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Teaching O & M in Small Groups
Ed Gervasoni, Ed.S
with guest appearances by:
Ruth Parsons
Lenetta Leffko
Lana Rich
Jhan Kold
Presentation Outline• Rationale• Insights from Experiences
– Teacher Benefits– Student Benefits
• Teaching Groups– Challenges Presented– Strategies Needed– Opportunities Provided– Benefits of Working With Peers
• Considerations for Group Designs• Group Design Models• Course Offerings
Rationale for Offering O & M in Groups
• Individuals benefit from increased learning and practice time
• Individuals benefit from learning with each other
• Peer modeling & peer support are invaluable tools
• Often reduces the initial fear of traveling alone
• More than one perspective may be available at any given time in a group
• May make teaching O & M more exciting and challenging
• When teachers, aides, family members and other support staff participate, they gain understanding and training opportunities under natural conditions.
Rationale for Offering O & M in Groups
Insights that come from teaching some of our students in groups
Teacher Benefits:
•Creates opportunities to see peers sharing similar challenges within travel and social situations
•Beneficial to see that several different perspectives can emerge from the same situation
Teacher Benefits:
•Makes it easier for the teacher to shift the focus of attention between students thus avoiding the perpetuation of learned helplessness that is sometimes seen in one-on-one situations
•Socialization can create natural distractions between peers while traveling thus providing an opportunity to use the situation as a teaching tool.
Insights that come from teaching some of our students in groups
Student benefits:
• Motivated to attend class, do homework, try new things, accept leadership roles
• Receive more instructional time in the classroom and on the streets with the O & M specialist
• Places the students in a position to compare themselves with others
Insights that come from teaching some of our students in groups
Student benefits:
• Peer modeling and support creates an atmosphere of increased positive risk-taking
• Provides social interactions with peers whereby various issues may emerge and can be addressed (etiquette, social cues, self centeredness)
Insights that come from teaching some of our students in groups
Challenges of teaching students who are blind in small groups
• Hard for the instructor to be in 2 places at one time
• Scheduling kids to be available at same time can be very difficult
• Students are not always able to apply alternate travel routes/plans due to O & M coverage
Challenges of teaching students who are blind in small groups
• More time may be spent waiting for the other students while peer problem-solves, catches-up, and independently negotiates a cross street crossing (when required to do so – 1 person at a time)
• Tendency for socialization may interfere or take precedence over one’s orientation and travel needs – opportunities for teaching multi-tasking
• Thoughtful ground rules for use during community travel need to be established in advance with the group (eg: stop on the word freeze, protocols for accomplishing safety during street crossings, adequate/safe distances between traveling students)
Strategies for Teaching In Small Groups
• Individual participation within a group setting– Keeping students simultaneously engaged
throughout the learning process– Sensitivity of individual learning styles and
traits (introverted/extroverted, levels of self-confidence, literacy competencies)
Strategies for Teaching In Small Groups
• Instructor must manage student tendency to adopt more passive and active roles within a group by using a variety of strategies (peer modeling, leap frog travel, divide and conquer, etc.)
Strategies for Teaching In Small Groups
Increased Opportunities for:
– Observing various problem solving strategies used
– Having others available to use for self-comparison
– Review and modeling of difficult and challenging skills
– Taking leadership positions
– Incidental learning
Benefits of learning with/from peers
• Provides opportunities for students to discuss various strategies for problem-solving and travel methods without having to interact immediately and only with the O & M instructor
• Students can observe and witness the thinking processes as they share with peers without the O & M being first in the order of leading a discussion & providing feedback
Benefits of learning with/from peers
• Some students gain confidence in their own skills by observing other students attempting to do similar skills first
• It can be extremely motivating to travel and perform better with peers
Considerations for Group Designs
• Individuals are best grouped by vision loss, cognitive abilities and travel abilities.
• Individuals with small amounts of vision process information and travel faster than individuals who are completely blind
• Community Based Instruction often occurs by classroom grouping or by individuals that share similar factors listed above
• Individuals may be grouped by vocational, transition or independent living clusters
Group Design Models
• Support group
• Similar goals
• Similar tasks– (planning, notetaking, research)
• Compensatory classroom work
• Adaptations to vision loss
• Short-term programming
Potential Course Offerings
• Finding Wheels
• CSI (Compensatory Skills Instruction)
• Functional Community Based Instruction with class of students and their teachers & aids
• Low–Vision bus travel & map use class
• Night Travel groups for students with RP• GOALS (adjustment to age-related vision loss)
Jhan’s Experience with GOALS Class
• Provided opportunities for students to:– Learn new communication skills for relaying their situation and
needs to friends, family, store personnel, the general public….– Learn about new transportation resources and for other creative
solutions for traveling– Learn about new consumer resources – Discover new social/recreational options (audio description
services, talking books, etc.)– Learn low-vision tips such as best practices for using sun
lenses, mobility in theatres, etc.– Practice using and teaching human guide, room familiarization,
and hand-under-hand techniques
Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it.
Contact Information
Ed Gervasoni - [email protected]
Ruth Parsons - [email protected]
Lenetta Lefko - [email protected]
Lana Rich - [email protected]
Jhan Kold - [email protected]
