Barbara Rupnik uses sign language to communicate with her Savannah students
This is one of a series of articles on each of the five finalists for Savannah-Chatham County Public School System 2022-23 school year Teacher of the Year.
After Barbara Rupnik's dream working for NASA didn't work out, she fell in love in with American Sign Language after having two professors who communicated with ASL.
"Both of professors were deaf themselves and were native users of American Sign Language," she said. "It really inspired me to want to go into the classroom and teach American Sign Language, as well."
Teach of the Year finalists
The 2022-23 finalists for the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools Teacher of the Year are:
• Lauren Fuquea of Beach High School
• Barbara Rupnick of Marshpoint Elementary School
• Melody Senia of Southwest Middle School
Rupnik is one of five finalists competing for the title of the 2022-23 teacher of the year for the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS). She will compete in a process that will involve classroom observations and panel interviews over the past couple of months. A winner will be announced at the annual gala Feb. 11 at the Marriott Savannah Riverfront. A winner will be announced at the annual Gala on Feb. 11 at the Marriott Savannah Riverfront.
Cherie Dennis, a teacher of English speakers of other languages (ESOL) at Hesse K-8 School, was named as Teacher of the Year for 2020-21. Dennis held on to her title for 2021-22 because of the pandemic. She is also the Georgia State Teacher of the Year.
Read More:Savannah-Chatham County educator named Georgia Teacher of the Year
Rupnik is found at Marshpoint Elementary School, where she has been teaching since 2006 and joined SCCPSS in 2007. She is one of four district teachers who teach deaf and hard of hearing students. In class she communicates to her students through ASL.
She has taught at various elementary schools, a middle school and four years at Groves High School. In addition to working at Marshpoint, she also spends time teaching at Coastal Middle and Islands High School.
She also teaches a sign language course at Georgia Southern University.
Falling in love with the language
She got her first taste of sign language when she was part of The Girl Scouts.
Rupnik said even though she is not a native communicator of the language or knows someone personally who uses it, she still enjoys the language.
Rupnik said teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic was hard because her students needed to visually see the language. Rupnik said she and her students have to either wear a clear face mask or a face shield in order to communicate.
Even with the challenges, she said the pandemic allowed her to be more engaged with parents. She was able to teach the parents sign language so they would be able to help and communicate with their child.
"I just love the language and I love deaf culture," she said. "I really want to make the educational experience for my students worthwhile and teaching them in their native language is an amazing thing."
Rupnik said the one thing she enjoys most about teaching is seeing her students succeed.
"With sign language being so near and dear to my heart, it's a beautiful language in itself and the fact that my students use it, and not everyone knows it," she said. "It's hard for me to accept that I want everyone to know it. So we can all have equal open access to communication."
Rupnik recalls a time when she was working with a student who wanted to play in the band. She said she remembers how she, an interrupter and the band teacher helped the student learn now to play the clarinet.
Rupnik said she is honored to be a finalist for teacher of the year.
"Just such an honor and a blessing," she said. "To be honest, when they were announcing names, I was cheering on all the other teachers."
She said it is important for everyone to have a way to communicate with others. The only difference is that her students use sign language.
"The more people know about communication and the possibilities, that our students have, you know, how to communicate with them, it really makes a difference in their lives," she said. "It gives them the spark to want to continue and challenge themselves to do greater things. That means something to the students. They look at you and they're like, wow, you're taking time to learn my language. You're taking time to show me what I need to know."
Bianca Moorman is the education reporter. Reach her at BMoorman@gannett.com or 912-239-7706. Find her on Twitter @biancarmoorman.