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In her 70s, and a full-time teacher for more than 35 years, Amy Sides says the key to staying young is to keep challenging your mind. Even now that she is retired, she teaches sign language classes each semester for CVCC.
“I tell all my students to take as many classes as they can as long as they can,” says Sides. “Many of them are middle aged and older and they find out that learning can be the key to keeping your mind clear and strong.”
Sides taught special education in Burke County public schools for 10 years when she decided to focus completely on those special needs kids and moved to the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton. She says every day of her 23 years there was a joy. “I absolutely loved working with deaf children,” explains Sides. “And in working with them, I saw the need for the hearing world to know how to communicate with the deaf. When we would take the students out into the community on field trips, I was amazed at how the hearing public would treat them. They would often be rude or ignore them and I realized it was simply because they didn't know how to communicate with them.”
So, Sides began teaching sign language classes for CVCC's Corporate and Continuing Education division and has been at it every since. |
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“I have students from every walk of life,” says Sides. “From family members or friends of deaf people, to EMS workers and ER nurses who need to be able to communicate with the deaf. We have a ball in class.”
In fact, the last class each semester is a trip to a restaurant where the entire class must communicate using only sign language. Sides says getting a first-hand look at how they would have to make their way in the world if they couldn't hear is an eye-opening experience. Many of her students then eagerly sign up for her advanced class. CF |
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