[nfbwatlk] Food for Thought

[Mike Freeman]

Said "vision teachers" probably believe the blind kids won't amount to much 
anyway so why be concerned?

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mary Ellen" <gabias at telus.net>
To: "'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 12:58 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Food for Thought


> Denise,
> Your response covered the ground perfectly.
> My Braille teacher could not read with her fingers at all, but she was
> absolutely fluent in the Braille code. She deeply believed blind people
> could read Braille faster with their fingers than she could read it with 
> her
> eyes, and she expected us to become fluent. She didn't just teach us the
> Braille code, she taught us to read!
> She was absolutely committed to the fundamentals, so much so that I would
> get frustrated at her insistence that I demonstrate proficiency before 
> being
> allowed to move on. I could move as quickly as I understood and was
> competent at the lesson she was teaching, there was no artificially 
> holding
> me back to do countless repetitions of skills I already had mastered. But
> she expected us to read, and to read with speed, expression, and
> comprehension.
> If she told us a certain combination of signs and abbreviations was 
> correct,
> we could take it to the bank. She kept up with any changes in the code and
> taught them to us immediately. I knew that she knew what she was doing. I 
> do
> not recall any time when I could not comprehend a Braille text because of
> inaccurate teaching on her part.
> So where do these teachers get off telling us that we shouldn't be 
> concerned
> about the Braille competency of teachers?
> Our children attend French school. The school won't hire a teacher who 
> isn't
> fluent in the language. For one year they couldn't find a certified
> counselor fluent in French. They hired an English speaking woman who knew
> the French language somewhat. The kids tore her language usage apart!
> Braille teachers think they can get away with being half skilled (or less)
> because nobody knows enough to tear them apart. It's true that one of the
> best ways to really learn something is to teach it, but I don't want the
> literacy of blind children compromised by the incompetence of a teacher 
> who
> is just a few steps ahead of them.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Denise Mackenstadt
> Sent: June 5, 2010 10:47 AM
> To: NFBwatlk at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] Food for Thought
>
>
> Recently I saw on a listserve for AER (Associaiton for Rehabilitation and
> Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Adults) a listserv 
> for
> individuals working with blind children and adults a message which has
> bothered me for some time.  I do not typically respond to posts but I felt
> that a small part of this post needed to be commented on.  This is for the
> NFBwatlk to understand what we are dealing with in the professional area 
> of
> work with the blind.  I would be interested in any of your comments.
>
> Recently in response to a question posted by Sheila one of the posts 
> stated
> "Weaknesses: 1.  still no published research proving or disproving that 
> poor
> teacher braille skills are responsible for poor braille outcomes for
> students.  Nevertheless,  we've gone full steam ahead addressing a 
> "problem"
> that may not exist.  Assertions by advocacy groups are not evidence, nor 
> are
> gut hunches.  We need DATA.  And thus   far no data exists."  I find it
> astonishing that an assertion is being made that teacher competency in an
> essential skill to be taught to students is not relevant to student
> outcomes.  Lack of Data  cannot   take the place of common sense or best
> practice.  I cannot think of another subject area, for example: Language
> Arts, Math, Science or Art, where a decent state licensing entity will not
> expect an instructor to demonstrate competence.  As a parent I would be 
> very
> concerned if my child's English teacher could not read or write English.
> Let us not throw out critica
> l thinking as an alternative to non-existent DATA Collection.  I do not
> want to say that legitimate research and legitimate data results are not
> beneficial to best practices.  But let us not sacrifice common sense to 
> the
> altar of statistics.
>
> Denise Mackenstadt
> dmackenstadt at comcast.net
>
>
>
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