A recap of photos from a day in Gayle Robertson’s art class at the Oregon School for the Deaf on Friday, February 3, 2017.
Gayle Robertson, the arts and drama teacher at the Oregon School for the Deaf, lets her middle school students free draw on Fridays. While her class is working, she pulls students aside to watch them practice their poems for round one of the Poetry Out Loud contest happening in two weeks.
Robertson leads the Poetry Out Loud contest at OSD each year. The national contest has opened to American Sign Language speaking students in recent years; a step towards inclusion for the deaf community. Robertson accompanied a winning OSD student to the national competition in Washington D.C. in 2009.
While many of the young art students are shy about performing, one of Robertson’s most animated students gladly practiced her poem. Robertson said that when she first started at OSD, she had no language skills but knew how to communicate with her classmates with just a look in her eye.
The OSD student draws after reciting her poem to Robertson who says this contest has allowed her to break out of her shell.
After practicing several times in front of his ipad camera, this student was ready to show Gayle his poem. Gayle pulls up the poem on her computer screen to dissect the words and pick signs that would give the piece most justice. She helps him refine a part of the poem about a small seed that grows into a flower.
