OMAHA (KPTM) – He has three years of teaching experience, but when he was hired at Iowa School for the Deaf, Scott Versch had almost no knowledge on how to communicate using sign language.
The newly hired Metal Shop teacher has two years to get up to and maintain the level he needs to be at in order to keep his job. Staff and students at ISD are confident this won't be a problem. Communication is crucial when teaching more than 25 students how to weld. Especially when the students use sign language and the teacher does not.
Versch said he has past experience communicating with Sign Language. In high school he often attended classes at ISD when his school didn't offer them. "As soon as you get immersed in the culture and you're exposed to it all the time, if you're open to it and you want to learn how to do it, it's not impossible," Versch said. "It's not hard at all actually."
Those experiences and his driven mindset contributed to the superintendent's decision to hire Versch. "He's a very motivated learner," Patrick Clancy said. "I've observed him to really take some steps to get better fairly quick."
Clancy said the school provides an interpreter at all times inside Versch's classes just in case he needs help communicating with his students. Versch said he tries his best not to depend on interpreter assistance unless he absolutely does not know a word or phrase.
"I want them to know that I'm trying. If I constantly cop out and I use the interpreter as a crutch I miss out on learning that sign." D.J. Meyer knows that Versch was trying. The junior said he appreciates Versch's effort.
"He's getting better and better everyday and I teach him myself," Meyer said. "His style of teaching is fascinating to me and that's what made me come back to the metal shop again." Versch is responsible for five classes. He is the teacher in four of them. In the other class, he is the student learning American Sign Language. ...READ MORE: http://www.kptm.com/story/21880962/teacher-learns-sign-language-for-students
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