Go,Go,Go!

Go,Go,Go!

Patti Schonlau (left)

and Barbara Cheadle

Go, Go, Go!

by Patti Schonlau, Braille Teacher

Missouri School for the Blind

Editor's Note: I don't believe any school in the history of the Braille Readers Are

Leaders Contest ever moved as rapidly from non-participation to star performance as did

the Missouri School for the Blind (MSB) in the 1997-1998 contest year. Many people deserve

credit for this transition, but none more than Dr. Howze, the superintendent of MSB, and

Patti Schonlau (the Braille teacher). Dr. Howze threw the full weight of her

administrative position behind the project. The contest became official business of the

school when she assigned a "team" to work on it. This, apparently, is how all

school-approved projects are carried out—through the team approach. With this

support, Braille teacher Patti Schonlau and the team were able to implement wonderfully

creative contest-related Braille activities for the students. The experience was a

learning one for staff, too, Patti said. Many gained a new appreciation for the importance

of Braille.

Wanting the school and students to have center stage for the publicity and credit for

their accomplishment, the NFB of Missouri chose to play a supporting role. The NFB

organized a Braille Party and awards ceremony for the students. The goal was to celebrate

with, and honor, the students. Blind adults (some of whom took a day off work and traveled

many miles to participate in the event) played Braille games with the students, then

honored the students with certificates and special NFB of Missouri "Braille Readers

are Leaders" t-shirts.

Patti Schonlau, on behalf of the Missouri School for the Blind, shared the spotlight of

honor at the 1998 Parents Seminar with her colleagues from the Washington School for the

Blind and the Kentucky School for the Blind. Here are edited comments from her panel

presentation:

It's really a joy and an honor to be here with you this morning. I would like to give

Dr. Howze's regrets that she is not able to be here with us today. Dr. Howze is the

superintendent of our school, and she is very proud of what our students have

accomplished. From the day that I sat in her office and we discussed getting involved in

the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest, she was determined that we were going to

"Go, go, go, girl!"—that's what she said for me to do. However, she is

experiencing a great deal of pain with a cornea problem, and so she simply is unable

physically to be here. Anyway, we never thought then that, almost a year later, we would

be sitting in this position, in this room receiving this honor, but we are very grateful

to be here.

As Barbara told you, this is Missouri's first year to participate school-wide in the

contest, and it was my third year as the Braille teacher at the school. The two previous

years, I had heard about the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest, but nothing much was

said about it, so it just slipped on by. This year, though, things were quite different.

We decided that in order to participate in this contest, and to make Braille what it truly

needs to be at the Missouri School for the Blind, we needed to form a team. The members of

this team were our librarian, the APH representative for our region (who is housed at

Missouri School for the Blind), our principal, our outreach coordinator, a quality leader,

and a secretary. We developed a charter with a mission statement and objectives. Our team

had weekly meetings to be sure that we found ways to bolster our students in the contest.

Every morning in the bulletin I had a word of encouragement for the participants. I wanted

them to believe that they—the students of the Missouri School for the

Blind—could make the nation sit up and look at them with pride for being Braille

readers.

The project was really very significant. For many years, Braille at the Missouri School

for the Blind was not stressed as much as it should have been. But now Braille has really

come alive at the Missouri School for the Blind. The Federation, through this contest, had

an impact on us regarding the necessity and the importance of Braille in blind children's

lives.

We had 21 students participating in the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest. Our

special team organized weekly reading parties for the participants. For example, in the

month of January we had a birthday party for Louis Braille. We sang happy birthday to him,

and we read a story (in Braille) that my son (who is normally sighted) had written when he

was in 4th grade. (The story was a result of a school assignment to write about a great

inventor; someone who had given a special gift to our society. He chose Louis Braille

because Braille truly is a special gift for blind people.) We also found ways to

incorporate their reading from other classes—English, science, history,

etc.—into the contest. We tried to take advantage of any opportunity we could to

promote Braille reading. After all, Braille reading is Braille reading, no matter what the

subject matter is. We want our kids to realize that with Braille skills they are able to

go into the community to participate in all types of social, political, as well as

personal activities of daily living. This is our goal at the Missouri School for the

Blind: to teach our kids that Braille can be fun, that Braille is a basic component of a

blind person's livelihood, that Braille is the answer to print—it is literacy. With

Braille, we are able to not only communicate with our friends and ourselves, but we can

also become competent independent adults.

On another note, I want to compliment and praise the Texas Braille Bill for how it

helped me get Braille materials for our students in the Braille Readers Are Leaders

Contest. I really took advantage of what Texas has been able to do with the publishers'

electronic text requirement in the Texas Braille Bill. I could take books from the

Internet that were prepared and ready to go; that is, ready to be printed out in Braille.

The only thing I had to do was download, send it to a Braille embosser, and produce the

Braille. This is a much cheaper and easier way of getting Braille than any other that I

know—that's for sure. Many of these books are in Grade 1 Braille as well as in Grade

2 Braille, which was helpful to some of our participants.

Finally, I really applaud the National Federation of the Blind and the Parents Division

for having such a wonderful contest. It develops a sense of the importance of reading and

the benefits of reading within the participants. It stimulated and really set our kids on

fire to work harder than ever on their Braille skills this coming year. Thank you.