Mathematics
As the math teacher of high school students, you probably have many questions about how to include your braille-reading student in your lessons. First of all, give yourself the credit that you deserve. You are a trained who is qualified to teach students in your subject area. Just like with any student, it is your responsibility to teach math to your braille-reading student. However, you will need additional pointers, guidelines and strategies that will help you in developing math instruction that your braille-reading student can access and learn from. Remember, you are not alone in this journey. There are many people and resources that will help you teach your braille-reading student in your inclusive classroom setting. Your student’s TVI should become a very important resource through your course.
Considerations in Planning for Instruction in Mathematics
When planning for your high school math lesson, keep in mind the following important point about the power of learning through vision. Your vision is like a digital camera, allowing you to quickly ‘chunk’ visual information into your memory. When you display a math problem on the board, the majority of your students will be able to see the problem in its entirety. Unlike a digital camera, the learning process of your braille-reading student will be constructed in parts, kind of like a puzzle. In order for your braille-reading student to see the entire math problem as your sighted students, he or she will need to sequentially put the pieces of this problem together through either tactile or auditory means.
It will be important for you to be proactive in including your braille-reading student in your math lesson. While planning your lesson, ask yourself, “How will my braille-reading student access the concepts that will be learned in today’s lessons?” Make sure that you have an answer to this question before you teach your lesson.
Math Strategies for Learning
There are many simple strategies that you can use to help your braille-reading student put the 'pieces of the math puzzle' together. The following list of learning strategies will help you in your teaching process. Some of these strategies can even be used with your entire class:
- Include your braille-reading student in all of your lessons and teach them the same concepts as the rest of the students in your class. Never assume that this student will not be able to learn a concept because of their vision.
- Ensure that your braille-reading student understands the concepts and steps of the operation though low-tech tools, such as manipulatives, the abacus and brailler before using high-tech devices.
- Verbalize anything that you write on the board. Give specific and detailed verbal instructions. Verbalize what you are looking at rather than saying "this problem over here" or "who can tell me what’s wrong with the answer on the board." Your student will need to know what the problem is before he or she can attempt to understand and answer such a question.
- Encourage plenty of dialogue about the concepts being learned. For example, your braille-reading student can be paired with his or her peer to discuss or manually show to solved a problem.
- Relate math concepts to things that are already familiar to your braille-reading student. Integrate math concepts, such as geometry, with orientation and mobility practice.
- Provide opportunities for your braille-reading student to show you how to solve a math problem using their manipulatives. This strategy can also be used for test taking.
- Class notes can be provided from you or from a friend and brailled for the student as soon as possible. The best situation is to have the notes brailled ahead of time so that he or she can follow your lesson.
- Ensure all handouts and notes are transcribed and ready to hand out with the materials for the rest of the class. Consider how concept gaps can develop if students don’t have the necessary materials they need for their learning.
Collaborating with the Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
Your student’s TVI should be an important resource for you. A qualified teacher of students with visual impairments has the necessary skills and resources and should be used in the planning of your math unit. The best way to use the knowledge of your TVI is to have him or her actively involved in your math lessons. Some high school math teachers prefer their students TVI to be part of the math lesson, either working directly with the study or taking on a small group with your braille-reading student. Although this transdiciplinary approach to learning may takes more collaboration, it is by far one of the best methods in support any braille-reading student in the math classroom. In any case, it will be important for both of you to collaboratively plan the student’s IEP and plan for math lessons.
Math Tools for Learning
Your student’s TVI will help you outline some of the tools your student will need for them to help them access your math curriculum. The following is a list of math tools that may be used by your student.
- Manipulatives
- Cramer’s Abacus
- Tactile ruler or measuring tape
- Tactile or brailled number line
- Graphing pegboard (used with thumb tacs and rubber bands)
- Tactile drawing board with tracing wheel
- Low Tech devices, such as a slate and stylus or Perkins Brailler.
- High tech devices, such electronic braille notetakers.
- Talking or speech output calculators
- Tactile graph paper, clocks,
For more information and pictures of adaptive equipment for high school math, go to:
Using High-Tech devices in the Secondary Math Classroom
There are many high-tech devices that a braille-user can used to access the secondary math curriculum. Braille-users can now use talking calculators and speech-to-text scientific and graphing calculators to aid them in their work. Like any student, your braille-reading student should understand the concepts of the basic steps of a math problem before resorting to high tech devices that will do the calculations for them. If your braille-reading student uses such technology, it will be important for you to make sure that they truly understand the concepts that you are teaching them.
The Nemeth Code
The Nemeth Code is a tactile representation of the math and science materials. This code is different from the literary braille code. Your elementary braille-reading student may be learning how to read and write using the Nemeth Code. Don’t wory, it is not your job to teach this code. Your student will be instructed to use this code by his or her TVI.
The most ideal way for your student to learn the braille-code is by being introduced to the tactile symbol at the same time as the rest of your students are being introduced to the same symbol in print. For instance, if you are teaching your students the symbol for the negative sign (-), your braille reading student should be introduced to the Nemeth symbol at the same time. Teach students the entire Nemeth code symbol before learning about how they are used in a mathematical context can be a meaningless endeavor. However, if your student has been using braille for a while, then he or she will likely have experience using and working with the Nemeth Code.
Additional Resources
It is likely that you will continue to have questions about teaching mathematics to your braille-reading student. Remember, you are not alone. In fact, this area of learning is of great interest to many educators working with visually impaired students. Your student’s TVI will have many resources that will help you. However, there are many rich Internet resources that you can access yourself. As nervous as you are now, with a little bit of practice, you will be able to effectively teach mathematics to your elementary braille-reading student.
Useful Resources