When Angela Papa and Emilie Ross walk into their American Sign Language seminar, they don’t throw their books down and take a seat in the semi-circle of desks. Instead, the juniors scuttle to the front of the room. Angela leans against the long black lecture table while Emilie fusses with the projector — because this is their class, as in, Angela and Emilie teach this class, as in, yes, undergraduate students are grading exams.
The pair teaches Introduction to American Sign, a class you may have stumbled upon on CAESAR as CMN 396-22: Student-Organized Seminar. According to Angela, a Communication student, and Emilie, who’s in Weinberg, they never intended to play professor to the 16 students who show up to Frances Searle 3-220 every Monday and Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Rather, Angela and Emilie have been the co-presidents of the American Sign Language Club for two years, where they spread awareness about the language, deaf culture and practice signing.
But the group’s chief goal has been Northwestern’s recognition of American Sign Language as an official language. Angela and Emilie’s lobbying efforts won them a seminar class sponsored by the Communication Sciences and Disorders department that students can take for elective credit — and, oh yeah, that Angela and Emilie teach.
Next quarter, Medill sophomore Tania Karas will be teaching the class (officially, the instructor has been and is Chuck Larson), but the founding duo says they’ll definitely be around to help Tania out. But in the meantime, they’ve got a final exam to plan. Hear from Angela and Emilie themselves on what it takes to be a teacher, and why bored-looking students isn’t necessarily a bad sign (really!).
Full disclosure: Tania Karas writes for North by Northwestern.