Hello Morgan,
I loved what you said about reaching out to your student’s interests to encourage them to read about what they are most interested in! Yes, Taylor Swift is a topic many of my students and staff appreciate. I think about how I too, got caught up in the ERAS TOUR. I enjoyed my experience attending the movie of her tour, as it reminded me on how many generations she has touched over the years. Whether a devoted fan or not, we can learn a lot about how she reaches so many people, she is one talented individual our students just simply adore! I recall one moment during that movie when I was singing along just how I had witnessed the younger viewers responding during the movie. I was “connected” because I knew the songs well, I could relate on her level and she on mine. This brings to mind, that you are achieving this every day you connect your students to the love of reading by finding their interest and holding a high expectation that they too can succeed. Hook, line, and sinker, you have “connected” through their interests. You expect them to achieve and so they will succeed!
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Regards,
Marion Myhre
Are You Communicating High Expectations? (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2022)
- Reflecting on your own experiences as a student, how did teacher expectations influence your academic performance and motivation? How might you apply these insights to your own teaching practice?
Teacher expectations were a huge influence in both my classroom performance and motivation. Teachers who created positive learning environments where all students knew that had support and encouragement made me want to do my best. In classrooms where it felt as though students were expected to misbehave or not perform well on academic classes tended to end in a self-fulfilling prophecy situation.
As a vision teacher, I have seen my students function in both types of classrooms as well. It can be frustrating to see expectations lowered because a student has a visual impairment when a student is more than capable of doing what peers are doing (in an adapted way, of course). I try to influence classroom teachers to have the same expectations of their students with visual impairments as they do of their sighted students.
Students will definitely meet your expectations. They will rise to meet them or as you mentioned, “slack off” to meet them. There must be something innately present within us that wants to please our teachers. I love your “rose, bud, and thorn” activity! I may borrow that for my students. 
It is so unfortunate that it took so long to convince others that your student needed more than just vision services. I think sometimes admin and teachers think that vision is an “easy” route to IEP services and that vision services can “fix” everything. I feel like evaluations should be comprehensive from the beginning (and maybe they are in other places but my district seems to prefer doing vision only evals and then moving to other areas if needed). I am glad that you were diligent and willing to advocate for your student!
How might the cultural background or socioeconomic status of families impact their ability to implement the suggested strategies for promoting emergent literacy in toddlers with visual impairments?
From my experience in Title 1 schools, cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic status of families does have a big impact on a students’ educational experiences. Not because of the type of school they go to, but the exposure they have to books and experiences before entering the school environment. Many adults in poverty may not be fluent readers and depending on the cultural background, they may not know English. Even if they do know English, it may not be spoken in the household in preference for their native language. Many families also have other priorities that they work on over reading. I have seen families prioritize their family business over education and would have the child work at the business at times in order to support the family. Many of these families are also single car homes and while one parent is at home with the younger children, unless they are close to the library, they do not have the ability to travel safely to the library to get books to read or even to participate with the programs the libraries have. This not only impacts the child’s ability to gain experiences and word knowledge (such as hearing words of things that are not usually found around them). I wish I could remember the name of the article that I had read during my research into dual identified children (mainly LD and English Learners) that researched how many words children are commonly exposed to without access to many books compared to how many words the children who were read to and had experiences had when they entered Kindergarten.
Additionally, many people have heard of the common visual impairments that children can have. Many cultures do not want to “expose” weaknesses and want to take care of it within the family. Families may not know of the options available to families of low income. The family may not even be able to continuously take their child to the doctor due to money and lack of insurance.
I totally agree with you about the vocabulary acquisition. I really wish now that I had remembered the name of the article I read for my research on dual identified children and vocabulary acquisition. It was an eye opening experience, especially because they found that due to other factors (low wages, long hours, limited ability to travel, language barriers) children from this background enters Kindergarten with significantly less vocabulary words than children who are exposed to literacy from a young age and had access to some experiences. These challenges do breed an adversarial environment, as you said. When I worked with dual identified children in the middle school (Learning Disability and Limited English Proficiency), many had negative experiences because they became behind in reading as they didn’t know the English words for some and did not have as many experiences. They ended up faking their way or displaying behaviors to get out of reading.
Like you, I was heavily influenced by my teacher’s expectations along with my families. When the teachers I had believed I could and didn’t discourage me, I did a whole lot better and was more motivated.
I always, even when I did inclusion special education, had high expectations of my students because I knew they could. I did not expect them to suddenly become grade level, but I expected them to try their best and grow with the supports they needed. This continued as I transitioned to my job as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired. With the supports they had, I worked on motivating them to become interested in learning braille and becoming an active part of their own learning. I don’t think I am perfect. I know I can improve my teaching and build my toolbox, but I don’t think I would change my expectations.
- Reflecting on your own experiences as a student, how did teacher expectations influence your academic performance and motivation? How might you apply these insights to your own teaching practice?
Much like others, when I was a student I responded very well to teachers that showed they cared for me. If I knew a teacher had high expectations of me because they knew I could accomplish something, or wanted me to put forth my best effort, I was much more inclined to try harder. I appreciated when my teachers thought that I could accomplish more than what I thought even I could do. It is so important for teachers to believe in you and think that you can do important things. All it takes is one person to change the course of your education and life. I take this to heart and know that as an itinerant TVI/COMS some of my students may not even know another person with a visual impairment. Because of this, I make it my mission for my students that they know they can do hard things, accomplish their goals, and to dream big. I constantly remind them that their visual impairment is something that makes them unique and it is not something that holds them back.
Hi Gwahlert, I also feel the same way that you do. Background and socioeconomic status of families has a huge impact on literacy in toddlers. I am a huge lover of reading and always have a book with me. I know that I am privileged enough to drive to my local library, or buy a book on my kindle and have it instantly. If i were to put myself in others shoes I immediately can recognize the difficulty it would be to access literacy.
If I was unable to drive, It would not be possible for me to walk to my local library or even get a bus there. In addition, if I didn’t have the budget to buy books whenever I wanted I would be without access. I think everyone can agree it is important for toddlers to have access to books, but unfortunately, its not that easy without the right support and resources.
Hi Krausen, I’m so glad that you mentioned a language barrier often being a challenge that you come across. I have also worked in urban areas with many of the students coming from low income families that are new to the country and don’t always speak English. I know that these families want the best for their children. They have moved their whole lives to a new country often without family or friends and are working harder than I can even imagine. It makes such a difference when these families are recognized early and given the support and resources to not only survive, but thrive. There are so many resources and organizations out there that people just don’t know about, and if teachers and school staff can help these families get in touch with these early literacy resources, it can majorly change things.