Activity
Crowd-sourced lesson library
Need a lesson or have a lesson to share? Check out the Lesson Library!
What if . . . there is a place to find lessons for students who are blind or low vision?
“Paths to Technology’s Lesson Library is my go-to place when I need a lesson on a specific topic, and I need it today!” shared a TSVI in California. The Lesson Library is a collection of Paths to Technology posts, each featuring activities designed to teach specific concepts and/or skills to students with visual impairments. To make finding lessons easier, the Lesson Library is organized into the following topics:
- Tech
- Language Arts
- Math
- Social Studies
- STEM
- Concept Development
- O&M
- CVI
- Students with multiple disabilities
- Advocacy
- Misc.
- Forms and resources for teachers
The Lesson Library is under the Paths to Technology Resource Library. Here is the direct link to the Lesson Library.
Launching the Lesson Library
The Lesson Library was launched during the COVID-19 school closures, a time when remote instruction, online courses and hybrid teaching models required Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) and Orientation and Mobility Specialists (COMS) to adapt to entirely new teaching methods. Educators and families were urgently seeking accessible digital materials and lessons that could be used immediately. However, many digital resources designed for general education were not accessible for students who are visually impaired or blind, who also have unique needs such as learning braille and assistive technology.
Recognizing this challenge, TVIs and COMS worked diligently to create appropriate and accessible digital lessons tailored to their students. With so many innovative and effective lessons being developed, the idea emerged to create a shared Lesson Library—an accessible repository specifically for students with visual impairments or blindness. If every TVI or COMS contributed just one lesson, the result would be an extensive collection of valuable resources for educators and families to use.
Building a Lesson Library
The materials in the Lesson Library are crowd-sourced, meaning they are created and shared by individuals. Anyone can contribute, including TVIs, COMS, general education educators, family members, groups and even students. The Lesson Library is updated each time a new lesson post is added to Paths to Technology. While the Lesson Library has an extensive collection of available lessons, educators are asking for more! There are currently just under 400 lessons available!
What kind of lessons?
Everything! Any and all subjects are welcome and lessons can be geared for any grade/level. Additional categories can be added at any time.
What kind of lessons are YOU looking for?
What format?
Any format! Your lesson can be as simple as a written idea and if appropriate, include shared materials (or a list of household or school materials used in the lesson). The lesson can include pictures or videos. Many educators create video lessons or tutorials for students or for other educators. You can upload your video to YouTube and share the link (I can embed it into the post) or send the video to Paths to Technology, to be uploaded to the Perkins server.
There are many easy ways to create a video, including using your smartphone, recording with Zoom or other virtual meeting platforms (which allows you to show your screen and a video of yourself if your camera is on), screen recording your device or using a document camera. All of these options are free! Video lessons are especially effective for young students, students who are not yet reading or those who have not mastered technology. All videos should include a verbal description of what is happening on the screen. Not interested in creating a video? No problem! Videos are optional!
Share the digital materials that you use in a lesson; if using physical materials, simply include a list of materials needed for the activity. If you used a braille resource, share the digital file of the brailled material. If your lesson included a digital resource, please share that digital file.
Who will the lessons be geared for?
Lesson plans can be used by educators, parents and even students! The lesson can be geared for a preschooler, elementary student, middle school student, high school student, college-bound or transition student. The lesson can be for students who are or who are not on grade level. We are very interested in lessons for students with multiple disabilities and/or deaf-blind. Lessons can be for students with low vision, some vision and or no vision. You are already creating lessons for your students – simply share these lessons and help grow our lesson library. Other students with similar needs can benefit from these lessons and YOU can benefit from lessons created by other educators!
Who can share lessons?
Anyone and everyone! Many lessons are shared by educators in the VI field (TVIs, COMS and CATIS); lessons from general education teachers, family members, teacher prep classes and individuals are also welcome!
What should be included?
Lessons can be any length and can be any appropriate format – whenever possible, the materials used should be fully accessible. There are exceptions, such as when the goal of the lesson is specifically about using residual vision, the lesson resources may not be compatible with a screen reader. Example: A CVI app or a lesson for using a low vision device. A progressive series of lessons is highly sought after and always beneficial
- Include the goal(s) of a lesson
- Include target age/ability level
- Include materials needed (digital resources and list of physical materials)
- Digital resources should be accessible, if appropriate
- If creating a video, be sure to say what is happening on the screen and what keyboard/gesture commands are used)
- Include directions in video format or written format
- If a picture or video of a student is included, a signed Perkins media permission form is required
- You can include just the hands of the student without a permission form
- If creating a book, story or video about a student, only use the student’s first name and do not provide confidential information
Where do you send the lesson?
Please share your lessons now! Send your lesson and any questions to [email protected]. We need YOUR lessons to help expand the Lesson Library!
By Diane Brauner
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