Music spills out of Room 986 as American Sign Language teacher Alicia Stoffers replays song after song for ASL 3’s final project: music videos. Students can form groups of up to 5 and choose a song for their final project to interpret and sign. The song must be 3-4 minutes.
Before starting, students first learn about the difference between translating and interpreting.
“Translation is working in that direct word-for-word order. [Translation follows] more English grammar structure than ASL,” Stoffers said. “Interpretation is kind of taking in the whole perspective of the song. [Asking] ‘What do the lyrics mean?’”
All of the creative liberty is given and directed by the students, they can do anything as long as it is appropriate and abides by the guidelines. However, this project has had some changes since it was first created.
“This project used to be, in my first couple years of teaching, in ASL 2. And then ASL 3’s final was a live song, independently,” Stoffers said.
Now, only ASL 3 completes the music video project. Students choose a wide variety of songs from country to indie, but every year, without fail, Stoffers notices that there is always at least one Disney song.
“The day Mrs. Stoffers told us about this project, I was instantly getting out a piece of paper and writing down all of our ideas and interest for songs,” Giana Ogilvie (‘25) said. “Eventually it came down to [wanting] to do something fun, we wanted to do a Disney song [Be Our Guest].”
Once students pick a song and Stoffers approves it — checking that their song is clean, with some alternatives if needed, and not a repeat of someone else — they begin the lengthy process of interpreting the lyrics line by line.
“We picked Creep [by Radiohead] because it’s iconic,” Mia Beck (‘25) said. “We started by listening to the song and looking up what the writer originally intended. [And also] looked at fan made videos which [my group and I] used as a guide for how we would personally infer it.”
Although students have roughly 4 weeks to complete the project, it’s not one to procrastinate or put off. Students find that lots of planning goes into the project, and waiting until the last minute can backfire.
“We originally wanted to [film] at Madonna Inn, and we wanted to go all out [and] have costumes,” Ogilvie said. “And we ended up not having any time [in] our schedules. We had to record our own parts on our own time [at the last minute]. And it turned out fine, but it wasn’t what our first vision was.”
While students look forward to this project, it does not disregard the amount of work and time that students must put into not only interpreting but also signing and recording.
“[My group and I] are planning to film at many locations like the ocean and library,” Beck said. “We wanted our music video to best fit what the song was about.”
Along with planning and recording group videos, the entire class also partakes in a class music video. Students
nominate songs they’d like to do before voting on one. This year’s song is “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction, and last year’s song was “Baby” by Justin Bieber.
“I’ll go through the process of writing and interpreting and doing all that work for the [class] song,” Stoffers said. “And then give [my students] parts. It’s a way for [my students] to leave that last moment of ASL together as a class.”
ASL 3 is typically composed of juniors and seniors, and with it being the last and final year of the ASL curriculum, both students and Stoffers find it both enjoyable and bittersweet.
“In ASL 2, once I heard about [the music video project], that was definitely something I was looking forward to,” Ogilvie said. “I would say out of anything that we did in ASL, [the project] was the most memorable.”
The end of the year frequently offers nostalgic moments for upperclassmen, especially if they’ve been on the ASL pathway all three years.
“It is definitely always bittersweet, for everybody,” Stoffers said. “It’s bittersweet for me because it’s three out of [their] four years of high school. It’s always that moment of being like, ‘Oh, they’re leaving the nest,’ so to speak.”
ASL 3 is the pinnacle of the course for most students, whether for juniors who still have one more year or graduating seniors. This final project gives students a chance to showcase their skills one more time with a fun, enjoyable assignment, as well as be sent off together with a class video.
