[nobe-l] teaching questions

Sat Feb 13 17:46:57 UTC 2010

Hello Kathy,

I do appreciate your willingness to answer questions.  I do have a few for 
you.

First, do you have a secret pneumonic device for memorizing the voices of 
your students.  I know this is a silly thing to worry about, but I am in 
college classes with all different students.  Many of them know me on site 
from class to class, but I sure do not know them, unless I have worked with 
them more closely within the class.

Second, I am interested in working in the field of blindness.  I want to 
actually teach at a school for the blind or in another position that would 
allow me to work specificly in the field of blindness.  I am going into 
Elementary Education with a specialization in Language Arts because, first 
of all, I love to write, and, second of all, this school does not have a 
degree in vision or even Special Ed.  My concern is with teaching students, 
whether they are blind or sighted, I am terribly afraid I will get bored.  I 
have taught before, and I am excellent at motivating students.  But, I found 
that if I taught computer technology or Braille all day, I became bored. 
This was in a position where I had maybe five students, all in various 
stages of accepting their disability.  Fortunately, in that particular 
position, my boredom was not a major concern because I could switch my 
subjects and move around, such as from the Computer lab to the Braille 
classroom or inside or outside the building when working with students 
during Travel class.  So, my question is: do you have ways to keep yourself 
from getting bored while teaching.  If you teach Shakespeare every year, for 
instance, it seems you would know it so well that it would become 
monotonous.  I am active and like to switch from task to task.  I am 
terrified that if I teach, I will eventually, after a few years, become 
bored with the same routine.  Maybe, what I am really asking is do you have 
any ideas on various careers in blindness that I could explore?  I would 
love to teach and lecture and to show blind students that they can be active 
and independent, but I also want to do more than that, such as research or 
work with Braille, etc.

Thanks.  Anita
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathy Nimmer" <goldendolphin17 at hotmail.com>
To: "blind teachers" <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2010 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: [nobe-l] Quietly I introduce myself

>
> Hello everyone,
>
>  Well, I've sure enjoyed seeing the discussions from so many to-be 
> teachers.  It is hopeful to me that people are entering the training 
> process with an eye on this field, even though the odds are against them 
> for hiring in a normal public school classroom.  I am someone who was 
> fortunate to go against those odds. I am in my eighteenth year of teaching 
> English and creative writing in a normal high school classroom in a large 
> public school in Indiana.  Never would I claim to have all the answers to 
> what must be many questions, but I am willing to give some of them a shot. 
> I know I might be in a position to help those of you in college and 
> looking toward a teaching job, so I invite you to ask away.  I even had 
> one list member come out to my neck of the woods to observe for three days 
> this past August, a wonderful experience for both of us.  She is student 
> teaching right now. Again, nothing I do is the ideal or perfect answer for 
> everyone else, but I do do it and have for several
> years, not with success early on but with success far more often than not 
> now.  Should we change the subject line if we're going to do an open back 
> and forth q/a?  In between scanning and grading fifty historical short 
> stories his weekend, I'll gladly offer my limited wisdom and will probably 
> end up learning more from you than you do from me!  Hear from you soon.
>
> Kathy Nimmer: Teacher, Author, Motivational Speaker
> http://www.servicedogstories.com
> http://guidedogjourney.livejournal.com
> Even if the shadows of the valley hide your view,
> You still must believe in the mountains.
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: iamantonio at cox.net
>> To: nobe-l at nfbnet.org
>> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:07:49 -0500
>> Subject: [nobe-l] Quietly I introduce myself
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I hope we are all busy at teaching, or learning how to teach, since I 
>> have gotten no mail from this list in the past couple of weeks since 
>> subscribing.
>>
>> I am a member of the National Federation of the Blind of Rhode Island, 
>> and subscribed here because I am at school to become a social studies 
>> teacher.
>>
>> Some of you may know me from the NABS list, or the NFB of Florida, or the 
>> NFB of Massachusetts, and some of you will come to know me as a student 
>> at Western Governors University.
>>
>> This online university is where I currently attend, and it is where I 
>> will obtain a bachelors in social studies teaching 5/12.
>>
>> I am optimistic about getting a job after graduation, and I expect my 
>> hopes of employment to become realized. In other words, I want to, and 
>> expect to land a job.
>>
>> Right now all I can do is to work hard at school, and hope for a bright, 
>> if hectic teaching career.
>>
>> I have no specific questions at the moment, but hope to see some list 
>> traffic.
>>
>> Are there blind teachers here? what do you teach, and are you listed in 
>> Where the Blind Work?
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Antonio Guimaraes
>>
>> If an infinite number of rednecks riding in an infinite number of pickup 
>> trucks fire an infinite number of shotgun rounds at an infinite number of 
>> highway signs, they will eventually produce all the world's great 
>> literary works in Braille.
>>
>> Shop online and support the NFB of RI at no additional cost to you.
>> http://www.givebackamerica.com/charity.php?b=169
>> Givebackamerica.org, America's Online Charity Shopping Mall
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>
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