Teaching and Learning

I felt pretty good teaching on Thursday.  I’m still not sure exactly what to say or how much to say when I’m teaching, but I think it’s starting to become more natural.  Looking back, I think I should have done more explanation of the weirder parts of the route, instead of letting Lauren go at it by herself so much.  It’s hard to strike a balance.  Because, yes, I want her to have experiences and build an understanding of traveling via tactual and auditory cues, but at the same time, I want her to learn how to travel efficiently without needing to know about everything she encounters.  But, still, I think the lesson went really well.  I’m still struggling to read what Lauren is thinking, but I think I’m better than I was before.  I think it was a good decision to let Lauren try this route again.  She really showed her proficiency and she seemed so much more comfortable.

After teaching Lauren, I went under blindfold, but walking down the hill along College felt really odd. It was like I’d gone all the way back to the first day of the stairs.  I didn’t trust that my feet would fall in a safe place.  I think my balance was a bit off, and that made me loose confidence in my stride.  Something just didn’t feel right.  I hate to step off the curb when I’m walking, and once I’d done that, I was trying to avoid doing it again.  There’s something really jarring about stepping down off the curb when you think that you’re going to land on higher ground.  Still, I tried to push through the odd feelings and keep moving, and I think that went okay.  Still, it was definitely not my best, most confident walking.  Being a little off reminded me how simple things can really change the confidence level and ability of a student to do a simple thing like walk in a straight line.