As a teacher for the visually impaired, I am often asked, “what do you teach”? There are nine skill areas that students with visual impairments often need direct instruction in, as they don’t learn incidentally through their visual field in the same way as their sighted peers. These 9 skill areas are encompassed by the Expanded Core Curriculum and include assistive technology, career education, compensatory skills, independent living skills, orientation and mobility, recreation and leisure, self determination, sensory efficiency, and social interaction skills. One of my favorite parts of the Expanded Core Curriculum to teach is recreation and leisure. How do you teach recreation and leisure remotely? Great question! Recreation and leisure can include many things such as exercise, hobbies, games, crafting, music, etc. If you have a student who is very active, they might be interested in things like goal ball or beep ball. In order to teach this remotely, you might spend time teaching the student how to play the game and then send them a ball and blindfolds for playing with their class, in coordination with their PE or classroom teacher. Another alternative, as a hybrid teacher, is to teach your student how to play the game remotely and then to play the game with the student’s class during an in person session. What better way to meet all of the student’s classmates?
Hybrid learning recreation and leisure with family and friends
You can also teach your student games that they can play with their family or their friends, even those who might live at a distance. For example, you can use a letter picker website and a musical timer to create your very own version of the familiar categories game. Choose a theme such as a specific holiday and then let your student identify four categories like decorations, activities, foods, and smells. Use the letter picker to choose a random letter press start on the timer, and compete with your student to see who can come up with unique items for each category. Each uniquely chosen item scores one point. Double points for each two word answer item, in which both words start with the designated letter. Feel free to re-roll the letter picker and play as many rounds as you have time for. This game is easily tailored for a student to access in large print, braille, or even using a screen reader (wearing earbuds, of course, so their teacher can’t cheat).
Hybrid learning recreation and leisure with students online
Another option for playing games remotely with your student is to send your student one set of a card game and get another set for yourself. Play per card game rules and simply verbalize the played card (ie. the card on the discard pile or the set of cards made on your turn). This doesn’t work for games where you must draw from your partner’s hand but works well for games were you draw from a draw pile. Don’t forget to look at big box stores for braille copies of common games, or make them with the student’s help.
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