The Graduation to Certification (GTC) program from the CATIE Center at St. Catherine University is continuing to identify strategies and develop resources to support novice interpreters as they enter the field. This article has the following:
- Resources you can use and share with your students and novice interpreters you work with
- Learning opportunities you can take part in.
- An update on our program development.
The GTC Resource Library and Journey track are two things that you can use and share with your students (and others) to give them support and structure as they leave school.
GTC Resource Library
The GTC Resource library currently has over 170 resources for educators and students that are searchable through filters. This includes resources that include a number of short ASL texts from signers from diverse backgrounds. These texts include both English and Spanish written summaries. We also are breathing new life into some of the grant-produced resources from past RSA projects. Be sure to check out the activities we are creating to engage novice interpreters with the material in ways that take advantage of research on effective learning and practice.
GTC Journey Track
This year, we added the GTC Journey track that is open to anyone who is interested in working with resources we develop. Members of the Journey track can use these resources with other Journey track members or independently. To date, we have shared a course on Effective Learning and Practice and an Introduction to the GTC Resource Library in the form of an online scavenger hunt.
Please recommend the GTC Journey Track to your graduating seniors. If you are interested in seeing what it looks like or if you want to consider using the getting free GTC Journey Track resources in to include with your teaching or mentoring, please sign up at: https://live-grad2cert.pantheonsite.io/gtc-journey-track/
Sample Plan for Fingerspelled Word Recognition, Classifiers, and Composure
One of the elements of the GTC program is developing an Individual Development Plan (IDP). In the coming months, we will be releasing a process for doing that with step by step explanations. In creating the process, we developed a sample IDP focused on two competencies that are common challenges for novice interpreters: classifiers and fingerspelled word recognition.
This plan provides day by day activities for novice interpreters. The plan is based on work on that incorporates insights from principles of research into effective learning and deliberate practice. It uses the concepts from Taylor (2017,2002) about knowledge-rich and knowledge-lean skills – as well as the concepts of spaced learning and interleaving (Brown, et al., 2014).
We invite you to check out the plan as a way to get to know more of what is contained in the GTC Resource library. Your students may also use it independently or as part of a course.
Create a copy of the plan in Google Docs.
(You can download it as a Word doc or PDF if you would like.)
MORE GTC PROGRAMS
The 2018 GTC Pilot
The CATIE Center at St. Catherine University continues its work on the Graduation to Certification program. Last year, our pilot cohort included 14 participants. We also had 14 participants in our comparison group. We are still collecting and analyzing the results of that work including pre and post assessments.
GTC Academic Track
In 2019, we are expanding our pilot program to three locations. . Collaborating with three institutions, we have three separate cohorts in the GTC Academic track. The three programs are Rochester Institute of Technology’s Disability Services Apprenticeship program as well as the interpreting programs at St. Catherine University University of North Carolina – Greensboro. Working with other programs is helping us see what components of our program are transferable and sustainable and which need to be adapted.
GTC Assessment Track
To help with assessing the effectiveness of our program, we have a group of people in the GTC Assessment track who are taking the same pre- and post-assessments as the GTC Academic track (including the new CASLI certification exam.) This track was called the Comparison Group in 2018.
GTC Pilot Deaf Interpreter Cohort
The CATIE Center is working with a cohort of five Deaf interpreters in Minnesota to pilot approaches for supporting DIs on their journey to certification. This includes developing a significant number of resources to be available for DI training. Check out the GTC Resource Library as the resources focused on DIs continues to grow.
REFERENCES
Taylor, M. (2017). Interpretation Skills: English to American Sign Language. Edmonton: Interpreting Consolidated.
Taylor, M. (2002). Interpretation Skills: American Sign Language to English. Edmonton: Interpreting Consolidated.
Brown, P., Roediger, H., & McDaniel, M. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
