Victoria Romano
I will need to take thorough notes and photographs to keep my thoughts and experiences organized. I will be able to create lessons based on the sequence and order of my experiences over the two weeks I am there. I will also take a cooking class on a free night to experience first hand how to the Italians good and what ingredients they use that might be different. The more specific information I have, the more meaningful my lessons will be for my students who are learning these new skills and concepts.
I am a teacher of the visually impaired, and my students have additional disabilities aside from their visual impairment. In addition, many of them have physical and financial restraints that prohibit them from gaining much real world experiences. I plan to take my experiences in Italy and turn them into an "Italian Culture" unit in which I will develop lesson plans that require the students to enhance their tactile sense and concept development. For example, we will build a replica of the Colosseum to ensure the students have an understanding of the structure and shape of the building. In addition, I teach cooking and life skills with my students. I will bring recipes back from Italy, teach the students recipes and how to follow multi- step instructions. We can also prepare foods as a class that are specific to the Italian culture.
I will research and pre-plan sites that I know will be effective and informative teaching tools for the students. I will also prepare a list of questions to ask natives and tour guides to gain a wealth of information to make my lessons as cohesive as possible.
