual literacy. Finally, because their families are frequently unable to communicate with them, the classroom becomes the forum for all of life’s questions as well as independent skill development. The boundaries typified in a traditional classroom do not exist, as we only have a few precious years with the students to ready them for the world.

I started working with people with disabilities when I was 15 years old and living in Hong Kong. The lack of access to services in some countries – and at times our own country- has been made apparent to me. I am involved in the Deaf Vietnam project which aims to benefit the young deaf community of Vietnam.

Why a Doctorate
The doctorate is for many of the reasons broached above. Pardon the bullet points.
- Although I love teaching, I am interested in developing my career beyond the classroom and perhaps benefiting a larger number of individuals.

- I am fascinated with language development and learning for older students- specifically with developing curriculum materials that are appropriate yet stratified for the broad spectrum of learners typically served in a special education classroom.

- Finally, I hope a doctorate will afford me more opportunity to help more students- internationally- have earlier access to services.

Potential Project Topics
- Scaffolding
- Metacognition
- Everyday cognition
- Constructionism or Constructivism
- Schema theory