Dear NOMC, Although this list is primarily for posting jobs and other announcements, we did set it up as a discussion list and from time to time we have enjoyed a bit of back and forth on important topics. I received the below correspondence from an NOMC and I thought it was a good question and a good thing for all of us to think about and ponder. I have tried to take care to remove the personally identifying information about the person and state, but I do think that this is perhaps a broader issue and one that we should talk about openly. Maybe it is a growing problem, maybe it is not. What say you all? *** I have now seen three other NOMC's come through our state agency/center. . , I have got to work with a few that have made their way through. I have seen a common problem that concerns me. The problem is that I have seen all three of these NOMC's sit in their office all day long and never leave to teach-students are just ALWAYS sent out on independent routes. I have gotten their students when they have moved on or left the center/agency that have been here for months but are nowhere near where they should be. All of them have mentioned to me that their travel instructor never went out with them on routes. This concerns me a lot, and I'm not sure if it's a state problem or an NOMC wide one, but I suspect that this is NOT the only place this happens. I see this becoming a major issue in our field--that maybe we are understanding the independence aspect and structured discovery method the wrong way. In our Master's program, you and Darick always drilled into us the value of guided learning and teaching the skill set first--so I'm not sure why this is happening. I am concerned that this "laziness" (which is how I see it) might negatively impact our growth in the field and might need to be addressed. Maybe I'm way off--maybe it is just a center/state thing--if so, feel free to tell me. My frustration stems from teaching students who claim they are not getting any, or minimal, one-on-one instruction. My suggestion is some kind of friendly reminder to NOMC's about the value of hands on instruction and the detriments of leaving students to learn it ALL on their own. *** What do you all think? Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC Director, Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness Louisiana Tech University 210 Woodard Hall PO Box 3158 Ruston LA 71272 Office: 318.257.4554 Fax: 318.257.2259 (Fax) Skype: edwardbell2010 <mailto:ebell at latech.edu> ebell at latech.edu <http://www.pdrib.com> www.pdrib.com ************************************************************** "I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." -- Stephen Jay Gould