[Blindtlk] teaching class

[Ericka]

True. You get so used to doing that when with kids you forget its not obvious.

Ericka Short
from my iPhone 6s

> On Jan 22, 2017, at 11:07 AM, Danielle Ledet via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Well, I haven't much to add since I incorporated pretty much
> everything Judy and Erica did during my years of teaching. Formally, I
> taught grades 2-5 special ed and informally, Sunday school 3-5. Great
> job ladies! Julie, thanks for your input. Great for future
> opportunities I might find myself in. Only thing I will add is take
> some time out and talk to your students. Do not get personal, but make
> efforts to develop a good rapport with each and every one of them.
> This will help you to recognize when something different might be
> going on that might need to be addressed.
> 
>> On 1/13/17, Ericka via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 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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> 
> 
> -- 
> How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,
> compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and
> tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will
> have been all of these.
> George Washington Carver
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