Try this activity with your afterschool group this week.
Purpose:
This activity allows students to feel how frustrating it could be to have an intellectual disability, and what they can do to help these students to learn.
Materials
1. An index card for each student
2. A magic marker for each student
Activity
Have each student place the index card on his/her forehead and quickly write the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. When finished, have them look at their work and share it with others.
Next have the students partner up. Have one person in the group try to help the other to learn to write the numbers on his/her forehead. The “teacher” student can guide their “learner’s” hands in any way -- draw in the air, fold cards for spacing, etc -- anything to try to help them learn! After 5-10 minutes, have the students stop.
Discussion points
Ask the students:
-What was the hardest part about this activity?
-What made it easier?
-Did you ever feel like giving up - why and when?
-Did the “learner” improve, and if so, how?
In this activity, students may have broken down the activity into smaller steps (e.g., they may have worked on one number at a time, or on spacing, or on reversing, etc.). Explain that when someone is slow to learn, it often helps to break a task into smaller, easier, more manageable steps. When one problem was solved, they moved on to another. When we take things one step at a time, it can be a lot easier to do.
