The Braille Challenger: Volume 2, Issue 2
News and Information from The Braille Challenge®
Volume 2, Issue 2 - November 2010
Right-click here to download a BRF version of this newsletter
Two Shining Stars: Teacher and Student Share Inspiration
Q&A with 2010 Teacher of the Year Roz Rowley
National Experts Enhance Challenge Contests
Need More Practice? Two Braille Institute® Programs That Can Help!
Guidelines for Digital Player for 2011 Speed and Accuracy Contest
Two Shining Stars: Teacher and Student Share Inspiration
Harley Fetterman wasn’t your typical Braille Challenge®
competitor in 2009. Sitting with his family at the National Awards
Ceremony in Los Angeles, the avid braille reader from Texas hadn’t
placed in the top three spots in his age group, nor was he one of the 60
finalists. On this June night, Harley and his family flew from Austin
to see another star shine – his V.I. teacher, Carolyn Mason, who was
receiving the 2009 Teacher of the Year Award for Excellence in Braille
Instruction.
With more than 24 years of experience, the consensus among the Austin
Teachers of the Visually Impaired was that Carolyn could teach braille
to anyone. To many, Carolyn had set the bar for what VI teachers should
aspire to be.
“I had no idea they had nominated me,” Carolyn admitted after the 2009 Braille Challenge®. “It was really an unexpected honor. I was so glad Harley and his family could share it with me.”
After losing his sight to a brain tumor that affected his optic
nerve, Harley and his family weren’t sure what to expect when he began
school.
“We told the school district that we wanted him not to just pass his
classes, but to reach his potential,” said Harley’s mother, Beth. “We
met Carolyn and we’ve been lucky she has been the VI teacher since the
very beginning…we don’t know what we would have done without her.”
The countless hours Carolyn spent with Harley, now 12 years old and a
seventh grader at Bailey Middle School, have helped him gain the
confidence not only to place as a National Braille Challenge® finalist three times, but to set his sights on a brighter future.
“Ever since he started offering advice to other kids with cancer,
he’s wanted to be a public speaker,” Beth said. “Harley has participated
in raising money for Make-a-Wish Foundation by doing radio interviews
and has also given speeches at Relay for Life events in order to raise
cancer awareness.”
With a successful surgery last October, Harley’s health has improved
dramatically and the Fettermans are ready to tackle another year of The
Braille Challenge®. And as always, Carolyn will be in Harley’s corner cheering on the young Texan star.
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Q&A with 2010 Teacher of the Year Roz Rowley
Roz Rowley teaches braille and English in the secondary program at
Perkins School for the Blind. She was nominated for this year’s Teacher
of the Year Award by coworker and director of the Perkins Braille and
Talking Book Library, Kim Charlson. Roz has been teaching a diverse
range of students with special needs for more than four decades.
She’s also been involved in curriculum development at Perkins and
conducts workshops for colleagues on writing educational goals and
objectives. As a legally blind person herself, she is seen as a
wonderful role model for her students, as both a large-print reader and
fluent tactile reader of braille. She is a past president and current
board member of the Massachussetts affiliate of the American Council of
the Blind and volunteers as a scorer for the New England Regional
Braille Challenge® at the Carroll Center. Roz holds a
Master’s degree in Education from Boston College and a Bachelor of Arts
from Emerson College. She has been teaching at Perkins for an amazing 40
years. As she told us, “If you love what you’re doing and where you
are, why ever leave?” And we agree!
The Braille Challenger: What has The Braille Challenge® done for you as a teacher?
Roz Rowley: I think the Challenge is a wonderful motivator
to get students going. The kids enjoy competing and it’s a great
incentive, knowing that a trip to California is possible. It’s quite an
honor to make it to the finals, and if you win out there, the prizes are
fantastic. It’s so important for kids to feel successful, and this
competition gives kids something tangible to work toward. It takes
braille and makes it a really special skill for the students to master.
The Braille Challenger: What did winning the Teacher of the Year Award mean to you, personally?
Roz Rowley: It was one of the best moments of my life and my
career. As a lifelong braille reader, and someone who has tried to make
braille something truly important to my students, it was such an honor.
One of my main goals as a teacher has been to make my students realize
that braille really opens up the world for them—in school and out in the
real world.
The Braille Challenger: What are some of the challenges facing blind students in America?
Roz Rowley: I think kids not getting the instruction they
need and not learning braille is a big issue. There are many school
systems where children simply don’t get enough braille instruction. It’s
not something you can just work on one day a week, especially in the
beginning. To progress you really need to have instruction several times
a week until it becomes second nature. Advances in technology are
great, but to me, literacy is being able to read that word yourself, not
having it read to you.
The Braille Challenger: What are some tips you could pass along for students taking The Braille Challenge®?
Roz Rowley: I think that one of the things they should do is
practice reading every day. Read out loud, read to someone else, read
whenever you can. Accuracy is so important, so be sure to learn all of
your contractions and all of the rules that go along with them. Always
proofread no matter what, so that it becomes second nature. It becomes a
much longer process if you don’t, especially with your homework. Always
proof your work carefully before you print it out for your teachers.
Spelling, punctuation, omitted words…be aware of all of these details
that can trip you up.
The Braille Challenger: What have your former students told you about The Braille Challenge®, years later, looking back?
Roz Rowley: Many of them have told me their exciting stories
about going to California and the big event in Los Angeles—what an
honor it was and how it boosted their confidence, which is one of the
main goals of the competition. Even if they don’t place, it’s such a
thrill to make it all the way there. And for all of the competitors,
it’s a great way to test your skills and continue to improve.
The Braille Challenger: Any other tips for all of our braille readers out there?
Roz Rowley: Well, I think that it’s really important for
kids to keep up their writing skills on the brailler even if they keep
up with their technology. You never need to charge your brailler or
replace a hard drive. Most of my kids have computers and fancy devices,
and that’s great, but I still think it’s essential to keep your skills
with an actual braille writer up to par. This will help with your
performance in The Braille Challenge®, too. And it’s a very valuable skill for life.
I also think it’s important for kids to read a lot of books for
pleasure, not just for school. It’s a great way to discover a true love
of reading and stay engaged with the written word. It’s wonderful to be
able to listen to books, but there’s no equivalent to reading from a
real book. Those are some of my best memories from my childhood—just
relaxing with a good book. Many of my students from years and years ago
tell me how much reading has meant in their lives. Start at the earliest
age possible and keep reading!
Read more about Roz Rowley and our past and present Teacher of the Year nominees. You can also view a video of Ms. Rowley that was played at our Awards Banquet in June.
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National Experts Enhance Challenge Contests
In the early years, The Braille Challenge® contests were
developed by Braille Institute® staff, supported by one very experienced
teacher of children who are visually impaired. Linda Miller from
Fontana, California, singlehandedly created both the Preliminary and
Final Reading Comprehension, Proofreading and Charts & Graphs
contests for the first eight years of The Challenge. We want to thank
her publicly for those years of commitment.
As she moved toward retirement last year, she became a consultant and
we began building a coalition of teachers to create the contests. This
year, we have a full team of expert TVIs, with contest developers paired
up with others who evaluate and review the contests prior to
production. This ensures we have feedback from a breadth of experienced
professionals.
We believe this team approach will help keep The Braille Challenge® challenging, especially the Reading Comprehension contest.
Here are a few of the improvements we are making, thanks to their input and that of our National Advisory Committee:
- For the first time, we are looking at how well students scored in
each contest category and age group to be sure we are getting a wide
range of scores. For example, a high percentage of contestants in the
Sophomore, Junior Varsity and Varsity groups, 50 to 65 percent, scored
in the top third in the 2010 preliminary Reading Comprehension contest.
This raises the question: Were the contests difficult enough? In June,
all but two finalists scored in the top third of the scoring range for
Reading Comp, telling us we need to present information above grade
level to challenge our top performers.
- The difficulty level of Reading Comprehension passages for each age group will vary even more than they have.
- Reading Comprehension copy is being evaluated through online reading
level calculators that help educators determine appropriate grade level
of vocabulary and sentence structure. While these tools are not
absolutely accurate, especially because they do not account for the
difficulty of contractions or the subject matter, they do provide an
effective starting point.
- Reading Comprehension questions will purposely not be in order of
appearance in the passage, so it won’t be as easy for students to scan
for answers.
- Several Reading Comprehension questions will go beyond literal
recall of information, to challenge students to evaluate a subject,
critique it and make inferences based on what’s presented.
- Topics selected for Reading Comprehension will present unique
subject matter in an attempt to avoid students being able to answer
questions from their own common knowledge.
If you are a teacher interested in being involved in this process next year, let us know! Contact Nancy Niebrugge at nnniebrugge@brailleinstitute.org.
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Need More Practice? Two Braille Institute® Programs That Can Help!
Before you get to The Braille Challenge® Finals, even
before trying your hand at the Preliminaries, you have to feel as if
you’ve really mastered braille. But you know what that takes—practice,
practice and more practice.
Finding enough high-quality, current, age-appropriate and affordable
books in braille can be a challenge all its own. Braille Institute® has two programs that help.
First, students anywhere in the U.S. and Canada can order braille
books of their choice free of charge from our Special Collection
subscription program. Three times a year Braille Institute®
distributes a catalog of 30 to 35 new and classic titles for
preschoolers on up to tenth graders. Families may choose up to three
books per catalog.
For younger children, our titles focus on reinforcing much-needed
life skills including telling time, interpreting fractions and
understanding science. It’s well known that building one’s own library
of much-loved books reinforces reading as a lifetime habit. This program
encourages school-aged children who are blind to pick out their own
books to keep, giving them the opportunity to stay current with their
friends on everything from fantasy to adventure. The selections include
Newbery, Caldecott and other award-winning titles.
Second, our Partners in Literacy program is designed especially for
teachers, librarians and professionals working with blind and visually
impaired children. For a nominal annual fee, teachers may order multiple
classroom copies of titles from our Special Collection catalog, up to
25 titles per year. In times of tight budgets, this program offers high
value, with each book averaging about $6 each.
For more information about either of these literacy programs, contact Jacky Garcia at jgarcia@brailleinstitute.org and sign up. You can also view our current Special Collection catalog on our website.
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Guidelines for Digital Players for 2011 Speed and Accuracy Contest
As reported in the spring issue of The Braille Challenger, The 2011 Braille Challenge® Speed and Accuracy contest audio files will be distributed in electronic format only. No more tape cassettes!
To be sure we maintain consistency, with all contestants using
players with the same features and functions, students may use one of
two approved models: the Victor Reader Stream, manufactured by
Humanware, and the Book Port Plus, distributed by the American Printing
House for the Blind (APH). Both were recommended by our regional
coordinators and The Braille Challenge® National Advisory Committee for their ease of use, national availability and affordability.
Both units have the desired features of being able to play an MP3
file, accept files using a removable SD card, operate at variable audio
speed, jump forward and backward within an audio file in equivalent
increments, and function easily.
While we recognize that other multi-functional devices, such as
notetakers and the APH Mobile Manager, also have the ability to play
audio files, we are restricting their use based on the high learning
curve necessary to operate them. Limiting the number and type of devices
allows us to provide simple instructions for the contest and helps
ensure that proctors can quickly learn and support their use. It also
enables us to help provide backup players if necessary, and avoids the
issue of students using more sophisticated devices that may have their
own internal memory.
Students will be encouraged to bring their own equipment if they are
already using either of these units. Also, proctors will be asked to
have at least one of the two types of unit available as a replacement.
If additional players are needed, Braille Institute® will have a limited number available to loan on a first-come, first-served basis. Specific instructions on how to use the Book Port Plus or Victor Reader Stream.
Instructions for Use of Approved Players
You will receive two SD cards per contestant—one to use during the
practice session, and a second one with the actual contest content. Both
files will consist of a live voice recording and will be saved as an
MP3 audio file.
Contestants will be giving the practice card first to use during the
five-minute practice section. Practice cards are to be collected before
distributing the contest cards. At the end of the contest session, all
contest SD cards are to be collected. This process help ensure
confidentiality, as neither device contains an internal memory. Students
will not be able to copy the contest files onto their units or keep the
contest cards.
Inserting media:
- Book Port Plus – Insert SD card into slot found on left side of unit. To eject, lightly press card to release it.
- Victor Reader Stream – Insert SD card into slot found on top of the unit. To eject, lightly press card to release it.
Finding the file:
- Each SD card provided, both for practice and for the actual contest,
will contain only one file, allowing the user to simply press the play
button. Both devices will automatically find the file and begin to play
it.
Backspace:
- Both units have a backspace default setting of 5 seconds.
- Book Port Plus – The backspace key is found directly to the left of
the central, round “play” button. Touch it once to rewind audio back 5
seconds. Each additional tap of the key rewinds back in 5 second
increments. Holding down the backspace key gives an audio prompt to
rewind 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, and one minute, respectively.
The “1” and “3” buttons on the numeric keypad jump the audio backward
or forward in 30-second increments. The “4” and “6” buttons on the
numeric keypad jump the audio backward or forward in one-minute
increments.
- Victor Reader Stream – The backspace key is at the bottom left of
the unit,directly to the left of the “play” button. Touch it once to
rewind audio back 5 seconds. Each additional tap of the key rewinds back
in 5 second increments. When held down for five seconds, the file will
rewind back a full minute. The “4” and “6” buttons on the numeric
keypad jump the audio backward or forward in one minute increments, but
this feature must first be “activated” by pressing the “8” key until the
“time jump” feature is indicated. This specific feature must be set
each time a new file is read.
Variable speed and volume:
- Both units allow the user to speed up or slow down an audio file.
- Book Port Plus –To increase speech speed, press the arrow key
directly above the central, blue play button. To decrease speech speed,
press the arrow key directly below the central, blue play button. Volume
is adjusted by clicking the button on the top right side of the unit
upward or downward.
- Victor Reader Stream—Press the power button on the top left side of
the unit until prompted to set “speed.” To increase speech speed, press
the upward arrow key directly below the power button on the side of the
unit. To decrease speech speed, press the downward arrow key directly
below the up button on the left side of the unit. The power button
defaults back to volume control after 10 seconds.
If you have additional questions, contact us at cgpak@brailleinstitute.org or nnniebrugge@brailleinstitute.org.
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