My Students

Do you remember how you felt when you discovered a novel whose main character seemed exactly like you? My students keep searching for that book, and a Harry Potter book club will help them find it.

The students at my school come from across the state to attend a school designed just for them: the School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Many of the students come to us having experienced failure, frustration, and isolation in their public-school settings. Most of them lag behind their peers in academics, and many of them have never had friends who are just like them. When students arrive, they are introduced to peers and teachers who "get" them. Still challenging, however, is finding reading material to which they can relate--there are not a lot of deaf or blind heroes in literature.

My Project

Harry Potter, while not himself deaf or blind, is a great literary hero for my students to meet. There are many parallels between the wizard experience and the deaf experience. Harry finds himself the only Wizard in a Muggle family and attends a special residential school especially for Wizard kids. Likewise, the majority of my students are the only member of their families who are deaf and use sign language, and they, too, attend a residential school especially for Deaf kids. The story is similar for the blind/low-vision students. The Deaf world has its own heroes and villains, pure-bloods and Muggles and Squibs, and magic unique to the experience of growing up "different."

By supporting this project, you will open up a world where my students can relate to a notable literary character.

This opportunity could be the chance for my students to love reading, and more importantly, to love themselves.