[Blindtlk] teaching class

[Julie J.]

I teach resiliency skills at an after school program.  Right now I'm working 
with elementary kids.  In the past, I've done this same program with just 
about every age group.  They all have challenges, but they differ by age and 
why the people are there.

With the elementary kids, keeping a reasonable amount of order is the 
challenge.   When I started, there was always a staff member around.  Then 
things got busy and they left me with the kids, which was fine for a while. 
Then spring came and the end of the school year was on everyone's mind. 
Manners went out the window.  My background is not  in teaching and I don't 
know all the  school's ways of dealing with discipline issues.  I ended up 
sending the problem kids out of my room and back to the main room that day. 
Ongoing I requested one of the after school monitors to be there to address 
any behavior problems.    Remember I'm not the regular teacher, but more 
like a guest that comes in once a week.

I also learned with the younger kids that group activities are great, but 
not too much movement and no large groups.  If I do those kinds of 
activities, things get crazy in a hurry.  So we do pairs or small groups and 
quieter activities that have the kids sitting.   It also depends on the 
particular make of the group that day.  Boys are more rowdy than the girls. 
If I have more than about 5 boys, I know I need to split them up for group 
work.  If I let all the boys be in one group, like they want to be, chaos 
will ensue.

With middle and high school kids, getting them to participate is the 
difficult part.  Once they get to know you, they'll chatter away, but they 
take longer to warm up and get involved.  I start the first few times with 
providing more information and asking less of them.  I give choices with 
options, instead of open ended.  It's easier for them to participate and 
make decisions that way.  There will almost always be a few kids who hang 
back and are very reluctant to participate.  Generally this is due to the 
social dynamic going on.  Once these kids are specifically invited to 
participate they will.  Discipline has never been an issue for me with this 
age group.

The college students I worked with had gotten into trouble with alcohol. 
They had to attend an all day Saturday class with me as a direct consequence 
of their choices with alcohol.  The first couple of hours of those days were 
always tense because I was viewed as a punishment.  Once we got into the 
curriculum and they realized it wasn't going to be me telling them how 
horrible they were, it was a lot of fun.  The college started providing 
donuts for breakfast and that helped get people into a better mood first 
thing.  Hey, whatever works!

All of Judy's suggestions were spot on.  I use a three ring binder with 
notes in Braille.  I use pages with pockets that fit in the binder to keep 
my handouts organized.  I tried using a Braille Note and later my iPad, but 
both would turn off if not used for so many minutes or I'd lose my place. 
Depending on the group and how long things take, I also like the flexibility 
of being able to easily skip things or move them around.  the three ring 
binder with hard copy notes makes this super easy.

What will you be teaching and to what age group?  What sort of environment, 
a school, community center, library?
Good luck!
Julie