Nusbaum is one of the friendliest teachers you will meet at San Luis Obispo High School. Photo courtesy of Cate Goodwin.
San Luis Obispo High School has around 86 teachers, but only one teaches American Sign Language. American Sign Language teacher Kristen Nusbaum is also a teacher who is passionate about what she teaches and makes her classroom feel like home. Expressions reached out for an interview and got answers that you wouldn’t get from any other teacher.
Expressions: What inspired you to become an American Sign Language teacher?
American Sign Language teacher Kristen Nusbaum: Growing up in San Luis Obispo, we had deaf students in our elementary school from the time I started kindergarten until the time I graduated from SLO High School and having deaf students at our mainstream school we had interpreters in all the classes so all of us just learned sign language as a second language throughout the day. And so, we were all friends with the deaf students and learned sign language that way and wanted to bring that back into the school system and continue teaching others how to sign.
Expressions: Was teaching always a goal for you, or did it come later on?
Nusbaum: I always wanted to be a teacher because my great aunt was a teaching nun in Los Angeles and taught fifth grade, and I loved fifth grade. My dad was a professor at Cal Poly, my sisters are professors at Arizona State, my husband’s also a teacher, so teaching is just kind of in our blood, and we love being teachers. It’s the best job.
Expressions: What does it mean to you when you see your students become confident with American Sign Language?
Nusbaum: I absolutely love watching everyone perfect their skills in ASL, whether or not it’s just for personal use or gain or monetary use for their job, it doesn’t matter if you become a professional interpreter or if you simply use sign language out in nature with people in our community, it’s all just a bonus.
Expression: What moment in your teaching career has really stuck with you?
Nusbaum: I don’t know if there’s one identifying moment I can pinpoint just because I’ve been here at SLOHS for twenty years now, which still astonishes me, and I learn new things each and everyday and I’m grateful every day to be with the people that I am with.
Expressions: How do you make learning ASL engaging for high school students?
Nusbaum: I think that any subject can be made accessible to high school students if you make the content relevant, useful, purposeful, and nicely organized.
Students who have extra room in their schedule, American Sign Language I offers more than an elective; it offers a new way to communicate, connect, and feel at home, just like Nusbaum’s classroom has for so many before them.
