AmandaOT

Some interesting events that have occured during student teaching...

So student teaching is interesting to say the least. Never a boring day. It's almost as entertaining as demented folks!

One day A. and I were traveling north on Vemont near Hollywood. A. was preparing to cross Melbourne and was analyzing the intersection. She had just figured out that it was a traffic light and was going to look for pedestrian buttons. As she walked away from me, a lady crossed Melbourne talking loudly. I figured she was on a Bluetooth. Apparently not. She stopped talking and went up to A. and asked her if she needed help crossing. A. told her 'no' but the woman was persistent. She then insisted with following A. across the street. By this point A. had a deer in the headlight look and I came over to save her. I told the loud lady that A. was with me. Loud lady seemed to be satisfied with that for 1/2 a second before she went on her Scientology spiel. Ugh!! I told the woman we had to go and took A. away. Stupid Scientology!!!

Another time we took P. and J. on a field trip. We drove to Rite Aid on Sunset and Vermont. We walked to the bus stop and took the bus to Santa Monica then continued walking to Melrose. Near Melrose we stopped for lunch at Jack n the Box. Then we went to Braille Institute. One thing we did at Braille was go to the student store. At the store, J. put all her money (which she had no clue how much that was) on the counter and asked what it would buy. After we explained to her through chuckles that she needs to have at least some idea of what she wants, she bought a talking watch/key chain. Then we went to the Office of Special Services at Los Angeles Community College and talked about what the college offers students who are blind. By then we were all beat. We walked back to Santa Monica and got on the bus. J. and I sat down next to a guy who was in an electric wheelchair, was totally blind, and had been born deaf and now had a cochlear implant. On our short ride to Sunset we learned a little about him and offered to help him cross the street at Sunset to get on the Metro (subway). Holy cow! Getting off the bus included trying to teach J. and P. what to do to keep them safe and giving our new friend safe on the wheelchair ramp. With only 3 wheels on the ramp, he forced his way down it. Then he drove down the sidewalk way too fast for someone with vision. I was scared to watch. When he got to the corner, he lined up on the wheelchair ramp and we verified for him it was time to cross. He started veering into the intersection so we called for him to come back toward us. Still traveling really fast, he headed toward a slow moving lady with a walker. Again I didn't want to watch. Somehow everyone got across the street without being hit by wheelchair man and we directed him to the elevator. They guy was truly amazing to watch.

posted by amanda @ 4:27 PM