[NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus

Thu Jun 10 17:40:26 UTC 2021

Allison,

This year, NFB is putting the BELL academy online. There are spaces on the
July and August sessions.

The following link goes to information from NFB: NFB BELL® Academy |
National Federation of the Blind
<https://nfb.org/programs-services/nfb-bell-academy>

_don [image: ]

On Thu, Jun 10, 2021 at 11:33 AM Allison Hilliker via
NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Ramona, please come to Phoenix and teach my kids. They learn best from
> anyone who's not mom. And you sound very passionate about the subject.  All
> the competent braille readers I know locally are already employed. So I'm
> left to either teach them myself, or let the public school TVIs teach them,
> and we already know how well braille instruction in public school goes. I
> didn't really understand your explanation of how to explain the slate cell
> setup differently, but I believe you. I'm sure you're right about it. I'm
> just over here doing the best I can with little support.  Honestly, truly
> braille positive folks are rare, and spread thinly throughout this country.
> I'm finding that I can't even pay somebody to teach my girls reading and
> writing in braille, and that's sad. Cuz I know full well how crucial
> quality literacy instruction is for young blind kids. So I'm attempting to
> do it myself, but nothing mom knows or does is interesting to my girls.
> Plus, I don't have all the answers. Far from it. I would give my left arm
> to have a braille positive NFB sort nearby to teach my girls. I even have
> funding to hire somebody, just no interest. I've networked via my state
> affiliate, and there's just nothing. So I'm doing what I can on my own.
>
> Best,
> Allison
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion-bounces at nfbnet.org>
> On Behalf Of Ramona via NFB-Braille-Discussion
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2021 6:56 AM
> To: Mike Jolls via NFB-Braille-Discussion <
> nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Ramona <walhoframona at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus
>
> That's why teacher training should stress first and second sides of the
> cell. They get fixated on left and right and reversal which gets passed on
> to the students. Some students become fast on the slate, and the problem
> gets eliminated. Some do not, just as many teachers do not. It is a project
> that needs attention. Maybe this is the best we can do, I would love to
> get  involved in some college training for teachers of blind kids and
> adults. It just makes writing with the slate and stylus seem difficult when
> it is not. Yes you need a certain set of muscles, but you need that for
> writing with a pen or pencil. It comes with practice. It also leads to
> people thinking the computer will take care of this "difficulty."
> Recordings were going to replace Braille; now it's computers. If people
> like Curtis Chong and Steve Jacobsen use the slate, then let's not deprive
> our kids of it.
>
> RamonaOn Jun 9, 2021 6:11 PM, Mike Jolls via NFB-Braille-Discussion <
> nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Ramona
> >
> > Oh I knew 1-2-3 was the first set of dots on the first side, and I knew
> 4-5-6 was on the other side.  It’s just, as I tried to say, I always
> thought of 1-2-3 ONLY ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CELL when you’re looking at
> the slate.  I never thought of assigning 1-2-3 to the right hand side of
> the cell.  That’s because my teacher told me at the start … 1-2-3 is on the
> left.  And 4-5-6 is on the right.  Since she never said anything else, I
> never thought any differently.  So when I had to write an F I had to
> mentally translate ….. “1-2-4 is dots 4-5-1 when writing”.  And when your
> mind is doing that, you have to do that for EVERY SYMBOL YOU WRITE.  I
> never thought of changing the dot number assignments for writing and just
> think 1-2-4.  That might have made it easier, and it probably would have
> made me a faster writer since having to mentally translate adds a half
> second (or something like that) to almost every character you write.
> Thinking about it “being in reverse” was just natural for me.  Had I been
> told to change dot number assignments, it might have made it easier because
> as Allison said, I had to think … “what’s the reverse pattern” … for almost
> every symbol written.
> >
> >
> > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> > Windows 10
> >
> > From: Ramona via
> > NFB-Braille-Discussion<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 9, 2021 7:00 PM
> > To: Mike Jolls via
> > NFB-Braille-Discussion<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > Cc: Ramona<mailto:walhoframona at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus
> >
> > 1-2-3 is always the first side of the cell. it is really that simple.
> I'm sorry teachers do not receive that information before they ever meet a
> student.
> >
> > RamonaOn Jun 9, 2021 4:00 PM, Mike Jolls via NFB-Braille-Discussion <
> nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > I’d like to weigh in here on “writing backwards”.  I’m a partially
> sighted person who found Braille in my early 50’s.  I’m 65 and I still use
> it.  I go back and forth with print and Braille.  It’s great having both
> skills and I can use Braille when I know print just isn’t going to work.  I
> wish I had known Braille LOT EARLIER … but it just didn’t happen.
> Personally, I think every partially sighted student should learn Braille.
> Then they can use whichever method will work for them in a given
> situation.  Of course that’s not what this topic is about and I won’t go
> further.  That’s another topic if we want to pursue it.
> > >
> > > Now, onto “writing backwards” on the slate and stylus.
> > >
> > > When I learned Braille and learned to write with a slate and stylus, I
> ALWAYS thought that writing was OPPOSITE or BACKWARDS to how you read it.
> You write it right to left rather than when you’re reading it.  You had to
> use the “opposite dot pattern” when writing a character in the cell.
> That’s backwards in my thinking.  A “B” for example is written in dots 4,5
> on the right side of the cell rather than 1,2 on the left side of the cell
> (that assumes you are still thinking about the cell dots in the
> configuration used for reading).  And I always did this.  My teacher NEVER
> told me to think of dots 1 and 2 on the right side of the cell when
> writing.  I knew a B was dots 1,2.  I knew dots 1,2 were on the left (for
> reading).  Since I had to write them on the right hand side of the cell, I
> thought it was BACKWARDS.  You had to use 4-5 to write a B which should up
> as dots 1-2 when you read it.  I remember my teacher liked to say “mirror
> image”.  Had she told me that I should consider 1,2 on the right hand side
> of the cell for writing and 4-5-6 was on the left, maybe I wouldn’t have
> thought it was backwards.  I would have thought .. OK … 1-2-3 are on the
> left for reading, but they’re on the right side for writing.  Since she
> didn’t make that distinction, I saw that the dots had to be in the opposite
> position to that for reading so that when you flipped the page over, they’d
> be correct for reading.  So I just thought .. punch the opposite dots in
> the cell when writing a character.  My realization may have reinforced the
> idea of opposite.  That’s just how I perceived the process.  I remember
> once I mentioned to her that I was writing the characters BACKWARDS.  I was
> immediately told I was wrong and “we don’t use the word backwards, it’s too
> confusing”.  Personally I didn’t see it as confusing.  I just saw that this
> was what you had to do.  And I do remember that I made my fair share of
> errors when writing.  Perhaps that would have been less had I just
> considered things differently for writing.
> > >
> > > Anyway that’s how I learned.  It just seemed natural to think about
> writing “the opposite pattern” to get it come out right for reading.
> > >
> > > Please feel free to comment.
> > >
> > > Mike Jolls
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Sent from
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> > >
> > > From: Susan Jolly via
> > > NFB-Braille-Discussion<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 9, 2021 4:08 PM
> > > To: 'NFB Braille Discussion
> > > List'<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > > Cc: Susan Jolly<mailto:easjolly at ix.netcom.com>
> > > Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus
> > >
> > > I wonder if opposite would be a better word? You read from
> > > left-to-right and write from right-to-left.  They are both the
> opposite of the other one.
> > >
> > > My father, who was born over a hundred years ago, could write print
> > > backwards almost as easily as forwards.  I got the impression that
> > > was something a lot of sighted people used to do. It kept other
> > > people from looking over their shoulder and reading what they were
> > > writing with a quick glance.  This could be helpful if they were
> > > writing something private like a note to pass to a friend in school.
> > > Of course the main point of this story is that all it requires is
> motivation and practice.
> > >
> > > HTH, Susan J
> > >
> > >
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