[Blindmath] Teacher with Vision Loss Teaching Sighted Undergrads

[Susan Jolly]

Christine,

I would encourage you to do two things.  First, spend some time talking 
about yourself and how you deal with your vision loss, etc. Your students 
are very unlikely to have ever had a chance to interact with a blind person 
before and I think that the quicker they feel comfortable with you, the 
quicker they will forget about your vision loss and be able to focus on the 
subject matter.

Second, ask your students for advice and ideas on how to handle the issues 
you asked about. Many, many years ago, when I was teaching AP high school 
chemistry, I divided the students into several small groups and each group 
had to choose a lab experiment from suggested resource material, perform it, 
and then write out the directions so each of the other groups could perform 
that same experiment.  (They, of course, provided me in advance with a list 
of the needed supplies.)  I at first felt a bit guilty making the students 
do something I thought perhaps I should have done but it turned out to be 
one of my most successful teaching experiences.  The students loved it and 
it really brought out their creativity.

HTH,
SusanJ