Project Math Access DVD 06 - Perspectives- Part 07
Transcript Start

Audio Description: Part seven, three dimensional diagrams.

Marien Massa: A couple things that would... let me start with, before I actually had the blind student in class... when I found out the last day of school I was going to have him in class, I was like no, this isn’t happening. July came along and I’m thinking okay, nobody has called me on the phone; he’s still there. What am I going to do? 

So I’m thinking okay, this is a visual course. So I had this great idea. I’d go over to the teacher’s store and look at what they had for grade school students that I could use as models... because I’ve been in there and looked around and thought those are great models... but those are for younger kids and my kids are going to think they are dumb. He can’t see, what difference does it make? I wanted him to get the shapes, the idea. So I picked up just some flat hexagons. I picked up some 3-D models, but you fold them and make it into a figure... so he could get the idea of how it was made, not thinking that they had tabs on it. That was not really part of the figure, so that was going to be confusing, but I never thought about that. When you put it together, it would have tabs, and he’s thinking that's part of it when it's not part of the figure, so that was confusing. 

I picked up a geoboard, which you could put rubber bands on and kind of graph whatever, and I’m thinking these are some great things. Picked them up, brought them home. I came back and went to my department head and I said... ‘‘I went and bought these things for the blind kid.” And she goes, “Well, whatever you need. Just send them over to special services and they can pay for it.” I didn’t think anything of it. 

So, they sat in the back for a while because I hadn't got to that point where I really needed it yet, and then when I pulled them out... it's like these aren't working. He's not getting out of this what I thought he could get out of this. And the 3-D models, I forgot they had the little tab on it, so giving him the flat piece and asking the aide with him to fold it together... he was thinking the little tab is part of the actual 3-D figure and all it was doing was hooking it together. It got confusing because I'd ask, “How many faces does this thing have?" And he had way too many, and you're like, okay, we're not getting this so let's try it again. Well then I figured out what the problem was, but it took me to walk over there and then realize that that was not a good choice of what to do. I probably should have cut off the tabs or whatever. 

So, I was learning by trial and error on some of that stuff. Most of the geoboard, he never really liked it. He had a graph board of his own that we brought up here that you put pins in... much easier to use than my bright ideas. The rubber bands didn't work, the little things to count. He goes, “You know what, I just don't get this. Just give me my geoboard back." I had to learn that he was used to using some things, and it was hard for him to change too, to try something new. So, maybe the geoboard would have worked, but he didn't want it because he was already used to his other method, and actually that board was bigger... so I thought well fine. 

The other thing is, we would construct things in class, or I would have diagrams drawn on the board... and so the aide would then make it out of Wikki Stix. But, here's the problem... we would label like the square A, B, C, D and he didn't have any A, B, C, D on his... so when we had to draw in the diagonal, what points are those and so on... he didn't really have any clue because he can feel the figure but where are all the points? So, I asked the blind itinerant. She said, ‘‘I have a great idea. We have the alphabet letters that are magnetic, we'll use that." Where do you find a magnetic board? Okay, that's not this big. That's not going to fit in my classroom on his desk. So that idea didn't work either. She goes, “They are baby letters, but he'll never know the difference." And I'm thinking, okay great, but it didn't work either. You needed something more fiat, and obviously it was way too big and cumbersome for him actually to sit at a classroom desk and try to do. 

So, some of the ideas that we came up with didn't work. I was trying to do maybe too much on my own to get some ideas, and communication again might have been good. I needed to spend an hour in her office downstairs and just go through all her stuff. I don't think she would appreciate that, but it might have led me into some things like, these are Wikki Stix, what do I do with these? Oh, where did you get these from? What do they use them for? What did he do in other classes, maybe even in a science class, that could have given me an idea to make things easier? How do I make a diagram easier for him? And, so on. 

There again, I needed to get more information that I wasn't getting. Maybe I needed to seek it. I really didn't know she had all that stuff down there. She would come up and see me. Finally, she goes, “John needs help on his test. Could you come down?" And I'm like, “Wow, where'd you get those from?" She goes, “Don't you have those?" I go, “No." She goes, “We didn't bring those upstairs?" So, it was hard on her too because most of the itinerants travel from school to school to school, and she's only here part of the day. When she didn't have something for him and I needed it for class, she would actually come in, which was great. She would do that, and she would apologize, and that was fine. But then if l needed something, I couldn't get it because it was locked up. So, we needed more of like, “Oh wow, could I use that tomorrow?" or, “Keep it up there, come on and get it." Well, sometimes she would forget that she had it up there, somebody else would want it, or they had something that I wanted and I didn't know they had it... or maybe they had it and I never saw it. 

So part of it is, what is there to use? Which kind of leads you into your teaching methods and so on. You know, geometry class, 32, 35 kids. They are all packed in here. You can't go farther than rows. A lot of mine is discussion, not a lecture but a discussion, and I bank on them a lot to give me the answers. Look at the picture, give me some conclusions, and so on. 

Well, the way I always used to teach was write it and say it because I know some kids are visual learners and some kids are audio. So, I didn't have that much of a problem right at the beginning... but a lot of times I didn't say things and the student would just be sitting there and I'm like what is his problem? And then he would ask, “Could you tell me what you wrote on the board?" He knew you were writing on the board. Sometimes I would go, “Well, I was just marking up the diagram." 

So I had to readjust and make sure that everything I wrote I also said... and that's a major thing to do because sometimes you have to consciously say... ‘‘l have to do this." And you would forget. You get into a pattern where okay, he's there, he's being quiet, you're not paying attention, you're going on... and then he'll ask five minutes later, “What did you write over there?" And you're like okay, what is he talking about? And you had to go back and retrace your steps, so you're kind of... and that might be good for the other kids because it made you slow down... down and made you repeat, which they could have used too, but maybe if I would have done it the first time it would have been better for him. 

So, you have to consciously say, “Everything you write you have to say,"... and that's going to help everybody because you're going to have the audio and the visual learner. I have students that don't have to take notes at all; they'll just sit there, and they just listen to me. Sometimes they don't even look at the board. So, that's one thing that I learned to make sure I do all the time no matter what class it is. 

Other things that you do... you really have to plan ahead of time. I'd come up with this great idea in the middle of class... oh that's a great model, pull it out... he can't see it. He can't participate. Other kids go, “Well what is that? Can you describe it?" Well, when I started describing things more, he then could understand. 

So, now we got into even the rest of the kids needed descriptions... or the description helped them but it was helping him too, so he was forcing me to do things that actually were helping everybody else and making me change some things, the way I do them... making diagrams easier to read, easier to understand and maybe not so cluttered... because he had a hard time feeling it. 

So, do other kids have a hard time? Do I really need all that in the diagram? Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. So when you start making things that people are reading or looking at, is everybody able to do it? So, that was simplifying things a little bit more. Another thing that forces you to do it is... sometimes you plan a lesson but you really don't think about it, I've been teaching it for years, I know what I'm going to do. He forced me say okay, how else could I present this that would make it easy or so he could understand? Well, what it was actually doing was making it easier for everybody to understand, or they were getting a better insight into it... so that was helping us out too. 

A lot of times we rely on the computer or do it on your calculator... you know, type that in on your calculator... well, he couldn't do everything. So sometimes we would have to go through a different order of steps for him to get it on his calculator than they did... but sometimes theirs was the same as his and you never know it, and it helped them too. Like, you punch the square root button or you don't punch the square root button. He would tell me... ‘‘It says SQR, what does that mean, square root or something?" When the other kids saw their calculator, they were like oh, that's what that means, and you were assuming the whole time they knew how to use their calculator and knew what those things meant. 

So when he asked questions that he didn't know, it actually was helping the rest of them. I was taking it for granted... most teachers take it for granted... by the time you get to be a junior, I think you should know how to use your calculator. They don't, or they were only trained to do certain things and they still can only do those things. 

So there were some things that now I, this year that I'm teaching the same class... make sure I do just because I've learned to make a different approach to things. Sometimes, near the end of the year, after I got used to working with the blind student and so on, I would try two or three different approaches. How else could you do this? Then, okay, if that class failed, so what, do it again tomorrow or something... but at least I was looking at different methods to incorporate everybody, including him, and actually other students were benefiting from it.