From building a community for students to saying goodbye, American Sign Language (ASL) teacher Melissa Harris is saying her farewell after five years of teaching in Dripping Springs. Harris is leaving a strong foundation of respect for deaf culture and community while also embracing and showing the beauty of the language itself.
Harris teaches ASL 1, 2 and 3 Honors. After taking ASL in high school and realizing that she was good at the language, Harris went into a 2 year Interpreting Training Program at Pierce College and got a certification in interpreting. Harris then went to California State University, Northridge and majored in deaf studies, and minored in education and attended the Masters program of Deaf and Hard Hearing Education (DHH).
After moving to Texas and settling in Dripping Springs, Harris pitched the idea of an ASL program to Principal Angela Gamez. The ASL program started in fall of 2021 and was instantly filled with students. Working in and starting the community of ASL gave students a chance to branch out from what they’ve never dared before.
“It has been a rewarding chapter of life [working at DSHS],” Harris said. ¨DSHS has a definite unique energy to it. It [has] been incredibly supportive from students and staff both alike. Here it wasn’t just a job for me, It truly was a community that I felt was with both my coworkers and my kids.¨
Being a part of a big community such as this one impacts one’s life, whether they’re a teacher or a student. This school has done that for Harris by building a relationship with every student, truly getting to know them as students and as people.
¨If there was a bigger word more than absolutely that would be the word,” Harris said. ¨I think that sometimes y’all have taught me more than I have taught you. You have taught me resilience through the years. You’ve taught me growth through the years change is good. Traditions and staying the same is good.”
Teachers can create a safe space for students to learn and trust them. Harris tried to treat students like a human more than a student coming to school. Attempting to build a trusting relationship and truly getting to know, and love every student as her own. With teaching ASL and leaving lifelong impacts on students, always wanting the best for them and the future.
¨I hope [that I have left an impact on my students],¨ Harris said.¨I taught with my heart and I always wanted to meet where you guys were at and bring you along with me on the journey. Teaching ASL was obviously the goal but I also wanted to instill so much more. So I do hope while high school is just a short time for y’all too, that you will go on and impact others and you will bring your best self to the world because I do know that this short time here is just the foundation to set you up for the future. Each one of y´all´s paths and each one of your journeys is gonna take you into different spaces. You’re going to bring your gifts and your talents and you’re going to be your true selves. That´s what I wanted more than anything is authenticity. You can only be you. Beyond teaching ASL, I hope I empowered them to be lifelong learners, goal setters, achievers and the importance of building relationships.¨
Harris creates a comforting and friendly zone in the classroom, never just learning Sign Language but immersing students to take pride in being a tiger. She always has her own sense of pride in ASL as well as the tiger community by constantly going all out for dress up weeks and encouraging students to do the same.
“The time here, it changes you,¨ Harris said.¨It builds on you. You’re not going to stay stagnant here. You´re gonna go off, but you’re going to bring a piece with you and so once you’re a tiger, you’re always a tiger. Don’t let your signing get rusty. I want you to keep signing, stay curious, and always be an advocate for accessibility. You have the power and ability to communicate with your hands and your heart.”
Leaving is never easy, especially students you’ve taught for the majority of their high school careers. Being a high school teacher is no easy task, even when it comes to teaching a language.Through all the memories and moments made in the ASL class, saying goodbye has been a challenge.
“It was all the last [that was a challenge],” Harris said. “It was the last time when you see kids have that breakthrough of knowing that it’s not English on sign but it’s understanding a concept. It’s the last unit where we’re doing family and doing a wedding. That’s always fun in ASL 1. That was a sweet unit and doing that was bittersweet because it’s the last. Every time we go over something or I have a little tradition I do in a lesson, it’s the last. So that’s been a hard thing to kind of walk through this year, especially this semester.”
Harris’ time at the school will always be remembered as a sign of the time. Whether they were students of her or not they were greeted with a smile or in passing, Harris’ time will always be remembered by each student that encountered her. As students learned about the community of ASL, they also experienced their very own at DSHS with the help of Harris’ teachings.