An Activity in the School Interpreting Series
The School Interpreting Series (2026) was a 16-credit-hour, six-course series focused on the interpreting specialization for K-12 schools within the ASL-English Interpretation BA program at the University of Northern Colorado.
The School Interpreting Series acknowledges that school interpreters work within layered educational systems shaped by laws, policies, instructional practices, classroom goals, and students' diverse learning needs. Learning is influenced by many factors, including language access, cognition, identity, disability, classroom environment, student engagement, and the instructional decisions made by educational teams. For school interpreters, knowledge of learning is essential because interpreting practice is connected to how students access content, participate in classroom interactions, and progress toward educational goals. Interpreting practice does not exist apart from teaching and learning; it is shaped by the classroom, the curriculum, the student, the educational team, and the broader school system.
To this end, the Learning Graphic was a foundational activity of the School Interpreting Series. This page consolidates the School Interpreting Series curriculum to highlight one approach to helping school interpreters synthesize the goal of the classroom, define learning and its critical components, identify factors that impact student learning, and consider how Deaf and hard of hearing students’ learning connects to the work of school interpreting.
Overview
Learning was presented in the course content and materials throughout the School Interpreting Series as a central part of school interpreting practice. Interpreting students engaged with ideas about learning by creating a Learning Graphic to demonstrate their knowledge of classroom goals, critical components of learning, factors that influence student learning, and considerations connected to Deaf and hard of hearing students. The Learning Graphic invited interpreting students to synthesize course concepts visually and explain how learning connects to school interpreting, student access, and the work of the educational team.
Current educational themes included topics like:
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Classroom goals and educational purpose
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Definitions and critical components of learning
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Factors that may influence learning, such as sleep, attention, environment, access, motivation, and prior knowledge
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Educational research related to cognition, language, and child development
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Deaf education and culturally responsive teaching practices
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Learning theories and instructional methods used in K-12 classrooms
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Considerations for Deaf and hard of hearing students, including language access, visual attention, incidental learning, assistive technology, accommodations, and collaboration with educational professionals
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The school interpreter’s role in supporting access, interaction, engagement, and educational goals
Learning Scaffolding & Objectives
Learning was intentionally scaffolded across the School Interpreting Series through introduction (I), reinforcement (R), mastery in applied contexts (M), and structured assessments (A), creating clear learning pathways from program-level competencies to course-level objectives, assignments, and activities.
The Learning Graphic aligns to the program-level competencies. Through this assignment, interpreting students synthesize knowledge about classroom goals, learning processes, factors that influence student learning, and considerations specific to Deaf and hard of hearing students in ways that connect directly to the work of school interpreting.
SIS C1. Analyze educational laws, state regulations, and school protocols that influence U.S. public educational systems and structures, ultimately impacting deaf and hard of hearing students and the support provided by educational professionals. (Knowledge)
SIS C2. Integrate child and language development knowledge into the educational experiences and interactions of a diverse body of deaf and hard of hearing students across their academic years. (Knowledge, Skill, & Attitude)
SIS C7. Advocate respectfully for working and learning environments that result in conditions that foster individual student success and empowerment. (Knowledge & Skill)
Interpreting students developed SIS C1 (K-12 Systems & Structures), C2 (Child & Language Development), and C7 (Student Success & Empowerment) through the following course-level objectives, scaffolded across the School Interpreting Series.
Synthesize how learning occurs through a broader educational lens and how classroom goals, student development, access needs, and instructional conditions impact professionals, Deaf and hard of hearing students, and their families in education.
I - Introduction to School Interpreting
R - Systems and Structures for School Interpreting
R/M - An Interdisciplinary Approach to School Interpreting I & Childhood Development for School Interpreting
Describe how a school interpreter contributes to student access, classroom participation, and educational team collaboration because of knowledge of learning, child and language development, instructional goals, and the learning needs of Deaf and hard of hearing students.
M - An Interdisciplinary Approach to School Interpreting I & Childhood Development for School Interpreting
A - Program to Practice for School Interpreting
Insights
Learning Graphics are visual, accessible syntheses of how learning happens within classroom environments and how school interpreters support access to that learning. Through the Learning Graphic assignment, interpreting students connect classroom goals, critical components of learning, factors that influence student growth, and considerations specific to Deaf and hard of hearing students. This learning sequence invites interpreting students to move beyond viewing interpreting as language transfer alone and instead recognize how interpreting decisions are shaped by instructional goals, student needs, classroom conditions, and the broader educational team.
The Learning Graphic emphasizes both the learning process itself and the professional perspective of the school interpreter as a Related Service Provider within the educational system.
School interpreters consider how classroom goals, student development, learning conditions, and Deaf and hard of hearing students’ access needs inform and strengthen their practices, interactions, and contributions on educational teams.
By supporting a shared view of how students learn across professionals, Deaf and hard of hearing students, and families, the Learning Graphic highlights the connected nature of classroom learning, educational access, and team collaboration. This visual synthesis promotes the knowledge and skills reflected in SIS C2: Child and Language Development, SIS C5: Interpreting and Related Services, and SIS C7: Student Success and Empowerment.
Approaches to Activity (including Rubrics)
The Learning Graphic sequence was intentionally visual and integrative, with interpreting students using a combination of text, images, symbols, layout, and design choices to represent how learning occurs in classroom environments. As interpreting students moved through course materials on educational systems, child and language development, instructional practices, Deaf education, and access, they were encouraged to create a graphic format that best communicated the relationship between learning and school interpreting.
Learning Graphics followed a consistent structure: identification of the classroom goal, a definition of learning and its critical components, three to five factors that may affect student learning, and three to five considerations about Deaf and hard of hearing students’ learning that are important to school interpreting. This consistency supported deeper synthesis of course content, while the visual nature of the activity encouraged interpreting students to organize, connect, and communicate learning in a clear and accessible way.
A Learning Graphic presents a visual synthesis of learning through an educational, student-centered, and systems-oriented lens.
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Identify the classroom goal by naming the purpose of the learning environment and clarifying what students are expected to know, do, or experience. (Report)
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Define learning by explaining what learning means and identifying the critical components that support student growth, access, engagement, and meaning-making. (Relate)
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Examine factors that influence learning by describing three to five conditions that may affect how students participate, process information, and demonstrate knowledge within classroom environments. (Respond & Relate)
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Analyze considerations for Deaf and hard of hearing students by connecting learning, language access, visual attention, instructional design, accommodations, and collaboration to the school interpreter’s role within the educational team. (Reason & Reconstruct)
School Interpreting Websites were created by Preparing School Interpreters (PSI) Scholars as part of a capstone project across the School Interpreting Series. Two websites and two image files are shared as examples of student work and are used with the creators' permission.