[nobe-l] help dealing with the visual side of teaching

Sun Feb 19 22:27:01 UTC 2017

Tara,
I love your advice. Planning ahead is the best advice as well as having 
supplies she can use.

Kayla, there will be more challenges in being teacher for a day, but I think 
if they
have advanced notice as to what you need and accommodations that you can do 
it. I'd suggest also learning the school layout and classroom before you 
teach. This way you can more easily walk around the class and school. You 
could arrive after school one day when the kids are gone and scope out the 
school. Perhaps plan a short meeting with your mentor teacher.

Yes, lower grades are visual but you can make anything work. That said, my 
personal advice is trying a third or fourth grade class. I say this because 
lower grades tend to use coloring more and arts/crafts. Additionally, the 
speech is not as developed in kindergarten and I've seen first graders 
overextend their verbs.
I'm guessing that third grade and beyond will be more verbal and speak up. 
I've had more success interacting with upper grades. When I volunteer 
tutored students, I felt more comfortable with third grade through fifth 
grade.
But, do what you think is best. I just think that in a kindergarten or first 
grade, you might have to come up with more alternatives to coloring.

Good luck!
Ashley
-----Original Message----- 
From: Tara Abella via NOBE-L
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2017 4:52 PM
To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
Cc: taranabella0 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nobe-l] help dealing with the visual side of teaching

Hi Kayla,

Personally, I think you should go for it. There is no better way for getting 
experience in the classroom then to volunteer in a classroom. Here are some 
suggestions I would give you so that you can be successful.

1: ask if the teacher would be willing to give you a short tour of where 
basic items in the classroom are located. Try to arrive before the students 
so this will be easier.
2: simply tell the students that instead of just raising their hand, when 
you ask a question they will also have to say their name. Try asking for 
only the boys to answer or the students with odd mailboxes to answer to cut 
down on the noise level.
3: when the students are working on assignments, have the student say their 
name if they need help. Also, walk around to table groups and ask students 
to read you their answers to some of the questions so you will know if they 
are on the right track. Ask the teacher if there is a particular group of 
students that struggles and try working with the students.
4: find out ahead of time what your responsibilities will be as far as 
teaching. Make sure your materials are labeled with braille so you can read 
them, but also in print so students can read them too. Power points have 
worked amazingly for me to present information.
5: Bring a couple books that have dual print and braille for you to read to 
the class. Often, there will be a little bit of downtime and this would work 
beautifully and show you are prepared.
6: don't panic if everything doesn't go perfectly. This is a one day 
opportunity, so nobody in the program is going to tell you you are not fit 
to be a teacher based on a one day experience.
7: be confident and don't be afraid to ask for a little assistance. If you 
can't write on the board, have a student do it. If you still aren't very 
familiar with where all the desks are, have a student pass out the papers.
I hope some of the suggestions are helpful and I hope you have a great 
experience for your first time in the classroom!

Tara

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 19, 2017, at 4:17 PM, Kayla James via NOBE-L <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> 
> wrote:
>
> I suppose you're right.
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Feb 19, 2017, at 1:22 AM, Heather Field via NOBE-L <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> 
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Kayla,
>> Since blind teachers need to teach their students different ways of 
>> communicating with them, and they usually need to organise their 
>> classroom so that resources have braille labels, and so on, I would not 
>> volunteer for this experiment. I am a teacher with over 30 years 
>> experience and I wouldn't be a teacher for a day if this opportunity was 
>> offered to me. Since a blind teacher needs to make specific modifications 
>> to the classroom to ensure that he/she can function independently, just 
>> walking into an unknown classroom with a class of students whom you have 
>> never met before seems to be setting oneself up for an discouraging 
>> experience.
>> Many blind teachers are successfully working as teachers, but they set up 
>> their classroom to suit them and they teach their students to follow 
>> classroom interaction rules that work for a blind teacher. So, while I 
>> believe you could become a successful blind teacher, and you could 
>> certainly volunteer to be a teacher for a day, I don't believe that going 
>> into a strange classroom for a day would accomplish anything positive for 
>> you.
>> Just my thoughts, of course.
>> Warmly,
>> Heather
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Kayla James via NOBE-L
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 10:19 PM
>> To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
>> Cc: Kayla James
>> Subject: [nobe-l] help dealing with the visual side of teaching
>>
>> Hello, everyone. I want to volunteer for a program called "Teacher for
>> a Day." My child development teacher thinks I can do it, but she and
>> the coordinator of the program are worried.
>> We can pick a grade for teaching, but since everything is so visual,
>> they are trying to decide what is best for me.
>> Can the totally blind teachers please send in advice so I can forward
>> it to my teacher? Oh, and p.s.: no teacher's aide are given.
>> My child development teacher said that aides aren't given all of the
>> time to teachers most of time. In fact, she suggested I become an
>> aide.
>> Thank you, everyone. I just want to see if I have what it takes to teach.
>>
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