[stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare

Mon Feb 9 02:43:49 UTC 2009

yes,
when we use contractions, we shortcut the spelling practice.

this really highlights how important the direct practice of braille 
is to our literacy.

Robert, this is a very good thought provoker, you've done a great job 
of demonstrating what the current classroom is like for our blind and 
low vision kids!

I had low vision, so was only taught to use magnification until I 
happily lost my sight altogether.  until then, reading was cumbersom, 
and certainly not so easy.  I had "jewelers' loops on my glasses to 
give extra magnification for my one sighted eye.

so, I learned braille when in eighth grade.  my wife learned it in 
kindergarten, so of course she's a faster braille reader than I am.
once I became blind, and used talking books, and rfb along with 
braille, my reading took off.  I say I couldn't and wouldn't have 
gone to college if my low vision had persisted, preventing the 
acquisition of the good reading techniques.
jc

Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 03:24 PM 2/8/2009, you wrote:
>Yes, contractions mess us up too. I just now figured out how to spell
>character! There's a couple others, but I can't remember what they are.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Aziza C
>Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 10:40 AM
>To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare
>
>My spelling was horrible because I relied on contractions. So, my TVI's when
>I was younger started testing me on both, braille/spelling tests. I don't
>know when I finally figured out the difference, but I struggled as a kid.
>
>On 2/8/09, Angela fowler <fowlers at syix.com> wrote:
> > I learned Braille when I was a kid, at the same time sighted kids
> > learn to read print. Its ingrained in my memory, I will always be able
> > to read. I'm not the fastest reader in the world, however, and I'm an
> > awful speller because I have always been mostly dependent on computers
> > and audio tapes to access information. It is no accident that for the
> > brief time I was at the Colorado Center for the Blind my Braille
> > skills improved dramatically. I had a Braille class every day after
> > all, and I also commandeered the refreshable Braille display as often
> > as I could. My spelling improved too. Now that I'm in college, and
>dependant more on audio, that has all gone down hill.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> > On Behalf Of Robert Newman
> > Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 10:00 AM
> > To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> > Subject: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare
> >
> > Fellow Writers
> > RE:  Literacy Nightmare
> >
> > This is my newest THOUGHT PROVOKER. It asks educators, who are not
> > supporters of Braille, a question that I have always wanted to ask. If
> > you have not read the PROVOKER, it follows.  Recall that I collect
> > responses and post them upon my web site for all the WWW to read and learn
>from and that
> > URL is- Http://thoughtprovoker.info <http://thoughtprovoker.info/>   If
>you
> > wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS sent directly to you, just write me
> > and ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net
> >
> > THOUGHT PROVOKER 142
> > Literacy Nightmare
> >
> > "Give Our Children Literacy! Give Our Children Print!" chanted the crowd.
> >
> > "This is CNN and this is the scene outside Central Elementary School.
> > These parents are angry and dramatically sending their message to the
> > teachers of this school and to the State Department of Education." The
> > camera's lens shows the front of a school.  A mass of people march
> > back and forth  the length of the block, waving large labeled placards.
> >
> > WOMP, WOMP, WOMP! The sound of a helicopter is heard over the audio
> > and the view zooms up to an aerial shot.  We are looking down from a
> > significant height to a view of the school's entire property, which is
> > surrounded by a shoulder-to-shoulder phalanx of adults. The focus
> > sharpens to the teacher's parking lot, where police officers negotiate
> > with parents blocking the driveway to not allow the drivers of cars penned
>inside to leave.
> >
> > The news anchor's face again fills the screen. "You've viewed the
> > scene, read the placards, and heard the chants. Now walk with me into
> > this throng and we will learn the specifics of what this is all about.
> >
> > "Miss, pardon me." The anchor thrust the microphone at a woman waving
> > a placard labeled LITERACY NOW. "Could you tell our viewers what this
> > demonstration is about?"
> >
> > "Literacy! An efficient method of reading and writing. Our children
> > are being denied this right."
> >
> > Seeing the camera, marchers crowd in.
> >
> >  "My daughter gets one hour of teaching per week to learn to read!"
> >
> > The man behind her shouts out, "The teacher who instructs my son to
> > read and write is not certified."
> >
> > A man in a business suit edges in front of the mike, "They tell us
> > that with the increasing development of technology, computers reading
> > aloud to us is good enough.  Good enough!"
> >
> > The first mother grabs the mike, "In my daughter's class they turned
> > off the computer monitors!"
> >
> > "M'am, are you reporting the students are being denied seeing what is
> > being displayed upon the screen?" asked the shocked anchor.
> >
> > "Not exactly." interjected another marcher. "My daughter tells me they
> > allow it to be switched on, but it's out of focus. She comes home with
> > a headache."
> >
> > A man's face fills the screen. "My son tells me, in his class they
> > have the font programmed to either enlarge up to a ridiculous size,
> > forcing you to scroll and scroll to read, or the text is so tiny you
> > have to stick your nose up to the screen like you are smelling it."
> > With a dramatic gesture he thrusts forward a sheath of papers. "It
> > goes beyond the computer. Look at these hardcopy handouts."
> >
> > First showing what appears to be a worksheet, but is so light in
> > contrast that its nature is questionable. The second is in very tiny
> > print. A third is several pages stapled together and is in gigantic
> > bold letters. "They tell us it allows our child to function in the
> > print world. But I ask you, is this adequate in terms of being
>competitive?"
> >
> > Another female voice gets the anchor's attention. "Oh, and the books, too!
> > They are either very large volumes that the average student refuses to
> > use or they are audio!"
> >
> >  "Miss, for the sake of the viewers who have just tuned in, could you
> > clarify the major point of what your group claims is happening here?"
> >
> > The most efficient method of reading and writing is being withheld
> > from our children! They say print is becoming obsolete. Literacy for
> > our children is being greatly restricted and we are not going to allow it
>anymore."
> >
> > The face of the anchor again fills the screen as he gives his closing.
> > "Is the strongest method for reading and writing for these children
> > being systematically taken away? Is literacy being threatened here in
> > this school system? These parents think so and when you take away the
> > student's strongest method of literacy, what do we expect will happen?
> > This is CNN action news."  And the screen faded to a last view of the
> > angry, marching parents.
> >
> > "AAAHHH!" Marlene, a sighted teacher of blind/VI children, sat bolt
> > upright in bed, hand to her head. "Oh my God, that was a nightmare!
> > Where did that come from?" Yesterday's memory of running into Brad, a
> > former VI student came to mind. "
> >
> > Brad had been almost bitter when he said, "I should have learnt
> > Braille in elementary school; it would have been more efficient for me
>than print.
> > Ever think what parents of normally sighted kids would do if you
> > didn't teach their children the most efficient method for reading and
> > writing?"  He said he was learning Braille now as a college student.
> >
> > Marlene flashed back to the scenes in her nightmare. Surely Brad was
> > the exception?  It was just a nightmare, not reality. Surely?
> >
> >
> > Robert Leslie Newman
> > Email- newmanrl at cox.net
> > THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
> > Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
> >
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