I recently did a short unit with third graders on abilities/disabilities that went so well, I thought I would share it (None of the ideas in this unit are mine, I borrowed everything from other people). I was inspired by Maribeth Bush and her workshop presentation at the Maine School Counselor Association (MESCA) Conference, October 2000. Maribeth specializes in "ability education" and is and a school counselor. She has a great website at http://www.ucando.org.

~Carol Rosinski, School Counselor
Ellsworth, Maine

Lesson One:

During my first classroom visit, I had students do the rosebush activity which can be found in Violet Oaklander's book, Windows to Our Children (pp 32-33). My decision to choose this type of activity was inspired by Maribeth's "draw a flower activity" that she does with young children. Following Oaklander's activity, each student drew a rosebush. We then discussed our drawings and talked about how there was no "right" way to draw a rosebush. I informed students that they would be having a guest speaker who happens to be blind. I asked them to focus on what she can do rather than what she can't do.

Lesson Two:

My guest speaker came in to talk to students about blindness. She began by asking the children what their life would be like if they woke up blind. They told her all the things they wouldn't be able to do. For each task they mentioned that they couldn't do, she explained how a blind person accomplishes that task. She told how she identifies her clothing with the use of Braille tags, how she folds money to tell which bill is which, and she demonstrated the use if a talking computer and a gadget that beeps when a cup is full. She also demonstrated navigating the room with a cane and then with her seeing- eye dog. Needless to say, the kids loved it. During one presentation, she spilled some water when demonstrating the beeping gadget. She just laughed and went on. This was a good lesson for the kids, too. Blind people make mistakes like the rest of us.

I followed up with a discussion with the third graders about what they had learned from our guest speaker's visit. I told them that I would like them to think of a way to thank our speaker. We talked about how we couldn't write thank-you notes because our visitor was blind. We ended up taping our discussion. I gave the tape to our speaker. She responded to the students' questions by e-mailing back to us.

Lesson Three:

Finally, I did a Can Do! activity developed by Maribeth Bush (which she had demonstrated during her conference workshop). Students were divided into small groups and asked to think of ways to include an imaginary friend (with a disability) into their favorite activity.

End of unit

I really feel that this unit made a big impact on students. I'd encourage anyone who wants to, to try it. I expect that there may be people who have disabilities in your communities who could come in and speak to the issue of living in the world with a disability.