Trained to Teach

(A Pragya Teacher Training Session with the graduates of NIEPVD)

A Pragya teacher training workshop was conducted on 22nd and 23rd November 2021, from 10:00 am to 12:30 am on both days. Over 20 Bachelors in Education (B. Ed) students from the National Institute For The Empowerment Of Persons With Visual Disabilities (NIEPVD), Tamil Nadu, attended the training which focussed on introducing the fresh graduates to Computational Thinking concepts through games. The online training aimed to equip the graduates with a unique play-based approach to teaching numeracy to children with visual impairment.

On Day 1, the session started with a warm welcome of the fresh graduates followed by a brief introduction about Vision Empower and its interventions. Post that, a round of ice-breaker games was played with the teachers followed by a session explaining the pedagogy of numeracy through computational thinking games. Several parallel breakout sessions gave the graduates a good idea of how these games could be played with children and they learnt various numeracy concepts in a joyful environment.

On Day 2, the students of NIEPVD participated actively and we all had a great time of fun and learning. The graduates later shared their feedback on how they feel more equipped after the training to teach Math concepts to children with visual impairment.

Diwan, one of the trainees who is a person with visual impairment shared, ” Children with visual impairment usually feel that Maths is a tough subject so teaching them basic math concepts through games will be useful. These games will also help develop their life skills. All the educational coordinators explained everything very clearly with patience. Thank you”.

As Vision Empower continues its work in training teachers to make STEM education fun and accessible for children with visual impairment, stay tuned for more updates on our work!