[BlindMath] Geometry in a high school mainstream class

Fri Jul 27 06:39:43 UTC 2018

These courses seem to strongly exclude blind students. They need to rework their courses to include blind students or they could be breaking state and federal laws. If they were using a math ML based system, these examples could be provided to the blind students in real time online. All that I can suggest that the paraprofessional will need to type each example for the blind student as it is presented and use software to create audio graphs or produce tactile graphs. From experience, I know that the paraprofessional will not be able to do this fast enough and even if they can produce the example fast enough, the blind student will not have enough time to read it. Reading the examples after class will not help either because you need the realistic feedback of working through the example with the instructor to know if you understand it. I understand that the presentations are somewhat based on questions that the student asks, but this also seems like a cop out to me so that the instructor does not have to make a lesson plan. You may have to say that the instructor needs to make some sort of a lesson plan because the school is using inaccessible online system that violates state and federal laws. Another option could be that the instructor needs to set aside extra time to go over the material with the blind student. That is what I had to do for some of my math classes at University. They wanted me to go to in an accessible class that I got nothing out of, and then spend more time having an accessible class later. This was not acceptable to me because I was basically having to go to the equivalent of two classes to get one classes worth of material, so what we did was that I would use the period of the normal math class for testing and other things, and I would go over the material with the professor at a scheduled time. I was counted as being present for the class if I showed up at this time. Normally, I advocate for full inclusion, but the math classes were presented in such and an accessible format that I could not make this option work. The class was done in person, but examples were presented at random including pictures and they were just written on the board. I tried using a reader, and I could not keep up with the pace of the class. During my accessible time, they would go over if you were examples with me because I needed a slower pace to understand it. I've benefited more from going over a few examples at a slower pace instead of many examples at a fast pace. I can read quickly, but I needed time to comprehend the example and process what was going on. I tried using examples that were produced ahead of time as well, but I also had trouble with this because I could never figure out which example or which step they were on and I kept getting lost. Also for geometry, a blind student may need some hands on work. Like for me, I could never understand it when they showed me two pictures on a page where one was rotated. They had to cut out a picture, show it to me one way, and then show it to me as it was rotating. I was never very good with tactile pictures because everything just blended together. I needed three-dimensional things that I could move around. I did vectors with this board that you could put rubber bands on. I had a blind math tutor in college, and I tried very hard to focus on the lessons, but I just couldn't very well, and that is the only lesson I remember. Or for a reflection, I need to be able to get a picture, put it on a graphing board with an ex and Y axis, and actually flip it over to understand what it is doing. When measuring the angle of a shape, it is much easier for me to use a three-dimensional object. Or if you are studying horizontal and vertical stretching, I need a picture that is made out of pipe cleaners or wire that I can actually stretch and shrink myself. I cannot look at one picture on the page that is stretched and another one that is shrunk. I may know that one is bigger and one is smaller, but I will not really understand what the picture was doing or what the new data points are. I have also been able to understand audio graphs, data tables, and spreadsheets when I could not read the tactile graph. There were some things that I could not understand how to do it graphically, but I was able to learn to do it algebraically. Or geometry, you are dealing with shapes and you need to know what those shapes are doing, but for other math concepts, you have to remember that graphs are a representation and one representation of a concept will not work for everybody. All I know is that the lesson has to be engaging. You cannot just sit there and read examples. The only lessons I remember are the ones where I could do something, move something around, listen to an audio graph, use three-dimensional objects, and so forth. I believe this is a reasonable accommodation because a cited student can look at animations online and actually see the picture moving. They can also look at three-dimensional objects and watch as they move around and do different things or they can watch a cylinder fold and unfold. However, to do this in tandem with the class, some planning needs to be involved. I believe it is bad to just not plan anything and just play it by ear. Yes, students will have questions, but if you are a good teacher, you should know what you want them to learn and what you intend for them to get out of your class that day. The best classes have one to three targeted objectives or questions that you should know by the time The class is over and methods you can use to know if you understand these objectives. I would also say to use three-dimensional items where ever possible even if the items decided students are using are not three-dimensional. I don't know what the best thing would be to do however because the teacher is choosing to structure the class in a way that will not work for all students. And inclusive design would include a different class structure that would work for all students. The only other thing I can suggest is to take a recording of both the audio and video of the class from online. Then you and the paraprofessional would have to plan what would be the best way to present the examples in class. Then the blind student would be shown each example while listening to the recording of the class and the recording would be paused or replace as needed. The blind student should not be left to do this on their own because the examples may need to be manipulated, and like four sided students, a physical person should be there to make sure that the blind student understands the examples. The paraprofessional will meet you have some sort of a math background or the professor will need to be there at this time. Do you paraprofessional will not need to know as much as the professor, but they will need to know enough to produce, explain and manipulate the example for the student. It would be best if the professor was on standby via phone or email while the blind student is working with the paraprofessional so their questions can be answered in real time just like for decided students. If the professor cannot be on standby, someone else needs to be available who can answer questions or worst-case and Ariel, they will have to send their questions to the professor to get answered at a later date. The problem with the worst case scenario is that if you can't get some questions answered, you may not be able to understand the entire class, and that can be a waste of time. Some of the students will be drawing pictures for testing purposes. You must remember that this is only one representation of the concept, and actually, the way that blind people understand concepts is closer to real-world situations. The student for testing cannot produce tactile images and work with manipulatives as they have done in class. However, they will not receive any help or input and videos and pictures can be taken of their work for grading. This is a legitimate approach because this is what they did with students at the Texas school for the blind. If students are using graphing calculators, they can also use XL or use a program that creates audio grass. This program will create a visual graphic as well that they can paste into a document. Math tracks is one such programs. I do not believe that beginning classes should be using graphing calculators, but many of these classes now are basically testing how well you can use a graphing calculator and not whether you understand the concepts. Also, many of these classes assign way too many homework problems. This is an issue because you will try to get through as many problems as possible without completing them correctly. Professors seem to think that the more problems they assign and the more examples they pack into one class, the more likely you are to understand a concept. In my experience, this is not true. You will understand a concept better if you spend two hours working on 10 problems instead of if you get 30 problems and run out of time to complete them. Also, if the student receives extra testing time, the student should have the option to have the test divided in half. I was often put in a situation where I was expected to test for a long time without breaks and without being able to use the restroom. This was not fair because it did take me longer to complete some of the problems, but my focus level could only last as long as A cited student kind of focus if that makes sense. For most tests, I did not need extra time, but for math, I had spatial processing difficulties that made it take longer so I did need extra time. To avoid cheating, what you can do is divide the test and half. The student can complete the first half of the test on one day, and then complete the second half of the test the next day. They will not be able to look up answers because after they complete the first half, that half will get stored or turned in and you can't go back to it. It is like you are basically dividing the one big test into two little tests. Make sure you still adhere to testing security procedures because you do not want people to accuse your students of cheating, which they will try to do if they take the test differently than other students. I would say that the student should not be forced to work on the test for longer than two hours at a time. It is very inhumane with some of these testing centers are doing saying that the blind student has to sit there for five or six hours without being able to use the restroom or take a break. Also, make sure that the class environment simulates the testing environment. It is really not fair to say, we are going to teach you to complete these problems and do your homework using such and such tools, but you are not allowed to use these tools on the test or complete the test in the same way. And college, this happened to me where I was allowed to use refreshable braille in class and on my homework, but I was not allowed to use it on the test. If you have to use tactile graphics, use contrasting textures and use an actual grid with squares and said of just the thing with tick marks to make it as easy as possible to read. Making the graph easier to read will not harm students, but making it harder to read will leave students out who can't read it. It will also make the graph easier to read to use contrasting textures. If you use software to make a graph, it will make everything the same texture and it can be difficult to tell the difference between the graphs and the grid. The easiest graph to read is one that is made on a rubber graphing board. The next easiest to read is one made with tactile graphing paper, but where tape or wiki sticks or something else was used for the actual graph. You can also use audio graphs or you can provide a tactile and an audio graph. I understood a graph the best when I listened to it while feeling the tactile one at the same time. Also, you want to make the graphs very large by only putting one graphs per page and you want to label the numbers on the graphs where possible. You alsoWant to make sure that the problems are testing a blind a student understanding of the concept instead of something visual or some background knowledge they don't have. For example, there could be a problem that is talking about the completion of the Pythagorean theorem him, but it says something like, it is morning and Bob is standing by the building. How tall is his shadow? This is really not fair because especially someone who is born blind will not really be able to understand how someone shadow changes based on the position of the sunWant to make sure that the problems are testing a blind a student understanding of the concept instead of something visual or some background knowledge they don't have. For example, there could be a problem that is talking about the completion of the Pythagorean theorem him, but it says something like, it is morning and Bob is standing by building. How tall is his shadow? This is really not fair because especially someone who is born blind will not understand this. Maybe you could teach it to them if you spend forever explaining it to them. No one could ever get me to understand it, but you are not teaching geometry at this point. And you would not be testing whether the blind student understands the Pythagorean theorem. You would be testing if they understand where someone's shadow is located at different times of the day. They can be given a different problem that actually tests their knowledge of the concept like a ladder leaning up against the tree or any problem that does not involve someone shadow. Another example of this could be that if you do not play cards or understand Baseball, and you get problems dealing with Cards and baseball on the test. You did great on the homework because you understand all of the concepts, but you cannot complete the problems on the test because you do

Sabra Ewing

> On Jul 26, 2018, at 8:08 PM, Allan Mesoga via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> They may also use drawing kits.  During My college days, I'm using
> rubber board and thin plastic sheets where my professor and I draw the
> geometric figures with the stylus.
> 
> On 7/26/18, Lauren Bishop via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> That’s unfortunate. The teacher may have to make some alterations so that
>>> they comply with the effective communication requirement.
>> 
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