Back to: Module: Helping with Instruction
Purpose
This activity shows the value of providing alternative modes of instruction to all students by asking you to imagine instructional arrangements that would help you learn if you had a serious sensory loss, such as blindness or deafness
Instructions
- Select a 30-60 minute television program (DVD or streaming video) that provides factual information (e.g., a history or science documentary film).
- Watch the first 15 minutes of the program (DVD or video) with the television volume turned off completely.
- Take notes. Write down what you are learning by watching the program. Also write down questions when you can’t figure out what the visual imagery in the program is trying to convey.
- Watch the second 15 minutes of the program (DVD or video) with the television volume turned on but the picture turned off or turned away from where you can see it.
- Again take notes on what you are learning and write down questions when you are unsure about what the program is trying to convey.
- Review your notes.
- Develop a list of two to four instructional supports that would have helped you learn more from the program when you could not hear the audio. Also write down the ways each support would have been helpful.
- Develop a second list of two to four instructional supports that would have helped you learn more from the program when you could not see the screen. Write down the ways these supports would have helped.
- If you are completing this activity in a workshop or class, perhaps discuss with a small group of other educators the ideas you included on the two lists of instructional supports.