[Blindmath] Accessibility for being a blind math instructor

[William Baer]

Hello David,

 

I taught HS math in the Boston Public Schools for 20years. My situation was
different, in that, I have RP and when I began teaching, I had fairly good
functional vision. However, as time went on, my vision declined to where I
had no functional vision for the last 4 years of my teaching. I would be
happy to share my experiences with you via email or phone. I do, however,
have a question. Did you already complete your year long student teaching? I
assume you did. So, with that, there is too much I can say to you within an
email. Again, feel free to respond.

 

Take care,

Bill Baer

 

  _____  

From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David
Moore via Blindmath
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2015 4:40 PM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Cc: David Moore
Subject: [Blindmath] Accessibility for being a blind math instructor

 

Hi All.
My name is David Moore from Columbus, Ohio.  I received my masters
degree at Ohio State in mathematics education  I also received a BS in
mathematics.  Now, I do some tutoring.  I tutor sighted college
students one on one in Calculus and other higher concepts.  With one
on one tutoring, I have the student read the problem to me and I tell
him or her exactly what to right down as I do the problem in my head.
I can explain in words all math concepts that fit students' learning
needs.  My one on one students say I explain the concepts in a way
that helps them understand what they could not for years.  I learned
math by listening to tapes and by reading my texts with the Optacon.
I know what all the symbols look like in print, because of the
Optacon.  This leads to the help I would grately appreciate from all
of you.
I want to teach a classroom full of sighted students at the high
school or small community level.  This has always been my dream.
First of all, How do I type out my math lectures so the content will
look to the students as though I wrote it on a board?  I use JAWS and
Openbook.  That technology, however, can't help me write or read math
texts.  Next, How do I get JAWS to read the math content that I am
typing into an editor so I can edit what I am typing just like in a
word document?  Next, How do I read math texts that the college or
high school would use so I can prepare my lessons from the texts?  I
want to be able to read the math material, write out a lecture that I
would present to the students, and have a way to grade there work that
they input.  I really need help from an experienced blind mathematics
teacher who teaches the sighted.  I am a very slow Braille reader and
know little Nemoth code.  I do all computations in my head and picture
all graphs in my head because I once felt them with the optacon.  The
problem is, I have no more optacon.  Rehab took it back years ago, and
I have never looked into getting another one in years.  I have just
done a little bit of this one on one tutoring where I just tell the
student what to right down and explain all in words as long as they
need me to.  I didn't know how this technique would work in front of
an entire class with nothing for the sighted students to look at.  In
an Interview, I don't know how it would go if I said that I would just
stand in front of the class and tell them what to write down with no
representation for them to look at.  Also, I heard that much math is
done on graphing calculators compared to when I was in school in the
1980s.  How would I access graphing calculators that students would
use to do their homework on?  With my few one on one students, I just
show them how the graphs look with my finger while they play around
with their calculators to get something that looks like what I am
drawing with my finger.  When I try writing print on paper or board,
it goes all over the place.  I can picture the print in my head, but I
have trouble writing it in any kind of straight line.  I would so much
appreciate any help or suggestions you have for me to obtain that
teaching job at a high school or small community college and how I
could do all that is needed with assistive technology.  Thank you so
much in advance.

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