Week 3: July 14-20

Core Curriculum Unlocking the Foundations of Reading
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  1. How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition?

Collaboration is at the heart of all good lessons. There are at least 5 ways we can employ specified skills to ensure alignment;

a) Have a joint collaborative planning time - either in person or via zoom. If time is short or distance too far, create a Google doc for contribution. If student is ESL, include those professionals and the paraeducator if appropriate. As an ‘overcommunicator’ I create these because I want everyone on the same page. Addressing the student’s IEP accommodations promotes recognition and application; allowing extra time for UDL, and sharing the scope and sequence during these sessions is helpful. Lack of student’s background knowledge can be alleviated through dynamic real/tangible supplemental materials.
b) Frontloading vocabulary - this is a dual skill - Teachers share their word wall words/vocabulary/content specific words prior to the lesson and TVI share any new contractions the student will be working on so both teachers can support student learning. New braille learning can be made more meaningful as students make lateral connections.
c) Share the CCSS (if a Common Core state) and the EQ (essential questions) from the class with the TVI so targeted practice of braille is meaningful and connected.
d) Connected texts in Braille. I am known for using all the braille curriculum out there - Mangold, Fundamentals, Wilson, Building on Patterns, and I-M-Able - depending on student need. By choosing the correct corresponding connected text that enhance the student’s understanding of a topic, using newly learned contractions, or simply to extend knowledge of a topic need to be found in various resources. Each curriculum offers different foci.
e) Resources! Know what you have access to, make sure the reading teacher has access to some and choose the most beneficial for the student. Which brings us back to a) - collaborative planning time/document where we can share these ideas.

The bottom line in my reasoning is that all learning needs to be relatable and complimentary - not isolated. Autonomy is paramount when students learn new words and can use them effectively. This is best done through collaboration and meaningful connected lessons.

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Having that knowledge base in the areas of decoding and language comprehension to provide my students with visual impairments is very important. I have had some experience in this area, but my worry is my students that are primarily braille readers. I have students that are reading braille that have good verbal and reading comprehension, but their fluency in reading isn’t there. Is there a way define what the fluency in reading braille should be?

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I think teachers could incorporate real life experiences with reading by including items that are related to a story that is being read. For instance, what if the student with the visual impairment was reading a Goosebumps book? One example could be the story where they found a sponge creature under the sink and a sponge could be used to represent the creature and it could be placed in the hands as it is being described according to the author, R. L. Stine. Or if the child is reading a book about going to the beach and it mentions a star fish, could use one of those display star fish we see in science class as an example of how they feel like in order to know what they look like by feeling the top and bottom of the appendages and the area where the mouth could be and link it to Patrick from Sponge Bob since he is a star fish. I figured that could be a way of linking tactile objects to the story.

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In my experiences, I find most teachers used to be somewhat territorial, but am happy many are embracing the collaborative method. I could not do my job effectively without that collaborative piece; however, I am usually the one doing the reaching out (once in awhile I get a really interested teacher who wants to learn all s/he can). I find that some good sensitivity training is helpful to bring awareness to teachers who really do not understand. I love your idea of feedback from the gen ed teacher. I think I am going to create a form for that - maybe not - I get a lot of slack for my ‘forms’. haha

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I agree with this statement. Braille readers cannot just rely on contracted codes on a brailler/or refreshable braille display. Reading can by ‘dual’ such as either reading the braille or listening to audio, so writing should be too (in my opinion).
Funny story - I felt the same as you and got a student the Mantis Q40 so she could learn QWERTY keys and use her laptop more efficiently and independently. She used the Qwerty keyboard for about 3 days and then found the way to switch it back to 6-key input! She realized she brailled faster than she typed. BUT she soon realized that she needed to speed up her keyboard typing to play Kahoot and other online games in class with her peers. She’s still faster at brailling but can now use both input systems with confidence.

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I thought something similar to the story bag with the tangible things in the bag related to the story. I thought having items that relate to the story that can describe what the item would look like, for example a round sponge to describe how a creature would feel that is described in a Goosebumps book.

I remembered when we had a field trip to a nature reserve that had reptiles and aquatic animals, we got to feel different turtle shells, a whale’s jaw, and the presenters even brought a snake and swept it over our arms so we could know how the scales felt. I also found it interesting when we went to the lighthouse after lunch that there was a mini model of the lighthouse and the surrounding town area that we could feel.

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That is an interesting outlook on how TVIs could use the concept in teaching reading. It would help them to be able to read aloud when it occurs in most classes since I remembered doing that a lot in middle school. It would also help with silent reading when they either have a braille or audio book in hand.

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Scarborough’s Reading Rope (Arizona Department of Education, ND)

In what ways can educators incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities?

I have loved reading about how TVIs and others are incorporating real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills. Story boxes and experience (or memory) books/boxes are great ways to do this. If you work with a group of TVIs, creating a story box library of popular books is a great way to have books “at your fingertips.” One of the difficulties with story boxes is getting the teacher to share what book they will be reading with enough lead time to create the story box. If you are lucky the teacher will take it upon her/himself to gather the materials. Last year I had a teacher who was always thinking about how to make her stories and activities accessible for the student who is visually impaired.

Another method I have used is a talking photo album. These albums allow you to record a short (10 second) description of each photo. The student I used this with has low vision and is non-speaking. The family would share photos which we would print out. The family also shared “blurbs” about each photo. We could then add this to the student’s album so the student could share what he did with his family over the weekend. This was a good way to learn about the student’s background knowledge and experiences. We could then work these activities and vocabulary into his schoolwork. This can also be done in reverse to share with the family some of what the student is doing at school. Each photo can be changed and re-recorded. Also, when you remove a photo, you can add it to a permanent memory book.

Adding tactile or real objects can be helpful to all students, not just those who have a visual impairment. One teacher was doing a lab on fossils. Unfortunately for all the students, this lesson was planned to be completely based on diagrams. As a former science teacher, I volunteered to bring in my fossil collection. This helped my student as well as the other students in the classroom. It definitely helped give all the students more background knowledge!

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Scarborough’s Reading Rope (Arizona Department of Education, ND)

  1. In what ways can educators incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities?

This prompt was particularly meaningful to me, as I previously taught students with significant needs and multiple disabilities, so bringing experiences to them was important to me as a teacher. For example, when learning letters, I would have boxes with tactile items for each letter and usually an activity that provided a lot of sensory input. For the letter q, I brought in a homemade quilt. The children could see it, touch it, wrap themselves up in it, and understand the function of the quilt.

As Melinda Bachelor taught us in the module videos, both background knowledge and vocabulary teaching strategies include showing videos, virtual tours, pictures, real-life objects, and hands on experiences to understand the content and vocabulary.

All students come with varying background experiences and knowledge. I would try not to assume anyone had the appropriate background knowledge and instead rely on teaching it to all the students so we could all have a shared experience together and build on everyone’s personal experience.

For example, I would have the book the general education classroom was reading that week and I would create a book kit for it which included picture/word cards, a communication device with 8 vocabulary words and pictures from the books, real life objects or representations (for example seashells and sand if the book was about the beach, and small ocean figurines, a water bottle sensory toy, etc.), a way to listen to the book, pictures to sequence from the story, and other items.

For our book of the week, I would also try to find a video of someone reading the book, and songs around the topic that may use the same vocabulary from the book.

I think the examples of these activities and experiences help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary because there are multiple opportunities for engagement and they utilize multiple senses, not just vision, to interact with the content and the words.

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I very much agree with you! I do not underestimate the value of administrator support for this type of collaboration, particularly ensuring planning time. I do not think you are an ‘overcommunicator’ especially when it is hard to ensure alignment with everyone’s schedules and distance if there are itinerant teachers involved. I appreciate your alignment to the standards so that everyone is on the same page as far as the end goal. In addition to the administrative support, when you start to mention resources it reminds me about the support needed to fund and access needed resources and curriculums. These are all really important!

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I am very impressed that you are the first person to mention collaboration with parents! That is such an important aspect and the parents also appreciate being involved and being equipped to help communicate and reinforce learning with their child at home.

All of the pre-teaching strategies that you mentioned are so important for alignment and success in the student reaching grade level academic standards and becoming proficient readers. Your story bags are impressive (I saw the pictures below) and I think they are so valuable in providing an experience for the child to build on background knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of the text and concepts within the text (not to mention, kids have fun with them!).

Finally, I appreciate all the effort and work you put into formatting and brailling items for your students so they can be engaged even when they are not receiving specially designed instruction directly but being engaged in general classroom instruction. As a former intervention specialist, I was so appreciative to learn from my TVI’s on how to ensure the child can be the most involved given their individual visual needs. Then, I even felt more capable to try to incorporate what I learned into all my lessons and activities in the classroom.

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Questions:
(1) How can teachers adapt instruction to ensure that students with visual impairments are able to apply their understanding of language structure in a variety of reading contexts, considering the challenges they may face in accessing written syntax and text structure?

(4) How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition?

Teachers can adapt instruction in several ways and it includes collaborating with the general education teacher. They can talk with the general education teacher to discuss the activities to see what is being done and then adapt it for the students. For example, when teachers had bingo boards, I would ask to make copies of them and adapt them for my students. I did my best to make sure as many games as possible were accessible to my students.

When teachers brought ideas, I’d encourage the ideas and tweaked them for accessibility if needed. Many of the teachers wanted the student to be included but didn’t know how. When they knew it was a partnership and that they were not on their own, they relaxed. We were on the same team! I have found that once I started working with them and helping them meet their overall instructional goal, the student was better included.

I adapted reading materials to ensure they had access to what their peers were reading. Teachers provided documents purchased online that were not accessible for various reasons and I would adapt them, so the student could access it. Some teachers allowed me to have a “station” in the room with a basket. They would put papers in there for me to adapt if I wasn’t in the room. I would also place the adapted materials in there if I adapted multiple items. Then, the teacher could pull whatever they wanted.

When collaborating with classroom teachers, I have worked alongside them. I asked for access to the curriculum and I read through it to get an idea of expectations. I’ve had shared drives for teachers who preferred it. We regularly scheduled meetings.

I thought this answered question 3 but I don’t think so. However, I wanted to share it.
3. Considering the interconnectedness of decoding and language comprehension highlighted in Scarborough’s Reading Rope, how might teachers identify and address specific areas of weakness or gaps in understanding for students with visual impairments, particularly in phonological awareness and decoding?

I think one way to identify specific areas of weakness or gaps in understanding for students with visual impairments, particularly in phonological awareness and decoding, is to encourage writing and using invented spelling. I have had some general education teachers, paraeducators, and other adults encourage students to dictate their answers because it’s “too hard” for them to write or braille is so “hard” or “challenging”. They also sometimes will state they can’t read the braille to support the student which I understood that part. Either way, I believe in having students write, especially when they are learning to read. I sometimes will provide a prompt and other times I listen to what they are talking about and have them write about that. My students will some time ask me how to spell something but I encourage them to sound it out. Yes, it would be easy for me to spell it for them, but when I have them sound out the words, I can see what they are hearing and how they represent it. I had a student who was a horrible speller. I hate to say it, but he could not spell at all in 6th grade. However, when I observed him and asked him to sound out words, he missed almost every vowel. It was very eye opening. At the same time, he did a great job reading words but struggled writing text. It was always a puzzle for me. His mother pushed for testing, but I’m unsure if it ever happened. Another younger student would sound out words he wanted to write and would get all the sounds correct. However, the letter-sound correspondence was not always accurate. It showed nuances they didn’t know, like hurt spelled “hert”. I could see they knew the sound they needed, but may not have known there were 3 ways to represent that sound.

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  1. How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition?
    Typically, when working with a general education teacher, they’re not going to be as aware of the lack of background knowledge the student will have along with the loss in incidental learning that their other students naturally have access to. This plays a key roll when understanding where the student is lacking specifically in word recognition and language comprehension. As the TVI and general education teacher, its important to work together to make sure that the main focus is to continue collaborating on where the student is missing information and work on filling in the gaps. Also, talking a lot about where the student is with their phonics decoding skills and work together to incorporate them into the students lessons/ readings in both vision pull out sessions and in the classroom when you can. As well as reinforcing looking at context clues and continued exposure to build word recognition. Collaborating with the general education teacher is so important to continue monitoring what they need reinforcement in. Then working on those skills in a smaller setting. Just like in the “Scarborough’s Reading Rope” reading, all those skills are important to focus on and build a reading rope that is strong.
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This research study written by Diane Brauner provides the reading rates for students who read print versus those who read in braille.

Research Study Recommendations Words Per Minute (WPM)

(Students with normal vision)

Grade Rasinski Hasbrouck & Tindal Manzo Harris & Sipay Reading A-Z early rate Reading A-Z end Rate
1st 80 23 - 53 30 - 54 60 – 90 50 70
2nd 90 51- 89 66 -104 85 - 120 70 100
3rd 110 71-107 86 - 124 115 - 140 100 130
4th 140 94 -123 95 – 130 140 - 170 130 140
5th 150 110 -139 108 - 140 170 - 195 140 160
6th 180 127 - 150 170 - 195 195 - 220 160 170

Oral and Silent Reading Rates for Students Without Visual Impairments

(From Foundations of Low Vision: Clinical and Functional Perspectives by Corn and Koenig)

Grade Oral Reading Silent Reading
1st 60 Less than 81
2nd 70 82 - 108
3rd 90 109 - 130
4th 120 131 - 147
5th 120 148 - 161
6th 150 162 - 174
7th 150 175 - 185
8th 186 - 197
9th 198 - 209
10th 210 - 224
11th 225 - 240
12th 241 – 255+

1.5 to 2 times slower for students with low vision compared to sighted students (Gompel, van Bon, & Schreuder, 2004)

2.5 times for braille students and 1.5 times for large print (Morris, 1974)

More than 2x for braille and a little less than 2 times for visually impaired readers who read print (Packer, 1989)

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This is very well said. Depending on the teachers you work with this can be easier said than done or a wonderful and enriching experience for the student. Some are very focused on your part/ my part. Others discuss what is happening in class and work together to connect lessons or ensure there is no room for gaps. Based on my experience, how well you can collaborate with the teacher or how much time there is to collaborate, makes all the difference.

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Yes, those are definitely important examples of building background knowledge for visually impaired students, but also could be incorporated with the rest of the class. Maybe other students have seen pictures of quilts, but have they experienced how they feel? This could be a skill, that depending on the rest of the class, could be something the that you can work with the general education teacher to incorporate, if appropriate. Or even talking with the students parents or the student about their experience with specific topics.

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  1. In what ways can educators incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities?

My answer to this questions partially dips into the question about collaboration as well. Educators can incorporate real life experiences and tactile learning activities by working together! The classroom teacher and TVI should be consulting about upcoming topics and planning to incorporate these activities. All of the materials should be provided in the student’s learning media (large print, audio, braille). Any videos should have some sort of descriptions. We can make “book boxes” or just sets of real life items to go along with topics. For example, if we are taking about the beach, we may have sand, shells, a bucket, a shovel, play ocean sounds etc. These things can be tailored based on the age, subject matter, and so on. I also think it is important to have a binder or some sort of file with all of the environmental text the student can not access. So, if the teacher makes a word wall every week with the vocabulary for the topic, the student who is visually impaired should have access to that in their medium as well so they can refer to it.

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This is a great example of collaboration! Pre-teaching some concepts/contractions is the only way that students can fully engage with their sighted peers with real time instruction. I also like that the classroom teacher was able to give you feedback as well.

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I love the idea of zoom collaboration! It can be difficult to find a mutual planning time and I have found that some classroom teachers are apprehensive to set a time. It may be because they have never had a student who is visually impaired, they are overwhelmed, or who knows! I feel like zoom is a great way for teachers to “get their feet wet” working with us (the TVI) and it could lead to more in person encounters down the road as well!

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Shannon Pruitt
Week 3 Responses

  1. How can teachers adapt instruction to ensure that students with visual impairments are able to apply their understanding of language structure in a variety of reading contexts, considering the challenges they may face in accessing written syntax and text structure?

In terms of a classroom teacher teaching literacy concepts, several adaptations could be made, all of which would require close support and planning with the student’s TVI (Teacher of the Visually Impaired). The TVI could pre-teach and create a reference chart, possibly accessible through assistive technology, for the braille dot formations for new punctuation. Additionally, working closely with the TVI would ensure that the proper accessible materials are provided for the student. While much of the explicit instruction by the classroom teacher might typically be visual, incorporating verbal cues and verbalizing the use of punctuation symbols during instruction is helpful. Although we are not discussing math here, verbalizing information written on the board can be incredibly beneficial to any student in math. For example, in an advanced math class, the teacher might write but not verbalize common print concepts like (x+6) x 5 as “open parentheses x plus 6 closed parentheses times 5.” Often, teachers write the parentheses but do not say them, and without the parentheses, there is a completely different outcome for “x plus 6 times 5.” So, verbalizing these details is important. In terms of using grammar and building sentences, a strategy could be to use either whole objects representing words or brailled words placed in literal buckets. The student can pull a word from each bucket to build a sentence using who, what, when, and where. This could also be applied to parts of speech like pronouns and connectives. This method can be incorporated into real or “fun” cloze activities such as Madlibs.

  1. In what ways can educators incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities?

There are many ways that educators can incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their vocabulary and background knowledge. Based on our lesson, some of the teaching strategies used for background knowledge may include the use of videos and virtual tours, making connections, and using pictures. One way that I have personally implemented this involved a wrap-around unit (where all core classes had associated lessons for ELA, math, social studies, and science) for one of my middle schoolers around the industrial revolution and its impact on social norms and design. As part of this unit, the students went to a local museum to view examples of different types of chairs from different eras. However, the chairs were behind glass and could not be touched or explored. To prepare for the unit, I found the chairs online and had someone create digital files for each chair type that could be 3D printed. Then, when the students went to the exhibit, someone was able to name the chair, verbally describe it to him, and he was able to tactilely explore the chair model. This way, when he came back to school for the lessons, he could actively engage in and understand the language and concepts being used by the rest of the class. This is just one example that allows for pre-teaching, verbal descriptions of visual concepts, real objects, and hands-on experience to build vocabulary and background knowledge.

  1. Considering the interconnectedness of decoding and language comprehension highlighted in Scarborough’s Reading Rope, how might teachers identify and address specific areas of weakness or gaps in understanding for students with visual impairments, particularly in phonological awareness and decoding?

When identifying whether a student is having difficulty with phonological awareness or decoding, the teacher should start by assessing the student’s understanding of phonological awareness skills to determine if they have benefited from the oral instruction provided. Since instruction in this area does not use printed letters or words, it may be an area of strength for students with visual impairments. If there is a deficit, more explicit and targeted instruction may be needed. A good indicator of the student’s abilities in this area could be their strength or weakness in using rhyming words. If the student is not having difficulty with phonological awareness, the next area to address and assess would be decoding skills. Since much of this type of instruction is visual, it is important that the student has all their materials prepared ahead of time in a format they can access visually or tactually. If the student has a good understanding of the sounds but cannot see or does not have access to the print being referenced by the teacher, this could be an area where the student falls behind. This might mean the student needs more practice with the letters and corresponding sounds. It is also important that braille readers have a good knowledge of and ability to identify braille letters and dot formations. A simple assessment of the student’s ability to read braille letters would help determine if the issue lies in knowing the braille dot formations or being able to tactually distinguish them versus connecting the letters with the corresponding sounds.

  1. How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition?

As I have noted in my previous answers, collaborative planning between the general education teacher and the TVI (Teacher of the Visually Impaired) is imperative to ensure that the student receives the same high-quality instruction as their peers. Ideally, the TVI and general education teacher would meet and, as described in our lesson, create a long-term (year-long or semester-long) plan to map out all the concepts to be covered during this period. However, the teachers will also need to meet regularly—monthly for follow-up and ideally weekly for intensive adjustments. Long-term planning will help the TVI and any other VI team members understand the types of materials needed and make a plan for adapting the materials that the teacher consistently uses for the core of their Tier 1 instruction. In the shorter term, the TVI and general education teacher can look at specific materials and supports needed in the classroom for the student to access and understand the instruction. Further, the TVI and general education teacher can help each other identify where there seem to be gaps in the student’s literacy skills, decide if there is a VI component affecting the student’s skills in that area, and determine the types of interventions and supports that will be provided by each team member. This may include more intervention in the use of braille symbols, pre-teaching, review of concepts, more intensive intervention in literacy, and additional tactile/braille support for materials.