Have you ever been asked that God-awful question “would you rather be blind or deaf?”
Well today we experienced both, along with losing the use of our dominate hand.
No, our challenge on day one of week four of the Adventure Semester was not to cripple each other; but to be able to teach a skill while adapting to each individual’s limitations.
After researching how to tie a specific knot we gathered together and rotated though the roles of teaching that knot to a group of students and then being one of those students with our own handicap.
It was very enlightening to experience each limitation and learn to compensate in a way that would allow us to completely master the skill. We all found that it was particularly difficult to work without the use of our vision, especially for a kinesthetic skill like knot tying. However the real challenge came when it was our turn to teach. Trying to embody a teaching style which was both diverse enough to be understandable among our group of blind, deaf, and amputated students, and also succinct enough to accomplish the task within the time limit proved to be a solid challenge. Our group was solid too.
Knot tying, as an art, is solid.
Handicapped people, as people, are solid.
Teaching, as a profession, is solid.
Learning, as a student, is solid.
Oscar, as a blog writer, is solid.
So is Micayla.
Thank you, this has been a solid blog post.
