Hi, Amen to that. When I tutor Math or Computers, I learn more from the person I am tutoring than I learn sometimes. Also, the more I explain something, the more ways I can do so putting the same concept in different words. I think that the secret of teaching, is to be able to explain the same concepts in as many ways as possible so that the most people understand what you are saying. Have a great one.
From: Robin Frost Sent: Thursday, February 4, 2016 2:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Improving my teaching approach and/or sensitivity Hi, Brian said: “ Tutoring is, ideally, a collaboration where each party actually has something that they can teach the other, at least from my perspective.” And there my friends is one fine turn of phrase and an indication of the heart of a true teacher in my humble view. It’s always been my experience that those teachers whether officially certified to be so or just those sages who pass in and out of our lives for a time or forever from whom we gain have two things in common. firstly they are willing to engage in the give and take of learning one from another. Secondly that which differentiates the great from the mediocre is the ability not just to pass along factual information about something but also an enthusiasm both for the matter at hand and the one with whom they're engaged along with the process itself. I laud you for your willingness not only to do the work you do, for participating in this list and engaging with and helping others you aren’t getting paid to work with but also for being willing to learn from us as well as your students. Bravo and cheers to you, well-done! One more point, while it’s true that in many situations in a windows type environment the spatial location of something on the screen doesn’t often come into play and therefore might not be considered as useful or dismissed as something blind people can’t learn or shouldn’t be concerned about I have to say that embracing the iOS platform and its touch screen has taught me that like practicing skills of orientation and mobility in learning the layout of a room I can also learn the layout of elements on a screen if I have to do so. And discovering that I can learn something of such a seemingly visual nature should I need to do so makes me glad to know I can if I must. Here’s to learning and dialoging (smile). Robin From: Brian Vogel Sent: Thursday, February 4, 2016 1:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Improving my teaching approach and/or sensitivity On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 10:49 am, Marianne Denning <[email protected]> wrote: I won't let a sighted person train me on the computer unless they can do everything by using the computer like I do. Marianne, That is, of course, entirely our prerogative, but I'd sincerely ask you to reconsider it. Part of what I consider my "value added" is that I can actually construct, for instance, keystroke sequences for unknown/obscure functions in MS-Office programs because I can see feedback that JAWS and NVDA do not (I don't know whether they could not, but it wouldn't be particularly practical) provide "on the fly." Tutoring is, ideally, a collaboration where each party actually has something that they can teach the other, at least from my perspective. It also really narrows your options, too, but that also is your call. Brian
