The Learning Curve

The Learning Curve

The Braille Monitor

November,

2003

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The Learning

Curve

by Marnie Utz

During the service component of the Braille Is Beautiful curriculum,

Brandon and Stephany, Davis Drive sixth-graders, Braille a deck of UNO

playing cards that will be given to a blind child.

From the Editor: January,

Braille Literacy Month, is just around the corner. In the July 2003 issue, we

reprinted a news article about the experience the sixth grade at the Davis Drive

Middle School in Cary, North Carolina, had when they used the NFB's Braille

Is Beautiful curriculum. Here is Marnie Utz, the teacher who initiated

the program talking about the experience from her point of view:

"Braille-O!"

Kassandra shouted across the room. The sixth-grader from Davis Drive Middle

School (DDMS) in Cary, North Carolina, stood beside her chair, eyes wide with

excitement, as students in adjacent desks cleared their cards with chagrin.

On this day my enrichment class was engaged in a test of knowledge--not the

usual multiplication tables or countries and capitals, but Braille letters.

Braille-O was just one wonderful activity in the Braille Is Beautiful

program created by the National Federation of the Blind.

I

first read about the Braille Is Beautiful program in a pamphlet that

appeared in my box in the office, along with a dozen other catalogues and flyers

about new teacher resources. The color pamphlet caught my eye, and after reading

it, I couldn't contain my enthusiasm. I spoke with my colleagues immediately,

and we wrote to our school PTA for funding. Although the funding to purchase

the basic curriculum came through expeditiously, we had to scramble to acquire

all the extra equipment and materials we needed for our 130 students: more slates,

more styluses, and more Braille paper. Eventually we managed it, however, and

my colleagues, the students, and I began our two-month journey into the world

of the visually impaired.

Although

the lesson plans included in the program were thorough and creative, we teachers

had a lot to learn. At first the students participated in activities such as

creating skits in order to dispel myths about the visually impaired and designing

posters depicting the lives of Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Jacobus tenBroek.

Around the third week of the program, the curriculum--with precise instructions

and vivid diagrams--introduced Braille letters and numbers.

My

teammates (Marcella Cox, Jon Corcoran, and Mary Swedbergand) and I would sit

down at our weekly meetings and practice making Braille letters and numbers

together before attempting to model the procedure for the students. We enjoyed

learning to write Braille ourselves, and I remember the common question, "How

do people do this so fast?" arising as we spent ten minutes punching in

our first names using the slate. Invariably we would take the paper out of the

slate, turn it over, laugh, and realize that once again the letters of our names

were backwards. Surprisingly, after wiggling in their seats with excitement

as the slates and styluses were passed around, the students picked up the concept

immediately and surpassed our expectations and skills within two days.

The

students' reaction to the entire experience was incredible. Not one student

refused to work or even seemed uninterested. During lunch and break times various

kids asked to use the Braille materials to write notes to their friends, label

a textbook, or number their lockers in Braille. As a team we had introduced

several enrichment programs to the students, but this one was by far the most

intriguing to our adolescents.

Having

taught sixth grade for a while, I felt that the students needed a way to connect

what they were learning with real life. So my colleagues and I established a

relationship with the Governor Morehead School for the Blind (GMS) in Raleigh,

about twenty minutes away. The principal, Keri Loheimer, was thrilled with the

idea of an exchange, consulted her faculty, and together we designed a visiting

day. I am grateful to them and to James Benton of the Governor Morehead School

outreach program for their eagerness to make this program a success.

Because

of the large number of students from Davis Drive, we visited GMS in shifts.

On each visit the students broke into small groups and participated in four

activities led by the faculty, staff, and students of GMS. At any one time students

could be seen in mobility training walking blindfolded in the texture garden

with a cane; touring the on-site museum, which housed photos from the 1800's

when the school was founded; typing on the computer using the JAWS program;

or playing a game of goal ball in the gym. After the sessions had ended, the

DDMS students joined the GMS students for lunch in the dining room.

Likewise

the GMS students visited DDMS for a day of trivia games, Braille UNO, and a

party. On both visits the students were able to connect personally. They talked,

laughed, and found those things common to all twelve-year-olds: pizza and the

opposite sex. Even a few phone numbers were exchanged.

We

also had the opportunity to meet a representative from the National Federation

of the Blind of North Carolina. Hazel Staley came to the school and spent time

with our students talking about Braille and observing what we had accomplished.

Needless to say, the Braille

Is Beautiful program was a complete success; I would recommend it highly

to any teacher. It is unlikely that my students will forget the experience and

the new friends they made. Thank you to the NFB for making it all happen.

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