Classroom Learning

Deaf students, like most hearing students, learned reading, writing, mathematics, and science in the classroom. Teachers also discussed local and national news. For many students, teachers were the primary source of information about world events.

Students sitting in half circle to see each other while signing and speaking

At the American School for the Deaf, students sat in a half-circle so they could see one another while signing and speaking.

American School for the Deaf

Young boys and girls with their hands folded on their desks

"Be Quiet!" in a school for deaf children, that command meant put your hands down and clasp them together. These students at the North Dakota School for the Deaf look as if they just got the word. Students sat in rows in this classroom and many others.

State Historical Society of North Dakota - C1293, c.1904