Breaker breaker there good buddy, Natalie. This here is the old White Cane Shaker teacher coming at you here from my office 20.
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Well, yes I remember the world of the CB. I am not sure I was advocating stepping back into that again, but it is kind of a point currently of using whatever works. ?I would venture however, that my example of
the slate and stylus may still have more practical applications for people who are blind than does the CB, but who knows? Others may disagree with that.
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I suppose I was thinking about older teaching methods when I wrote that post because of a couple of conversations my wife and I have had recently. As you can probably tell the two of us both have a bit of mileage
on our odometers, and she worked for many years as a Rehabilitation Teacher for the Blind, and then as an adult Braille instructor before she retired a few years ago. ?My wife is totally blind, and is a competent Braille note-taker user, but despite the availability
of these reasonably portable Braille input devices, my wife gets on her soap box any time I mention that most Braille students in the public schools with which I work as a COMS are not required to learn to use the slate and stylus. As I have been thinking
about remote lessons for my students over this time of school shutdown, ?a question has come to my mind that I do not know if has been researched. This would be a difficult research protocol to design, but in thinking about working with students remotely on
the subject of reversing routes, it makes me curious as to whether students who are required to learn to use the slate and stylus to write Braille are aided in developing a plasticity of mental functioning making it easier for them to learn to reverse a rout
in their heads. After all, turning around the Braille letters and contractions by having to write right to left and essentially backwards would seem to be a good mental tool for such functioning.? Of course I ponder this question from the comfortable position
of being a COMS and not a TVI. I thus do not have to figure out all of the ins and outs of teaching slate and stylus use as a part of Braille.
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Hey Jen, I doubt that you imagined that your suggested topic would lead to a discussion as far reaching as CB radios and theories of teaching slate and stylus.
Michael Byington, MA, COMS, LLC
Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist Co-located with Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
(785) 221-7111 (cell and voice mail)
ByingtonCOMS@...?(office e-mail)????
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HI Michael,
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When you said, ¡®step back into older methods of distance learning¡¯, it reminded me when I was working as a governess in a remote Australia sheep farm. I was in charge of the kids¡¯ learning.?
How kids used to learn there (maybe still do if they don¡¯t have internet connection)? was to use CB radio. Remember those? All of the kids around the vast area, maybe 9 to 12 students, were on ¡®the call¡¯ and the teacher would ask each student a question, and
that¡¯s how they would meet once a day for 30 minutes.?
I would do the ¡®real¡¯ teaching¡ to motivate them to do their distance learning books that got sent to them once a week.
Not sure you were thinking of CB radio, but that¡¯s one of the older methods that I remember- in 1990.
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Natalie
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Thanks Jen. I attended four or five meetings by Zoom last week, and have already been in one Zoom meeting this week, with one more scheduled this afternoon, not to mention going to Church on Zoom last Sunday morning.?
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One of the districts I serve in O&M is having group work sessions for the students using a platform similar to Zoom that is owned by Google. I do not remember what it is called, but I have three work sessions
scheduled with students and other related services professionals, using this platform, this coming Friday.
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Zoom and similar services are wonderful platforms, and I am aware that they are used by many people who are blind and by consumer organizations of the blind, ?Nonetheless, for most people, these kinds of platforms
are visually based. The visual aspect of them is the reason that they are so popular. In talking with some of my higher functioning students, they feel rather Zoomed out at the moment. I proposed that instead, I send them lessons and they send me responses
by snail mail with consultation between us by telephone. They seemed relieved not to have one more thing to do on Zoom. Lets face it. For many of our students, the visual aspects of Zoom and similar platforms make them just one more thing where blind and visually
impaired students do not have full access. Writing and mailing assignments, on the other hand, allows the students to practice a number of independent living skills that have transferability.
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I love all of the modern technology, although I often feel I am constantly trying to catch up and keep up with it. Nonetheless, sometimes it is good to step back to some of the older methods of distance learning.
Maybe this time off from physical school would be a good time for some of the Braille students who are learning Braille only with a Braillewriter or notetaker to have an opportunity to even step back and practice some slate and stylus skills..
Michael Byington, MA, COMS, LLC
Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist Co-located with Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
(785) 221-7111 (cell and voice mail)
ByingtonCOMS@...?(office e-mail)????
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Hi folks:
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As folks trickle in, we are almost at 150+ subscribed in our new home, I thought I¡¯d throw out a topic out there (I feel like a Table Topic Master at Toastmasters as I¡¯m attending
so many Zoom meetings!).
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Share what your organization or yourself doing to continue serving clients in a ¡°long-distance¡± format? What educational things are you doing to continually stay involved in
your career??
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Please do share at a totally different world we are all experiencing!
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Jen and ¡°Cheeseball¡± Parmesan
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