[nabs-l] accomodations for english classes

[Ashley Bramlett]

Karl,

Thanks.
Sounds like you gave the advice I thought was the right way to go if only I 
could do so.
Publisher files are a mess as you said but I don't know what else to do  to 
see it in text.

I'm looking now for it on bookshare.
It’s the Norton anthology, so maybe bookshare will have a popular book like 
this.
I think the best thing is to have the book on a USB drive and view it 
quietly on my notetaker if possible.
As you said, then I'd be viewing it right with everyone else.
Has anyone else done something else such as bringing a tablet to class and 
using that to hear the story through headphones?

I find it awkward to ask someone to read it while everyone is quiet and 
concentrating.
Even if the prof reads aloud for a group discussion as is often the case, I 
would like to see the text to have it in context more.

I've had trouble in the past finding and using quotes; its real challenging 
to copy it from audio.
An idea I had was  to use a reader
to skim for them and even write them in a word file for me if needed.
If I resorted to that, I'd have her note the pages for me too.
I'm a perfectionist and as I tried to do my first reading entries I found 
that not only did I not know how to spell some of the proper names, but I 
was not able to do the quotes so ended up paraphrasing instead. So, then I 
realized that I'd need to copy down quotes while reading.

Good point about integrating quotes. I'll keep that in mind; I'll put them 
in context and introduce the quote first then.

Thanks.

Ashley


-----Original Message----- 
From: Karl Martin Adam
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 12:33 AM
To: Ashley Bramlett ; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes

Hi Ashley,

You definitely need the book in text format.  If you have a
notetaker I would definitely suggest just doing your reading on
there--it means you can read with whatever combination of speech
and braille works best for you.  For instance, I generally read
mostly in speech and occasionally look at the Braille when I care
about spelling or formatting or where the way the speech says
something is unclear.  Publisher files are a mess, you might try
getting the DS office to proofread them.  You also might try
requesting the book from bookshare, which may get you something
relatively well edited.  Having the book on your notetaker also
means you can look at things silently in class like everyone
else.  You might actually be at an advantage because you can use
the search feature while they're flipping through pages.

As for comments, if they're electronic, they should already be
accessible to you.  I have occasionally asked for comments
digitally, but usually, like you, I have just had someone read
them to me if they were on a paper copy.  Especially in an
English class you'll want to have the digital copy with the
comments in context though.

I don't know about Blackboard these days.  Years ago it wasn't
very accessible, but that has hopefully changed.

As for quotes, this is indeed another reason that you really need
the books in text.  That way you can just copy and paste.  I
can't think of anything better than trying to take dictation from
the recording if that's what you're stuck with though.  I can't
think of a reason that you would start a paragraph with a
quotation.  Normally you don't use quotes unless:
1) what the author is saying is unclear and you're giving an
interpretation,
2) you're disagreeing with what the author says and you want to
make sure you're being fair to their position and not
misrepresenting them, or
3) something about the turn of phrase is particularly compelling.
In any case, the quote should be embedded in your argument, and
you should have a reason for having it there.  As someone who's
graded papers, there's nothing worse than a bunch of quotes that
are not well integrated into the paper, and most people who grade
can recognize that sort of fluff very easily.

I don't really know word, but if you have a braillenote the
command for word count is control read i for the file information
menu, and then scrole to the word count and press enter