Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advance Access published online on July 9, 2008
The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, doi:10.1093/deafed/enn026
Stories for the Living
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
R. Luczak (Ed.). (2007). When I am dead: The writings of George M. Teegarden. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. 167 pages. Paperback. $29.95.
As an aging educator, the prospect of reviewing a book entitled When I am Dead was a bit disconcerting. But exploring this book was well worth the discomfort. The majority of the book consists of the writings of George M. Teegarden, an 1876 graduate of Gallaudet College and a long-time teacher at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.
The book is divided into three parts: a letter to the author from the editor, Teegarden's stories, and Teegarden's poems. I loved all the stories. They were an assortment of history, science, mythology, fables, and urban legends. As Raymond Luczak, the editor of this book, notes, Teegarden wrote "as a person who had to communicate in both English and American Sign Language every day." These stories are straightforward, high-interest stories that anyone can enjoy. Unlike "high-interest" stories, written at "low reading" levels, these stories are accessible and well suited to a bilingual program. They offer the opportunity for students whose first language is American Sign Language to read and see the connections between the two languages. They are old fashioned, yes, but not patronizing. They give the reader sufficient context to be able to mine them for meaning and see models of accessible writing in English that is not in subject-verb-object order.
For me, reading these stories was like being a fly on the wall in a classroom of deaf students. The deaf teacher is standing in the front of the class and telling a story, seemingly off the top of his head. The pupils are in rapt attention, watching the story of "Hiram's Cow" or The Gentleman and the Banana Peel or Yellow Hair and Blue Eyes. These stories feel like old-time urban legends, one being the story of how a captured bear became tame and was referred to by the neighbors as "Hiram's Cow" and the other is the story of a man who had tripped on a banana peel and subsequently always picked up banana peels on the street so the same fate would not befall others. The last is an instructional tale about a boy who tried to trade his raven-haired baby sister for one with yellow hair and blue eyes. These narratives are highly unlikely, but nevertheless entertaining to read or to see. Others are variations on fairy tales and a story of talking furniture that can inspire creativity in children, hearing or deaf. There are history and geography lessons that inform: Venice, Ben Franklin, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. There are personal stories with descriptions: Missive to Alice and A Pleasant Summer Trip.
I found the introductory letter to Teegarden from the editor to be less captivating. It reminded me of the best man's toast at a wedding that was more about the best man than the groom. Reading these delightful stories made me want to know more about George Teegarden's life and I felt I learned more about him in his own brief article about his connections with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf than I did in Luczak's commentary. I do share Luczak's enthusiasm for Teegarden's work and I am very grateful that he has put together this volume.
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