[stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare

Thu Jul 30 02:06:55 UTC 2009

Believe it or not, I've only just read this thought provoker. I think
it is really good.

Helene

On 17/02/2009, Marianne Haas <braillewoman at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I started learning Braille when I was seven years old in Switzerland.  I
> depended on Braille and typing for all my education and I am so glad I know
> Braille.  I enjoy reading Braille books.  I also listen to books.  I did
> learn to spell though.
>
> Marianne
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Robert Newman
> Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 7:18 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare
>
> Shelley
>
> Hi, hope you have had a good 3 day weekend? Did you get Presidents day off?
>
> I'm putting your response to my latest TP up tonight. The stylist group were
> the first to write their take on my latest TP and so those messages were at
> the bottom of the cue.
>
> Have a good week!
>
>
>
> Robert Leslie Newman
> Email- newmanrl at cox.net
> THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
> Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Shelley J. Alongi
> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 2:26 PM
> To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare
>
> when I was in elementary school I had to spell out words using both
> contractions and grade one Braille. Where I work now for disney there are
> several blind people. Two of us use Braille writers, I use mine more
> extensively than the other lady. I use mine to write notes, covering pages
> and pages with all the guest details so I don't have to rely on my
> overstretched memory. I do calculations with it when it's faster to use the
> Braille and add up the coluns line by line. At least four other blind people
> use electronic Braille notetakers with Braille displays. One blind person,
> the one who got me the job or reccommended it to me does not know Braille. I
> don't know how she takes her notes. I always have a slate and stylus handy
> in my purse, my bag, my desk. We get lots of brochures from travel vendors
> at work and I label them. If I don't I toss them out because I don't want to
> take the time to sort through them. There is Braille on our time clock and
> Braille on the drawers int the kitchen at work that hold napkins and
> utencils. My biggest beef is they won't label the coffee maker because they
> dont' want cast members operating it. They operate it all the time. I push
> that issue with them. I'm getting ready to push the issue of access to
> brochures since the blind workers will start booking packages soon. it's
> funny I brought my Braile writer to work to label bingo cards or to help
> make one since our team plays booking bingo. I don't know why I didn't bring
> it two years ago when I gotthe the job. I thought the computer was adequate,
> I guess. Our training pushed the idea of writing notes. everyone else uses
> pen and paper now I'm using Braille ninety-five percent of the time.
> Shelley J. Alongi
> Your Lifelong Pampered Chef Consultant With Bells On!
> Home Office: (714)869-3207
> Prepare tasty meals with eas and at $2.00 a serving from the pampered Chef
> http://www.pamperedchef.biz/shellbellskit
> **
> Read the latest Metrolink essay The Planter by the Railroad Tracks
> http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smreadtitle.cgi?action=display&file=new
> titles/AlongiSJ-Metrolink111ThePlanterByThe.htm
> **
> To read essays on my journey through Metrolink 111 or other interests click
> on
> http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smshowauthorbox.cgi?page=&author=Alongi
> SJ&alpha=A
>
> updated Dec 7, 2008
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Aziza C" <daydreamingncolor at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 10:40 AM
> 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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>>
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>>
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>> 1:39 PM
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>
>
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