How to get your students excited about learning O&M
Maya Delgado Greenberg, MA, COMS
This PowerPoint and the brainstorming matrix can be downloaded at
https://goo.gl/ADtGSS
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My story
 Taught kids with extreme behavioral challenges
Inspired by Lilli Neilsen, philosophy
of “Active Learning”
•All children can
learn
•Set up a learning
environment
•Teacher observes
Image source: http://littleladybughugs.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/dsc_0385.jpg
Worked at…
 California School for the Blind
 San Francisco State University
How can a new teacher learn to
individualize lessons?
 More than knowing the skill to be taught
 What makes the student tick?
 How do seasoned teachers individualize lessons?
 What is their thought process?
Skills can be taught in so many
ways, what is right for the student?
 Drill and practice?
 Writing and reading about the skill?
 Learning through music or rhyme?
 Playing a game?
 Teaching others?
 Role-play?
 And much more…
I try to keep this in mind with my
student teachers
Source: http://www.shiningvincistar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/teach-man-to-fish1-450x224.jpg
But because I am an educator…
Source: http://www.freelearningtools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/teach-a-man-to-fish.png
You are not just teaching O&M
 You are teaching people
Activity: Your moment of
inspiration
 Have you ever had a sudden flash of insight on how to
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customize a lesson in a new, creative way for a hard to
motivate student?
Share your story with the person next to you
What did you learn or realize about your student that
helped you come up this idea?
Switch roles
5 minutes
The Brainstorming Matrix
 Step 1) Gather information about the student
 Step 2) Apply that information towards the skill being
taught
 Step 3) Generate creative lesson ideas
The Brainstorming Matrix
 Preferences
 Learning Style
 Motivation
 Sensory Learning Modality
 Preferred Locations
 Humor/Delight
 Social
 Learning Readiness
Example: Preferences
Step 1 Information about the student:
 What does the student like? (e.g. activities, objects, places, and
people)
 What do family members and friends report that the student
likes? (e.g. activities, objects, places, and people)
 What kinds of hobbies/games does the student enjoy?
 For children, what are his/her favorite games, books, and
cartoons? A favorite character?
 Does the student seem especially motivated by music? What
kind of music? What are some favorite songs?
Example: Preferences
Step 2 The skill being taught
 How does this skill relate to the student’s interests?
 For kids, how can this skill be turned into a game
incorporating favorite activities?
 For kids, how can this skill be adapted to include a
favorite character or song?
 How can the skill taught in the form of a song or chant
?
Example: Preferences
 Step 3 Make a plan. Review and combine multiple
elements from step 2 to generate as many creative
lesson ideas as possible. Pick your top favorite lesson
idea and try it! Repeat as needed as you get to know
the student better or as new skills need to be taught.
Learning Style
 Step 1 What activities does the student struggle with?
Describe how the student responds when confronting
a difficult activity.
 Step 2 Does learning this skill require doing things
that are traditionally challenging or difficult for this
student? If so, how can this be minimized?
Motivation
 Step 1 Think of times that the student has worked hard
without prompting. What activity was it? What was
motivating about that activity?
 Step 2 How can you link the skill to be taught to
motivating activities where the student already works
hard without prompting?
Sensory Learning Modality
 Step 1 What is the student’s primary sensory learning
modality? Secondary?
 Step 2 How does this skill relate to the student’s
sensory learning modalities? How can lessons be
adapted to include more of the student’s primary
sensory modalities?
Sensory Learning Modality
 Not sure how to evaluate this? See assessment of
learning media: Vision, hearing, touch,
kinesthetic/proprioceptive, smell, or taste
 To download an assessment of learning media, go to
http://www.csbcde.ca.gov/csb_assessmentlearmningmedia.html
Sensory Learning Modality
Preferred Locations
 Step 1 What are the student’s favorite places? How
does the student get there?
 Step 2 How can this skill be used in or en route to a
preferred location?
Humor/Delight
 Step 1 What makes the student’s face light up with joy?
 Step 2 How can teaching this skill be adapted to
include things to make the student laugh and feel
excited? Can you imagine a scenario where applying
the skill will make the student’s face light up with
delight?
Social
 Step 1 Does the student prefer solitary activities, or
social ones? Does the student prefer peers or adults?
Does the student have a best friend and/or favorite
person?
 Step 2 How can teaching this skill be adapted to
include preferred peers or family? How does the skill
help the student to better access preferred peers or
family?
Learning Readiness (step 1)
 Step 1 Think of times when the student has seemed
calm and attentive, focused and ready to learn. What
time of day was it? What activities was she doing
shortly before?
 Step 2 How can you adapt the skill to teach at times of
day when the student is ready to learn? How can you
include activities before/during your lesson that help
the student to be calm, focused, and ready to learn?
Case Study: “Andrea”
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Step 1, Gathering info
Shy student, 7 years old, totally blind
Loves music, perfect pitch
Auditory and tactile learner
Learning Braille
Poor proprioception, limited flexibility
Cognitive delays
Loves stories and rhymes
Motivated to learn about the world, nature, and the
community
Case Study: Andrea
 Step 2 Skills to be taught
 Constant contact and two point touch cane techniques,
instep
 Protective Techniques
 Stranger Safety/Community Awareness
Solutions for Andrea
 Used cane songs to move the cane in a rhythm—offset
proprioceptive weakness with her auditory strength
and musical interest
Solutions for Andrea
 Visited community locations and did supported
writing of stories about the experience to improve her
comprehension, retention, and literacy skills
Visited farms to apply cane and protective
techniques and to learn about nature, plants, and
rural O&M. Hands-on multisensory learning helped
her to retain the skills.
Using songs and role play to teach
upper protective technique
Activity
 Break into small groups
 Interview one of your group members about a close
friend, family member, or a student
 Imagine this is going to be your new O&M student,
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gather as much info as possible about your assigned area
20/200 stable vision, no other disabling conditions
Skills are either cane technique or neighborhood/route
familiarization
Complete Steps 1, 2, and 3
10 minutes to complete and then report back to the
group
What is the benefit?
 Builds rapport
 Respects the whole person
 Helps customize instruction
Customizing instruction
 Discover strengths, learning style, and interests
 Make lessons fun and meaningful
 Help them to enjoy the learning process
Change how your students respond
to lessons
Imagine lessons like this!
Resources:
 Nielsen, L. Early Learning Step by Step
 Fazzi, D. and Petersmeyer, B. Imagining the
Possibilities: Creative Approaches to Orientation and
Mobility Instruction for Persons Who Are Visually
Impaired
 Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Assessment of Learning Media/Primary Learning
modality. http://www.csbcde.ca.gov/csb_assessmentlearmningmedia.html
 Powerpoint and draft of brainstorming matrix can be
downloaded at https://goo.gl/ADtGSS
What do you do to get to know
your students?
 Any tricks of the trade for making customized lessons?
 Resources we should know about?
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Books featuring children with visual impairments
http://www.iowa-braille.k12.ia.us/bibliography_of_blind.html
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The Sound of Colors: A Journey of the Imagination by Jimmy Liao. In this breathtaking,
evocative book, a young blind girl travels from one subway station to another while her imagination takes her
to impossibly wonderful places. She swims with the dolphins and sunbathes on a whales back; flies through
the air with the birds and travels to the station at the end of the world.
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Night Search Chamberlain, Kate. Hollidaysburg, PA: Jason and Nordic, 1997. 32 p. Heather, who is blind,
resists using her white cane until one night while camping her puppy wanders off. Heather tries to find the
puppy. She finds a stick which helps, but she realizes that her white cane is a very valuable helper.
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Mandy Sue Day Karim, Roberta. New York: Clarion, 1994. Unpaged. Using her senses of taste, hearing,
touch, and smell, a blind girl enjoys a special day on the farm. Using rhythmic language, the author conveys
the exuberance and excitement of Mandy’s day with her horse, Ben.
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Listen for the Bus: David’s Story McMahon, Patricia. Honesdale, PA: Caroline House, 1995. Unpaged.
A real life look at David, who is blind and hearing impaired, as he begins kindergarten. Photos show all parts
of his day and also explain the signs he uses because of his deafness.
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Sarah's Sleepover. Rodriguez, Bobbie. New York: Viking, 2000. Unpaged. When the lights go out while
her cousins are spending the night, a young blind girl shows them what to do in the dark.
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Family of Owen M.: Off We Go to Learn Everyday Things About Orientation and
Mobility Flaherty, Erin. Philadelphia, PA: Hill, 1997. Unpaged. "Learn everyday things about orientation and
mobility" is the theme of this lighthearted, illustrated book about a blind boy named Owen M. and his family.
A perfect tool to teach classmates, parents, and friends of blind children how O&M helps Owen travel around
his house, in stores, and outside.
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Travel Tales: A Mobility Storybook by Julia Halpern-Gold, Robin W. Adler, and Shelly Faust-Jones
(Paperback - Nov 1988) This large print, paperback book, is geared for pre-school and early elementary
students with visual impairments. Designed to reinforce different environmental concepts in which a child
would travel, it features a boy named Elliot, who is blind. Elliot provides a positive role model for blind
children as he travels through the supermarket, in the subway, around the block, all around the town.