Teacher Elizabeth

Me helping Dyanara

Dyanara's practice cards

Our first page of Braille!

The Braille Machine

Wow... hello world. Today was my first day of school at Isla Bonita, and all I have to say is wow. Just kidding, I actually have a lot to say. Today was one of the most eye opening experiences of my teaching career thus far. I started out the day waking up at 6:45 and getting dressed and heading out to the pool to make some business calls and video chat. The internet here at Pedro's didn't work so I hopped on my bike and headed down the road to Estelle's. I stopped at Estelle's and made my call and got some breakfast but the internet didn't work there either. Then I headed down the road further to Lily's and used their internet, but by that time no one was available to video chat so I just enjoyed sitting on the beach for a bit until it was time to head to school. I drove to school on my bike and got there right before 8:30. I went to my classroom and was told that I would be working with Dyanara, the visually impaired student, on her Braille for the morning. Around 10:30 I met with a teacher in Standard 5 and she showed me the Braille machine that they had and how to work it. She left me to practice before I was told to go and get Dyanara and start working with her. I practiced typing the keys and creating the Braille for a few minutes and then went and asked Dyanara to come outside and work with me. Dyanara had never worked with the Braille machine before and has only learned letters A-G in Braille through recognition. I first showed her the machine and let her feel each part of it. Then I guided her fingers to the correct keys and told her the number for each key. On a Braille machine each key has a corresponding number that goes with the dot it creates in the Braille sequence. The inner most key on the left side is one, the key to the left of that is two, and the last key on the left side is three. The inner most key on the right side is four, the middle key on the right side is five, and the last key on the right side is six. The large middle button is the space button. I then placed my hands on top of Dyanara's and we practiced pushing down the keys together and saying the numbers as we pushed them down. Then I told her what number represented the letter A. She then pressed the corresponding key down and created the letter A. I then held her finger and guided it along the letter that she created so she could practice reading it. The excitement in her face as she felt the letter that she created was unbelievable. Her happiness was so pure and overwhelming she immediately started pressing random keys out of pure excitement. I let her continue to press the letter A all the way down the row just to get some practice and to let her get her excitement under control. Then we moved on to letter B. I told her that letter B is made by pressing 1 and 2 at the same time and then she practiced B. We did the same process for letter C. Once we did those three letters we practiced them in order and then in random order once she got more comfortable with them. Once she seemed very comfortable with them I used her Braille cards that she practices with. These are large red cards with the letter written at the bottom and the Braille symbol created with large buttons above it. I would give Dyanara a card and let her feel the letter, then she would tell me the letter on the card, and once she got it correct she could press the correct keys on the machine to make the Braille letter. Once she was done I had her feel the Braille she created to check and make sure she did it correctly. We continued this process and then I decided to play a quick game with her. I flipped the cards over and she chose a card and on her own would tell me the letter on the card and type it in. She did amazingly well with this game! (and she loved it!) Once she mastered the game we continued with a new letter and did this same sequence adding a new letter each time. We got all the way to the letter F in less than one hour! It was astonishing seeing how excited she was and how well she was doing. I was learning as well and I am proud to say I now know the Braille alphabet A-F. As we were finishing letter F the lunch bell rang. We had typed a whole sheet of Braille and I let Dyanara keep her sheet to show her friends and family and to continue feeling the letters and becoming familiar with what she created. For lunch we all went off campus to get a burrito and then came back before the bell rang. When I returned I was met with Teacher Yasmira, my partnership teacher. She told me that she was asked to leave to help with the pageant and asked if I could teach the rest of the afternoon. Now I do not want you to get the wrong impression of Teacher Yasmira. She is a first year teacher who is only 18 years old. She has some wonderful ideas and I am really impressed with some of the lessons she has come up with, especially considering the resources they have. So anyways, of course I said yes, but in the back of my mind I was TERRIFIED. She gave me a piece of notebook paper with some ideas written on it of what to teach. The paper said that for Science we were doing weather and talking about rain, sun, wind, cold, hot, and snow. It also said to create a chart to keep track of the weather each day this week. Teacher Yasmira also told me that for reading they were doing a worksheet on ABC order. All of this was supposed to take up 2 hours... So I had to think quick. I was left with a class of mostly boys who were all out of their seats and screaming and a piece of notebook paper with some ideas. I immediately asked everyone to take a seat and after some prying I got my wish. Then I began my lesson on weather. I am not sure where it came from but it all started coming together. We talked about types of weather, clothes you wear in the types of weather, and examples of each type. Then we created the charts and went outside and observed the weather for the day. We also discussed if students had ever seen the other types of weather. Then we drew pictures of each type of weather. Once we were finished we began (insert drum roll here) ABC order! God willing I somehow got through the lesson as well. It was tough because the students got restless. My boys began to get up and start talking and I had to get a lot more firm. I had already estabilished the 'give me 5' crowd control idea and that seemed to work so we stuck with that and pushed through. We ended up finishing with 30 minutes left so I grabbed a book from the back table and began to read. The students loved the book and the day ended smoothly. I survived day one!! I cleaned the board, met with some parents, and then hopped on my bike and headed back to Pedro's. I barely have a voice and my patience is tested but I am yearning for more and honestly scared to death but SO excited for what tomorrow brings. Teacher Yasmira will not be here after lunch every day this week so I will be left to my own devices. Wish me luck... more adventures to come.