[Blindtlk] teaching class

[Ericka]

I have taught Sunday school for years. Well generally this is a smaller class than most people have talked about here, I've worked with young kids and adults. You'll learn a lot about classroom management through listening and walking around. Trying to be the center of action is key to keeping classroom management. Taking time to talk to kids or the staff or whoever about your disability makes everyone feel more comfortable. I always use the Cranyon box example. That is, that there isn't just one color in there but many shades of different colors. If you look at every Group of people as a color,  there is still a variety of shades. Not everyone who is blind to see is black, not everyone who has good vision sees everything. To the adults even the seems to make sense. Then I let them ask me questions and I show them a few ways I do stuff. It takes about a half an hour usually. Then I never have any problems. I told the kids don't get into trouble because I can hear it. I've never really had a problem and I worked in daycare where the classes are bigger. I worked in a nursing home and this worked with the senior citizens to. A lot of them didn't want to come in or didn't want to try activities they didn't think they could do but I ended up bringing in a lot of people because they knew I made them try it and I would try to adapt so they could do the activity. That's the way I would want something to do it for me so I could succeed.

Ericka Short


 from my iPhone 6s

> On Jan 13, 2017, at 6:45 AM, Julie J. via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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 
> 
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