Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC
Latest posts by Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC (see all)
- The Elephant in the Room - July 24, 2020
- Leading Voices of Diversity and Inclusion - June 17, 2020
- Keeping Up With Your Braille Knowledge At This Time - March 27, 2020
- SurveyGizmo and PDRIB Power Ground-Breaking Research on Blindness - February 27, 2020
- Making a Distinction: Teachers of Blind Students - August 12, 2019
Distinct Teachers
Sheena Manuel, Kristen Sims, Edward Bell, Casey Robertson
“What blind children lack is not access to services, but access to high expectations. Society holds only minimal expectations for blind people. Consequently, the blind child is rewarded for virtually any level of performance. Even the most forward-looking people rarely hold more than tenuous and uncertain expectations for the blind. It is not surprising, therefore, that blind children lack a clear image of their own potential. To develop a real sense of their own ability, blind children must be in an environment with clearly defined expectations.” ~ F. Schroeder
Professional in Blindness – Teacher of Blind Students (TBS) Under the Structured Discovery Model™
A Teacher of Blind Students (TBS) under the Structured Discovery Model™ is a masters-level teacher who received their master’s degree or graduate certificate from Louisiana Tech University’s Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness (PDRIB). This is the simplest form of identifying a TBS. A TBS may also be identified as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) in the field of blindness. However, two different philosophies of blindness exist: 1) traditional and 2) Structured Discovery Model™. These two philosophies determine when and where you would hear each term used, TVI or TBS. A Teacher of Blind Students is associated with the Structured Discovery Model™ philosophy while a Teacher of the Visually Impaired is typically associated with the traditional philosophy.
A Teacher of Blind Students guided by the Structured Discovery Model™ is a teacher at heart who embraces the efficacy of braille for primary literacy and is deeply committed to helping kids with visual impairments know that it is respectable to be a blind person. With love, hope and determination, these teachers change what it means to be blind so that these young persons will grow up into confident and independent adults–who just happen to be blind. Loss of vision should not equal loss of independence, yet too great of focus on the “visual impairment” leaves many teachers focusing on the limitations posed by diminished eyesight. Teachers of Blind Students know that greater achievement and attainment of dreams takes a wholistic approach where vision takes a back seat to the greater array of nonvisual skills that have led generations of the nation’s blind to live the lives they want with confidence and pride.
At Louisiana Tech University, PDRIB understands that blindness is not a characteristic that defines you, blind people can teach other blind people, and the use of an accelerated pace when learning braille is important to aiding students in accessing the general education curriculum. (TBS under the Structured Discovery Model™)
Identifying the TBS Under the Structured Discovery Model™ – Accelerate Pace
Read “From No Access to Full Access by Sheena Manuel and Leesa Wallace” https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr34/1/fr340102.htm for evidence-based practices on learning braille at an accelerated pace!
The difference between a newly certified Teacher of Blind Students under the Structured Discovery Model™ and a Teacher of the Visually Impaired is most likely the accelerated pace of teaching braille (literary and Nemeth). “Natural Order of Contractions” was coined by Dr. Ryles and carried on by Casey Robertson and Sheena Manuel, it headlines the braille courses at Louisiana Tech’s Teaching Blind Students program. Using Natural Order of Contractions, teacher candidates learn how to introduce braille in a natural environment and at an accelerated pace compared to other curriculums that exist in the blindness field. This is a paradigm shift and not a hardcover curriculum guide.
A “Natural Order of Contractions” mindset allows the teacher to use the general education curriculum to teach braille contractions as they occur in the text. Some common resources teachers used are basal readers, leveled readers, Reading A-Z, Dolch word lists, and Fry’s list. When we expect blind children to learn from these materials, we are giving them the “clearly defined expectations” of which Dr. Schroeder spoke and we are holding them to the same standard and expectations of their sighted peers who exhibit a commensurate cognitive level.
Identifying the TBS Under the Structured Discovery Model™ – Read Aloud
Reading specialists know that the most influential way of becoming a fluent reader is to listen to someone reading fluently aloud. Another distinction among the TBS under the Structured Discovery Model™ candidates is the read aloud task embedded in the braille courses. As TBS under the Structured Discovery Model™ candidates prepare themselves for weekly read aloud tasks to their instructor, they learn the importance of deliberate practice and can hear themselves become fluent readers. As the candidates gain confidence and fluency, their reading speeds may increase to 90-100 words per minute, but nothing less than 70 words per minute is obtained in these braille courses. Throughout this endeavor, candidates are immersed in the learning process in which their future students will also engage. These experiences also allow candidates to read braille stories fluently to their students showing students what braille fluency sounds like and encourage the love of reading in each student. So, when we say we are Teachers of Blind Students under the Structured Discovery Model™, we know we have a skillset that is different from a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and we’re proud. Not only do we want to draw attention to our Structured Discovery Model™, but we hope to spark a flame that encourages others in the field to learn from us and to become distinct teachers of blind students, despite the college they attend or attended.
Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC
Latest posts by Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC (see all)
- The Elephant in the Room - July 24, 2020
- Leading Voices of Diversity and Inclusion - June 17, 2020
- Keeping Up With Your Braille Knowledge At This Time - March 27, 2020
- SurveyGizmo and PDRIB Power Ground-Breaking Research on Blindness - February 27, 2020
- Making a Distinction: Teachers of Blind Students - August 12, 2019
