[nobe-l] student teaching accommodations

Sat Apr 16 19:36:18 UTC 2016

Hi Valerie,
I teach in a mainstream public high school, working with sighted
students.  I did my student teaching in middle and high schools.
First of all, ensure that your college's placement office works
aggressively, to secure a student teaching position for you.  I had
some problems, in this regard.
As a previous poster said, technology is huge.  Hopefully, your
cooperating teacher will help you, in this manner.  Make contact with
the school's I.T. person, communicating your technology needs, ahead
of time.
Plan, plan, plan.  Take lots of Braille notes for yourself and be
organized.  If you are prepared, you will project confidence, and the
sighted students and staff will quickly realize that you are perfectly
capable of teaching.
Don't be afraid to ask your students for assistance.  My students will
some times tell me, "Mr. Cooper, can you make the video full screen?"
and such.  They know that I am comfortable with my blindness, and it
helps create a good working relationship with the students, when they
know that your blindness is merely a characteristic.
It will likely take extra time to request accommodations, when taking
the state education tests, in order to teach.  If you begin this
process early, you should be good.
Congratulations, and I wish you all the best.
Craig

On 4/15/16, nobe-l-request at nfbnet.org <nobe-l-request at nfbnet.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. another prospective teacher introduction and questions
>       (Valerie Gibson)
>    2. Re: another prospective teacher introduction and questions
>       (Lisa E Roszyk)
>    3. Re: another prospective teacher introduction and questions
>       (Jordana Engebretsen)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2016 06:32:05 -0600
> From: Valerie Gibson <valandkayla at gmail.com>
> To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
> 	<nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [nobe-l] another prospective teacher introduction and
> 	questions
> Message-ID: <BDCF227B-CFD0-4F3C-96CB-CABF55E9F854 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> 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. :)
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2016 10:24:05 -0400
> From: Lisa E Roszyk <rosz1878 at fredonia.edu>
> To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
> 	<nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nobe-l] another prospective teacher introduction and
> 	questions
> Message-ID: <F894200B-BCCB-4896-A3B1-53773C3B58D9 at fredonia.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset=utf-8
>
> 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. :)
>> _______________________________________________
>> NOBE-L mailing list
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>> NOBE-L:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nobe-l_nfbnet.org/rosz1878%40fredonia.edu
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2016 15:57:56 +0000
> From: Jordana Engebretsen <JEngebretsen at KPBSD.k12.ak.us>
> To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
> 	<nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nobe-l] another prospective teacher introduction and
> 	questions
> Message-ID:
> 	<6F023B89F5DDF44FABF2C7DCDA709A569324020F at 99EXCH-MBX02.KPBSD.k12.ak.us>
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi Valerie,
> Congratulations getting close to your goal!  About the Praxis test, it is
> not hard!  However, you do need to prepare and study with the materials the
> company gives to you.  I requested Braille materials and I did get them.  It
> took time to prepare.  I had a hard time passing the writing part of the
> test because English is my second language.  After three times, I passed the
> writing part of the test.  If you ask for alternative format and the
> accommodations that you need, you will schedule your own test taking time
> with ETS.  I took it several years ago, maybe things have changed.
> Best wishes and smiles,
> Jordana
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NOBE-L [mailto:nobe-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Valerie Gibson
> via NOBE-L
> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2016 4:32 AM
> To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
> Cc: Valerie Gibson
> Subject: [nobe-l] another prospective teacher introduction and questions
>
> 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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