[Blindmath] I'm Dying Here

Fri May 16 10:32:46 UTC 2014

My two cents as a TVI since 1977:
Indeed, make an appointment with the professor( this is college, I presume?) and explain that you are having trouble picking up the info he/she is giving.

When I explain things to fellow teachers, I ask them to imagine they are on the phone explaining a math problem to me. I can not see what they are writing, and they can not see what I am writing. This is a very effective word picture. I tell them that it is not impossible. My sister has been a knitter for almost 70 years, and I call her frequently for help. She explains verbally step by step, what I am supposed to do with some tricky pattern directions. We always chuckle and say it is because we are sisters that we can do this, but it really is not....it is because she can verbalize the steps.

I have taught more than a few totally blind students, I tell them, and it is not impossible. Indeed, my blind students have a better grasp of the concepts, once they wrestle with them, because the sighted are relying on what they see on the board or paper. When in doubt, they can copy the model problem, plug in new numbers, and do what they see happening on the board until they get it.

It is so blatantly ridiculous, by the way, for teachers at any level to refer to numbers and concepts the way they do.  Every sign and symbol has a name. I have noted most teachers have forgotten them or never knew them. When they say put this guy here, bring it down there take this and combine....oh boy, they are not using language to its potential!

My students will often lament as you do, during the class if I am next to them, or later when I am trying to explain it.....some with emotion(I CAN'T GET THIS!!!) they yell....I encourage them to just listen....get what you can get out of the class...try to parse out the concept they are trying to get across.  Sometimes I find my students get tripped up on the visual presentation, but then the idea suddenly becomes clear.

Ask specific questions....don't necessarily say you are lost, although that is ok, because someone else in the class is lost too, believe it! But sometimes it helps to ask for the prof to go over a specific problem..."can you go over the 4th problem again please?"

If this is college, definitely go to his office hours. That is why he is there. If this is high school, again, make an appt. and ask when they can stay after or come in early. If high school, please tell me you have a TVI who can stand in the gap...if not, give your teacher my email! I am serious.

Lastly, Elise, be like a pit bull and hang onto that bear!! Don't give up! For me too, the joy of the Lord is my strength! Ask Him for clarity of mind.

Give us an update. Everyone on the list is rooting for you!

Maureen Murphy Lewicki
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
Bethlehem Central Schools
700 Delaware Avenue
Delmar, NY 12054
http://bcsd.k12.ny.us/

On May 15, 2014, at 10:09 PM, "sabra1023 via Blindmath" <blindmath at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindmath at nfbnet.org>> wrote:

Also, well blind people need to think in three dimensions can make math class difficult, it also gives you greater mathematical understanding. I also noticed that in a lot of my classes, the students were using a calculator and I didn't have the equivalent. For instance, in statistics in high school, everybody could type in the numbers for the binomial formula on the Calculator but I couldn't. I learned to do the binomial formula by hand, and I think that as a result, I got a better understanding of how it works. Of course now I know that I could've used Excel, but still, it's good not to shortchange yourself by using a calculator too soon. Sometimes, you just have to pick a different teacher. I was having a lot of trouble in my college precalculus class because the teacher placed so much emphasis on graphs, but my spatial orientation is bad and I have a little spatial IQ, so I was struggling to get the information. The teacher emphasized grass so much that she wasn't teaching or having his many expectations about doing things algebraically. In some instances, I was given lots of ordered pairs and expected to know what shape of a graph it was, and I couldn't do that because I can't plot the points in my head and the points were really exact and had decimals, so I don't know how I would have plotted them on a paper. I can do that with linear graphs, but these graphs were not linear so I couldn't imagine the shape in my head. What made it worse is that sometimes I would get two sets of ordered pairs, and I was supposed to keep the shape of two graphs in my head and see how one was transformed from the other. In the class I took before pre-Cal, I didn't have to do that. I was given chewy equations and had to see how one was transformed from the other. I could look at the equation and tell the shape of the graph because I didn't have to plot points in my head, and I could also explain the transformation. I ended up dropping that class and will take it with a teacher who focuses more on algebra next semester. Also, audio graphs are helpful, but it's hard to get them on tests because teachers don't know what they are. Don't know how that would work anyways. You can just play the sound again in your head and it will make the shape again for you. It's not like a tactile one where you can't remember anything about it once it goes away.

On May 15, 2014, at 8:00 PM, Jon Yaggie <jyaggi2 at uic.edu<mailto:jyaggi2 at uic.edu>> wrote:

I have to say, i agree that no matter how explicit your teacher is, it will never be completely clear.  Natural language is ambiguous and math is not.  I definitely can empathize.  And i agree try looking online.  I would be interested if anyone has suggestion on good/accessible online examples.  I am compiling a list…

On the other hand, i want to be encouraging.  So from my own experience…. From years of struggling to read boards and keep up in math classes eventually i succeeded and surpassed others.  Not because i am smarter than them but because the visual method of learning math frequently lacks deeper understanding and ability to conceptualize.  I could think math something only a handful of student could do coming out of calculus.  It was a skill learned out of necessity.

Jon Yaggie
EYH Volunteer Coordinator
UIC Mathematics

On May 15, 2014, at 19:23, sabra1023 via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindmath at nfbnet.org>> wrote:

Unfortunately, I have had the same problem you do and every single math class I've ever attended. I haven't found that getting a person to explain what is being said to be a very effective strategy. Especially in the higher level math courses, the person might not know, they might not be able to explain things non-spatially when required, and they might not know how to reformat spatial information see you can more easily access it. Unfortunately, I don't know how much people go over this in training programs for teachers of the blind, but in my experience, a lot of them only know how to do this to a certain extent and not at all and the higher-level maths. I'm pointing all of this out because even if your teacher verbalizes what is on the board, he still might be presenting the information spatially. That means he's making it difficult to understand by moving numbers all over the board and probably using lines and arrows and other unnecessary garbage. Especially if you have b
een blind from birth, it would be good if you could find someone else who is totally blind and who's really good at math so that person could do the things I have previously described. What I have done is to have individual time with a teacher or tutor, or I also look for examples on the Internet. Places like forums or Yahoo answers are good because the examples are to the point and the equations are often accessible. And textbooks, the examples are ;-), spatial,, ;-), difficult to find, and difficult to understand.

On May 15, 2014, at 5:56 PM, Jose Tamayo via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindmath at nfbnet.org>> wrote:

Hi,

You are in a situation which I found myself in a few years ago.  The
instructor is doing just what he / she has been doing for years.  I would
recommend the following :

1.  Be patient and understanding because it will take time for your
instructor to change from doing what has been the norm for years
2. Record the class sessions and sit with your instructor. Give the
instructor an opportunity to listen in on his own lecture.  You will  find
that they finally can understand what you are going through.
3.  Explain your situation to the instructor because they don't know that
you have that need.
4. having your fascilitation center record the
Classes for later review might work if they have someone explain what is
being said.

Your best bet in my opinion is to have the discussion with your instructor;
not after class but in his office when she has time.

Thanks,
Jose Tamayo
-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elise
Berkley via Blindmath
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2014 5:33 PM
To: BlindMath
Subject: [Blindmath] I'm Dying Here

I need a shoulder to cry on, everyone.  I am in my algebra class and I am
drowning.  We are finding the lcd of rational expressions and then making
the lcd equal between two expressions.  My instructor is talking so fast and
using "this guy" instead of calling out the numerals.  I want to give this
stuff up right now.  Thanks for listening.  Elise

Elise Berkley

"The joy of the Lord is my strength."

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