"Beyond Expectations"
I recently received a quick note from a former professor which read, "Lots of work to do to make sure future schools really do the work that they should so that all kids learn beyond expectations!"
I love this for so many reasons, and I thought immediately of a student who taught me many lessons one year.
This student was legally blind.
He had limited eyesight in one eye and read using Braille. He often used the computer as he could read and write in English as well as in Braille. (Perhaps he would have been considered trilingual since he spoke another language as well?) Thinking back, I'm just astonished by this boy. Since he could see a little, he occasionally wrote with a paper and pencil, usually during math. When writing, he used his Braille writer. I worked along side an amazing teacher who was paired with him and a few other students in the district to help in our communication barrier since I have no idea how to read Braille.
There was a game I used to play with students called Digits and Places. If there was 5 minutes left before lining up for lunch after wrapping up a lesson, we would play Digits and Places. I drew a T-chart on the board. with a D on the left top and a P on the right top. I would start with two digit numbers and increase the difficulty to 3 or 4 digit numbers as it became too easy for the class. There are many benefits to the game, and most of the students enjoyed playing it. The game is
I love this for so many reasons, and I thought immediately of a student who taught me many lessons one year.
This student was legally blind.
He had limited eyesight in one eye and read using Braille. He often used the computer as he could read and write in English as well as in Braille. (Perhaps he would have been considered trilingual since he spoke another language as well?) Thinking back, I'm just astonished by this boy. Since he could see a little, he occasionally wrote with a paper and pencil, usually during math. When writing, he used his Braille writer. I worked along side an amazing teacher who was paired with him and a few other students in the district to help in our communication barrier since I have no idea how to read Braille.
There was a game I used to play with students called Digits and Places. If there was 5 minutes left before lining up for lunch after wrapping up a lesson, we would play Digits and Places. I drew a T-chart on the board. with a D on the left top and a P on the right top. I would start with two digit numbers and increase the difficulty to 3 or 4 digit numbers as it became too easy for the class. There are many benefits to the game, and most of the students enjoyed playing it. The game is