As class begins, she powers on the projector while students get ready to complete their daily warm-up: pair together and use American Sign Language (ASL) to fingerspell the words on the whiteboard. With every new unit, Heather Bovaird stands in front of her class, and with the use of the projector that shows images of the new vocabulary signs, she teaches the class the words as students follow along.
“I love getting to share [ASL] with people,” Bovaird said. ”That’s probably the [best part] because I get other people interested in it. I am hopeful that ASL helps [students] in the future when they meet deaf people, have a deaf kid or interact with deaf people at work.”
Always harboring an interest in ASL, Bovaird quickly learned the multitude of careers she could pursue while still incorporating sign language into her daily life.
“I always knew I wanted to teach,” Bovaird said. “When I took an ASL class at [Ohio University], I [realized that] I can teach English at The School for the Deaf and then I can do both of these things that I really like.”
As Bovaird discovered her passion for the language, she realized that if she wanted to pursue a career in sign language, she had to further her education after finishing college. Bovaird decided the best place to learn ASL in a more advanced environment was at Gallaudet University, where she could practice ASL one on one.
“I first met Bovaird when I was a freshman at George Washington University, and she was in graduate school at Gallaudet University,” history teacher Celina Morgan said. “My boyfriend at the time was sitting in line for Rent [the musical] tickets, and I met her that night at the show.”
Morgan and Bovaird quickly became friends and soon thereafter became roommates. They remained roommates for many years moving across the D.C. area, lasting into Bovaird’s time working at Model Secondary School for the Deaf.
“[Bovaird] would come home sometimes, [and] she would forget that I could hear her,” Morgan said. “She would start signing, and I’d say, ‘you can talk to me.’ It’s because she was [signing] all day long, and that’s how [she] communicated.”
Before she began teaching the sign language course at McLean, she worked as an English teacher. This previous connection to the school set her up well as she began the slow transition across class departments from English to ASL.
“I’d been teaching for almost 20 years [before I taught ASL at McLean]. Going into something completely different was scary,” Bovaird said. “Thankfully, I had Dr. Reilly, and that first year we almost team taught, so she was in the classroom helping me come up with lessons when I knew I wanted to do something specific, but I didn’t know how to do it.”
While Bovaird had a background in teaching through sign language, she had never taught sign language as a class subject. As the class was new for her as well, Bovaird had to take time to learn the ins and outs of teaching ASL.
“[Bovaird] had to start from scratch and start learning the curriculum and the grammar, [which is] the hard thing [to learn] when you first start teaching a language,” principal Ellen Reilly said. “You have to be able to explain it. When you’re an ASL teacher, you have to be able to say why [the grammar] is a [certain way].”
Bovaird has been able to cultivate her skills to prove herself an integral member of McLean’s staff. Blending her educational expertise and playful spirit in the classroom, Bovaird is able to ensure her class as a student favorite.
“There’s so many kids who do want to take [ASL] here, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that she’s the teacher, and people like her,” Reilly said. “[The students] are willing to take the class because of her. [Bovaird] has helped grow the program so that [McLean can] have so many courses of it.”
Bovaird is the sole ASL teacher at McLean, which means that if her students continue with all four ASL levels, they will be able to have Bovaird as their teacher all throughout high school. This helps students develop a stronger connection with her and feel more comfortable in her class.
“I can be super honest with [Bovaird] as I’ve talked about personal topics such as politics and my family with her,” ASL 3 student Maya Berdia said.
While McLean’s ASL path does have four levels, ASL does not have a Dual Enrollment (DE) or Advanced Placement (AP) level course, unlike all other language classes offered at McLean. The 2024-2025 school year was originally set to be the first year FCPS held a DE ASL 4 course at McLean; however, due to the county being unable to find a second ASL teacher to fill in all eight periods of sign language, ASL 4 will remain an honors course.
“Next year would have been the first year we offered [DE ASL] as a whole county,” Bovaird said. “I’m not sure what that would have exactly looked like, but part of it would be our curriculum, and part of it would be the NOVA curriculum.”
Using both learning hours spent teaching at Gallaudet University and learning hours in recent years, Bovaird secured the certification that would allow her to teach DE ASL classes, making her the only ASL teacher in the county eligible to do so.
“What’s remarkable about [Bovaird] is that she also went back into classes so that she’d become [DE] certified,” Reilly said. “So, while she was teaching, she was still going back to school and getting all the certifications as well as being a mom.”
Bovaird often spends time bonding with her students, making assignments less content-heavy and more playful. She involves the students in physical activities such as coloring pages and mini basketball to keep students entertained and engaged in class.
“I’ll have classes where it feels like there’s so much work and they don’t take into account our personal lives and situations, but she definitely differs in that way,” Berdia said. “[Bovaird] teaches in a way that makes sense for beginners, [and] she gives us a lot of good advice.”
Despite having an entirely hearing family, Bovaird is able to weave her interest in ASL into her personal life as her young children share a similar interest in the language.
“I’m teaching [ASL] to my kid, and my dog knows some sign language like ‘sit’ and ‘lay down,’” Bovaird said.
In her many years at McLean, Bovaird has remained a cherished member of the community, harnessing her skills to create a unique and unforgettable class for all of her students. Bringing an awareness to sign language and deaf culture, she nurtures an environment that teaches culture like no other class.
“[Bovaird] has brought significance to what American Sign Language does,” Reilly said. “She shines a light on the language, but she also shines a light on how we treat each other [and] how we treat people with disabilities. She’s helped bring that kind of awareness into our building.”
