[NOBE-L] Creative Writing Practicum

[Matthew Robinson]

Hi all.

So I am an English education major at Southern Utah University. I am retaking a class about methods of teaching writing. As part of this class, we have an opportunity to teach a practicum with small groups of third-graders. When I took this class the first time, I had a tutor come with me to be an aid and a reader as needed. Because I was not confident in how to manage multiple students alone and perhaps because the presence of two adults instead of the one sent mixed signals to the students, we ended up splitting the group in half. This wasn’t essentially problematic, although as a future teacher I can’t really do that.
	Coming back into the practicum, I’ve gotten some advice on it, to the point where I feel fairly confident I can do it alone. But it’s been more other blind teachers’ experiences teaching that I’ve gotten—for example, they would put bells on the doors so as to tell if a student snuck out, or they would look for some non-visual indicator of otherwise undetectable misbehavior or lack of participation. My question is, how do I responsibly manage three students and not have them slip anything past me—although as we all know, that happens with all teachers from time to time? How can I do this enough to earn respect? How can I adapt to the students’ use of paper instead of electronic means to write and share assignments? It’s been suggested that I use Aira or have students self-check or check each other when appropriate. What do you think? What’s worked for you?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Matthew Robinson