[Pibe-division] In the Effort to Become Braille Certified

[EricGuillory at aol.com]

Denise,
 
While I am a fan of technology and use it daily, I am happy to hear you  
continue to advocate for some things being done in hardcopy Braille. Saving  
trees and expediting the grading process is certainly a very desirable 
outcome.  But, making our teachers proficient in the tools to be used by our 
students (in  this case the braillewriter) is pivotal. Thanks to technology, we 
can improve  environmental conditions while simultaneously continuing to 
stress the  importance and usefulness of the braillewriter and slate, and making 
certain  that teachers in training have access to plenty of practice in the 
utilization  of these must-have devices. A great evening to all!
 
EG
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/21/2011 6:35:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com writes:

 
_In  the Effort to Become Braille Certified_ 
(http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/2011/09/in-effort-to-become-braille-certified.html)  

Oh so many years ago, leading up to my braille  certification, I killed a 
LOT of trees in the process. I would braille hours  every night after school 
and after work in order to learn that code. Using 11  x 11 paper and a great 
deal of it.

Today, things have changed  tremendously. I have everyone download _Perky 
Duck_ (http://www.duxburysystems.com/) , which is free and is a  minor 
program compared to its parent _Duxbury_ (http://www.duxburysystems.com/) , which 
is a very powerful  and superb braille to print, print to braille 
translation program, but cost  money. I also use the Library of Congress Braille 
Handbook and many  supplements for my adult students to work from. They six key 
in their work,  then email it off to me for correction. In this process, we 
save hundreds of  trees. When there are too many students, I have them sign 
up with the Library  of Congress, which the National Federation of the Blind 
has taken over in the  correction and helping mode. They too are set up to 
receive everything through  email and they respond using email also, with a 
grade and or corrections that  need to be made.

When taking the Braille certification test, you can  use your reference 
manuals. When I take them through the lessons, I have them  mark the sections 
and underline the areas they are struggling with, so when  the test comes and 
they are unsure, they can quickly turn to the answer in  their book. A 
great supplement to the classes is the _Braille Enthusiast's Dictionary_ 
(http://www.scalarspublishing.com/) .  It has every word and contraction you can 
think of that may be in  text.

When my students are preparing for the test I have them braille  it out in 
Perky Duck or Duxbury to get an electronic copy. Then they move to  the 
brailler and braille another copy out. Next, they compare their hard copy  to 
the electronic copy. Proofreading your own work is one of the hardest  things 
for students. It was for me too, so it is great with these new  techniques 
to use to double check your work. If they are really in doubt, they  
rebraille another copy on Perky Duck or Duxbury. When they are practicing  their 
proofreading or slate n stylus, once again, they can use Perky Duck to  braille 
out all the different options they believe it to be. 

I have  had more people pass their braille certification quicker using 
these methods  versus not using them. Using everything at our disposal gives us 
a better idea  of how to help our students too. Many methods, mean more 
success, for more  people.  

Denise 
 
Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D. 
Teacher of the Blind & Visually  Impaired
TechVision-Independent Contractor
Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training
509-674-1853    _ deniserob at gmail.com_ (mailto:deniserob at gmail.com) 
 
_http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/_ 
(http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/) 
 



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