Markers are Magic

I'm starting to notice a pattern.

This week, I'm being trained for a teaching job. I may or may not get the job, but it probably won't have anything to do with my eyes. Still, they aren't making it any easier for those of us who, uh, can't read stuff.

On the first morning of training, they asked us to take magic markers and answer some open questions on big pieces of paper. After we sat down and introduced ourselves -- I didn't have the chance to mention the blind thing to the group -- they asked us to come up to the paper and read what everyone else had written, to write down our impressions. Being that I couldn't really read any of it, I didn't write anything down.

Next, we found a single green sheet on each of our seats. This was a one-page, five thick paragraphs, single-spaced essay. We had about three minutes to read and respond to it, and to compare its contents to those of the big pieces of paper. I wrote that what the two things had in common were that I couldn't read them. I didn't hand that in.

After an all-morning lesson in the elements of photography, I was starting to think they had something against me. Luckily, I muddled my way through and even had some relevant things to say, so it wasn't complete hell. Of course, when the teacher asked me to elaborate on my observations about the 4x6 photograph across the room, I said, "No, I'm blind." Then we went back to writing on big pieces of paper with magic marker.

Apparently, lots of job training and professional development sessions use the magic-marker-on-big-paper thing. My friends at the camp do it too; luckily, they know to tell me what's up there. It certainly is fun to play with markers -- I'm always tempted to doodle -- but haven't we evolved past that? What about collage? Spray-paint, anyone?