In this ongoing discussion group, learners will have an opportunity to discuss different social and emotional topics related to being blind or visually impaired (BVI).

This class is designed to provide blind and visually impaired (BVI) learners an opportunity to meet other BVI learners and to be able to discuss some of the challenges and victories they encounter, while learning some tools that will help them in their everyday lives.  This course is for learning skills, strategies, and techniques only, and is not a therapeutic support group.

Each week we will play games, followed by discussion and other activities that will reinforce the following social and emotional skills:
     1) Meeting others and Making Friends
     2) Seeing with your ears, hands and nose
     3) Using your voice to say what you need in a respectful way
     4) Being sensitive to and patient with others
     5) Recognizing and managing emotions
     6) Maintaining positive relationships with others and supporting feelings in others
     7) Handling conflict
     8) Asking to be Included
     9) Responding to bullying. 

Each session will consist of:
     1) Greeting.  Learners will be encouraged to share their names and something about themselves with other learners. A specific topic will be designated each week for the greeting. Learners will welcome each other by name, after each learner has shared.
     2) Crew. Crew is an activity in which classmates collaborate to problem solve and build community. Crew might be a group game or it might be a communication tool where learners find out something unique about each other. Crew also helps build social emotional skills. 
     3) Group discussion and sharing, centered around the topic for the week. Some weeks we might do a growth mindset activity. Other weeks, I might ask questions for learners to discuss amongst themselves.
     4) Personal reflection.  Learners will be asked to personally reflect on our topic for the week, answering questions through journaling. Learners will be allowed to keep answers private or share them with the class.

June 13th - Meeting others and Making Friends
Greeting 
Crew 
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion 
We will discuss what learners do when they are meeting people for the first time. What helps them to feel more at ease? How are they able to make new friends? We will talk about some tools that can help.

June 20th- Seeing with your ears, hands and nose
Greeting 
Crew 
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion
We will discuss how learners can use their other senses to “see”.

June 27th - Using Your Voice to Say What You Need
Greeting 
Crew 
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion
We will discuss how learners can use their voice to let others know what they need. We will talk about how to be respectful when doing so.

We will not meet on July 4th since many in the United States will be celebrating our Independence Day

July 11th - Being sensitive to and patient with others
Greeting
Crew
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion
We will discuss the importance of being sensitive to and patient with others - learning to treat others and we want others to treat us.

July 18th - Recognizing and Managing Emotions
Greeting 
Crew 
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion
We will discuss the importance of being able to recognize our emotions, let others know how we are feeling, and learn how to manage them.

July 25th- Maintaining positive relationships with others and supporting feelings in others
Greeting 
Crew 
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion
We will discuss how learners can have positive relationships with others and can help support others and the feelings that others have

August 1st- Handling Conflict
Greeting 
Crew 
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion
We will discuss what learners can do when they encounter conflict

August 8th -  Responding to Bullying
Greeting
Crew
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion 
We will discuss what learners can do if they are bullied.

August 15th - Learners’ Choice
Greeting
Crew
Growth Mindset Activity and Discussion 
We will focus on whichever area the learners have questions or concerns about.

I am a visually impaired teacher, with extensive training in social-emotional learning. My passion is helping children gain tools that will help them in their everyday life. Having visual impairments presents additional challenges that sighted learners don’t encounter. I’ve learned a lot, through my own experiences, about how to live with visual impairments. I will use my training and personal life experience to help BVI learners in this class.

#superstar