[nobe-l] another prospective teacher introduction and questions

[Lisa E Roszyk]

Valerie.

Congratulations on getting to student teaching. i finished mine last year/ for the mainstream classroom it is a little difficult, the biggest thing i would have to recommend, would be to request access to your cooperating teachers room before you star actually student teaching. This way you can explore the technology options and what modifications you will need with a smart board or whichever technology the schools you will be in, use. technology is so all encompassing in every regard, especially when your teaching, that having the ability to be familiar with it, is essential. The second biggest thing is transportation. i'm not sure what area you are being placed to student teach, however mine was in a very rural area, in which there was no public transportation. Therefore it is very helpful to reach out to the Student Teaching Office and inquire if they can give you a list of fellow student teachers who drive, who will be teaching in the same area, that you have time to reach out and establish a ride and negotiate gas money and everything. Accommodations you may also need, are brailing the name plates on the students desks or homework mailboxes. So that once you are handing back the papers you have graded, you do not have to wait for your cooperating teacher to be free... because that can take a while. the most efficient way i have found to communicate the daily and weekly lesson plans, that you have to submit to your cooperating teacher, is by having the accommodation of sharing the lessons via google doc, rather than printing them out. These way your teachers written comments and suggestions are much more accessible to yourself. The method i have found the best for this modification is to simply add the newest lesson to the top of the google doc. This way the newest feedback is right on top. One accommodation that depends on if your cooperating teacher teaches out of a manual or not, is to request these manuals in alternative format either from the school you teach at or from your university, because those manuals depending on the unit, can be very visual based and if you do not address this with enough time to figure out the visual components, then your lesson plans can be a complete flop, unfortunately i found that one out the hard way. Another accommodation is getting into the school earlier. Both in regards to the days before you start student teaching and to your days during student teaching. if you have access to the schedule of your students and the building before you even begin student teaching, then you can go through the mobility training of learning the emergency plan routes, specials such as art and music, and the layout of the building in general such as the nurses office. Having access to the building earlier than most teachers arrive, will you time to get into the classroom each day and orient yourself with anything students or janitorial staff may have moved, along with booting technology up and making sure any modification you have on the technology is going to work for the day, because trust me there are enough days when the computers within my cooperating classroom, did not like having jaws on it. The computer software isn't use to it so you simply go in early and lull it into submission before the students arrive. 

As for the certification exams, i have taken some with and without accommodations. If you do it without accommodations, it is reallllllllllly simple to register. If you are requesting accommodations, you register , then you have to mail or fax in the accommodation request form along with the necessary paper work, such as your eye report, then you wait up to seven weeks to hear back, and at that point you basically reregister for an official date of examination. 

Lisa 

Sent from my iPad

> On Apr 14, 2016, at 8:32 AM, Valerie Gibson via NOBE-L <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I’ve been on the list, lurking, for a while. Mostly because I’ve been so busy with other things, but my education’s coming down to the wire, and I can put off questions regarding the teaching profession no longer.
> 
> I’m a senior in college and am hoping to teach in the elementary mainstream school setting.
> 
> My methods courses are coming up—the ones our college makes us take before student teaching but where we’re in a school classroom observing and fulfilling other assignment requirements.
> 
> My advisor is really interested in helping me through this process, but she admits she does not know the best way to do so.  I’m not really sure there has been a totally blind person pass through that program, who wasn’t teaching special ed.  
> 
> So, what accommodations would need to be had for me to teach mainstream kids?  Any detail, no matter how small, would help here.
> 
> Also, what did you all think of the praxis exam?  Did you request any accommodations?  Did it take forever to get them?  When I look at it, it seems it’s a bit more of a pain to register for it, and not as straight forward, if you have a disability than if you don’t.
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks. :)
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