[Nfb-science] Accessibility questions concerning teaching math to the sighted

[David Moore]

Hi All.
My name is David Moore from Columbus, Ohio.  I received my masters
degree at Ohio State in mathematics education  I also received a BS in
mathematics.  Now, I do some tutoring.  I tutor sighted college
students one on one in Calculus and other higher concepts.  With one
on one tutoring, I have the student read the problem to me and I tell
him or her exactly what to right down as I do the problem in my head.
I learned math by listening to tapes and by reading my texts with the
Optacon.  I know what all the symbols look like in print, because of
the Optacon.  This leads into the help I would grately appreciate from
all of you.
I want to teach a classroom full of sighted students at the small
community college level.  This has always been my dream.  First of
all, How do I type out my math lectures so the content will look to
the students as though I wrote it on a board?  I use JAWS and
Openbook.  That technology, however, can't help me write or read math
texts.  Next, How do I get JAWS to read the math content that I am
typing into an editor so I can edit what I am typing just like in a
word document?  Next, How do I read math texts that the college or
high school would use so I can prepare my lessons from the texts?  I
want to be able to read the math material, write out a lecture that I
would present to the students, and have a way to grade there work that
they input.  I really need help from an experienced blind mathematics
teacher who teaches the sighted.  I am a very slow Braille reader and
know little Nemoth code.  I do all computations in my head and picture
all graphs in my head by feeling with the optacon.  The problem is, I
have no more optacon.  Rehab took it back years ago, and I have never
looked into getting another one in years.  I have just done a little
bit of this one on one tutoring where I just tell the student what to
right down.  I didn't know how this technique would work in front of
an entire class with nothing for the sighted students to look at.  In
an Interview, I don't know how it would go if I said that I would just
stand in front of the class and tell them what to write down with no
representation for them to look at.  The few students I tutor, say
that I can explain, in words, concepts they have never understood in
their lives. Also, I heard that much math is done on graphing
calculators compared to when I was in school in the 1980s.  How would
I access graphing calculators that students would use to do their
homework on?  With my few one on one students, I just show them how
the graphs look with my finger while they play around with their
calculators to get something that looks like what I am drawing with my
finger.  When I try writing print on paper or board, it goes all over
the place.  I can picture the print in my head, but I have trouble
writing it in any kind of straight line.  I would so much appreciate
any help or suggestions you have for me to obtain that teaching job at
a high school or small community college and how I could do all that
is needed with assistive technology.  Thank you so much in advance.