Daniel Greene

Author: Daniel Greene

  • Sample of my interpreting & transliterating

    Looking back a year later, I feel even more strongly about the benefits of using work samples for assessment. My idea in sharing this was that interpreters and students of interpreting could assess my work for their own benefit. Someone I knew accused me of narcissism and mocked me for “bestowing my work upon the world for their edification,” but that’s exactly what it’s for. Our professor in our current Assessment for Interpreter Educators course suggested several interpreting samples for us to watch on YouTube and assess using a freewrite. One of the beauties of the process is that you can say exactly what you think and feel without hurting the feelings of the person whose work you’re assessing, because you’re not even talking to the person; you’re just writing to yourself. (Ultimately the goal is to use non-evaluative language to reflect what you saw in the work, but the freewrite is an uncensored expression of your observations.) This was the kind of thing I had in mind when I shared this sample of my interpreting & transliterating. I don’t want feedback on this sample for myself, but I kind of love the idea of your assessing it on your own or in a classroom or study group. Maybe I’m not a narcissist but rather an exhibitionist; no matter. Love it, hate it, like it, dislike it, agree with it, disagree with it, learn/teach what to do and what not to do… talk to yourself or talk amongst yourselves.

    Daniel Greene's avatarDaniel Greene

    As an assignment for the Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies at Western Oregon University (WOU MAIS), I completed a videotaping of myself spending about 20 minutes interpreting a source text I had not heard before: Simon Lewis’s talk “Don’t take consciousness for granted,” at TED.com. There is an interactive transcript that you can view by following the link.

    I would like to think this is not a sample of my best work, but I am humble enough to accept that there are times when this is the best I can do with such an unfamiliar topic and fast pace.

    Here are some facts about me and the circumstances under which this sample was recorded:

    View original post 310 more words

  • Sexting revisited

    I just saw a video of Dan Savage’s thoughts on sexting, and it reminded me of my blog post on sexting that was published in a book on the subject. One funny thing that has come up since then is the Anthony Weiner (not Wiener) sexting story, in which — contrary to Savage’s forecast — there is a big deal made about a guy sexting his dick. I wonder if Savage is right that everyone will have a “dirty picture of themselves” online some day. I don’t know. Will we, as Savage predicts, elect a president who has a pornographic photo of themselves online? I don’t see why not. Eventually things get out of control and no one cares anymore.

  • Silent Weekend via Western Region Interpreter Education Center

    Two weeks to Silent Weekend at Western Oregon University, and it’s not too late to register! I’m not presenting this time, but some of my MAIS cohort are, so take advantage of fresh scholarship!

    Annual Silent Weekend

    The Western Region Interpreter Education Center and Western Oregon University are co-hosting the fourth annual Silent Weekend immersion experience at Western Oregon University, July 20-22nd.

    Save the Date for the 2012 Silent Weekend: July 20th – 22nd

    Silent weekend is conducted completely in American Sign Language (ASL). The event is for Deaf and hearing students, interpreters, interpreter educators, and ASL instructors. It is held at Western Oregon University during the summer.

    Attendees can choose from two possible tracks with corresponding workshops. The first is interpreter professional development, which is for working and pre-professional interpreters. The second track is for students and community members to develop their ASL skills and learn linguistic features of the language.

    There are opportunities to earn up to 1.4 CEUs during this weekend. If you are looking for some worthwhile workshops, some great entertainment, and a chance to sharpen your skills then Silent Weekend is for you!

    Registration Form and Agenda: PDF | MSWord

    Workshop Abstracts: PDF

    For more information regarding Silent Weekend, contact CM Hall at hallcm@wou.edu.

    via WRIEC: Western Region Interpreter Education Center.

  • First workshop on Google+ Hangout a success

    Online participant’s view of Fostering Independence workshop conducted in a Google+ Hangout

    Learning from colleagues via Daniel Greene’s workshop… all from the comfort of my home while my daughter naps. Amazing technology!

    –online participant

    Introduction

    Yesterday, I included online participants in one of my workshops for the first time. I had used the technology in my teaching practicum last quarter in grad school, but this was the first time I used a Google+ Hangout to give a three-hour workshop as a solo presenter. We had a small turnout for this one, including two participants online and three participants on site. The two online participants connected separately, I had my own connection, and the three onsite participants had two laptops between them, so we had a total of five video connections. A Hangout will hold ten video connections, so we could have had five more Google+ Hangout participants — six more if we had only used one connection for all the onsite participants. And of course we could have had more onsite participants.

    Methods

    I advertised the Google+ Hangout on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and my blog two days before the event. I had online participants register with the site coordinator and pay me directly via PayPal. I had the participants check to see that they had Google+ accounts and send me their Gmail addresses so I could find them on Google+ and add them to a Circle. The site coordinator emailed my handouts and slides to the online participants as PDFs so they could follow along on their screen or print them as they saw fit. She also got the participants’ details so she could process CEUs. The onsite participants had my handouts printed, and I also showed my slideshow on the screen behind me.  I conducted the workshop in English, and in addition to using the Hangout for talking, I used the Hangout YouTube app to show a video to the participants. I could have used the Slideshare app to share my slides as well, but I wanted to keep it simple and not “tempt fate” by overloading the system. I told my students I would start a new Hangout and invite them if we all got disconnected; that avoids the problem of people inviting each other and refusing each other’s invitations because each one wants the other to join the Hangout they started.

    Results

    I was able to harness the technology to extend my teaching, and the students/participants gave me excellent scores and comments on the evaluations. I had hoped for some interpreters of languages other than ASL and English, but as it turned out, we were all ASL/English interpreters. We did experience some packet loss or “freezing video” a couple of times, and the online participants had to reconnect once or twice, but thankfully we never lost the Hangout altogether. We onsite people tended to look at the laptops in front of us more than each other, so it was a bit like we were all online participants. I shared my observation and suggested with some levity those of us in the room “might look at each other once in a while.” We did balance looking at the screens with looking at each other so that all participants felt included.

    Discussion

    All-in-all, it was a great experience for all of us. The online/onsite hybrid was a fascinating dynamic with us onsite looking at laptops in front of us, yet I was glad  I had participants in front of me onsite as well as online. I’m glad I didn’t cancel the workshop due to low registration, and even though extending the workshop online only brought two extra participants, the small number was cozy and the interaction was rich. It was worth it for what we were all able to learn from each other about getting out of the way and fostering independence.

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  • Happy Independence Day, America!

    USA Flag
    I actually took this photo on a regular day, since we fly our flag every day of the year.