We have noticed the “ghost dots” too!
One lesson I tried to focus on was accessing the tactile graphics and how to zoom in and pan to explore the entire graphic. The student I am working with is very proficient on navigating a Braille note touch so I focused on the navigation cross and the zoom in and out, as well as the double touch. I used the progress of the solar eclipse that was gracious provided to me by Jeanne Neu. On the first graphic I introduced the double touch and asked him to try one of the objects. Then I explained how the navigation cross worked. Once zoomed in and we discussed the position of each object. With each progression of the graphs I had the student either use both the double touch and zoom in buttons and pan to find the earth and the sun. By the last graph he was able to use these buttons proficiently. The only problem we encountered was that sometime the double touch didn’t work so we use the zoom in button.
Lesson on the Monarch with a Student:
A 5th-grade student used the Monarch tactile display to explore tactile graphics of four musical instruments—trumpet, clarinet, trombone, and saxophone—helping him choose an instrument for 6th-grade band.
Goal of the Lesson:
The student will use the Monarch to identify and compare key features of four musical instruments. Prior to this session, his music teacher gave a PowerPoint presentation which showed a visual and auditory representation of each instrument above. Based on the PowerPoint from his music teacher with the auditory features and the tactile feedback from the Monarch, he will decide which instrument to play for 6th grade band.
Steps of the Lesson:
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Power on the Monarch
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Connect to WiFi
-Navigate to the Music section in the tactile graphic library using first letter navigation.
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Use the point and click to zoom in and out of each graphic. Note how to tell where you are in the image by using the scrolling bars on the horizontal and vertical axes.
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Examine the tactile graphics for each instrument, noting key features:
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Trumpet: Three piston valves, bell-shaped end, compact tube.
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Clarinet: Long body with keys, single-reed mouthpiece.
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Trombone: Slide mechanism, large bell, elongated shape.
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Saxophone: Curved body, complex key system, distinct mouthpiece.
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Discuss the similarities and differences of each instrument. Note weight, material, timbre, sound, size, etc.
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What went well: Student did a great job of independently accessing each instrument file. He was so excited about being able to pull these up on his own and asked insightful questions about each of the instruments. He did a great job of zooming in and out and is starting to understand the concept of scrolling both vertically and horizontally and how to know when you are in the middle of the tactile graphic.
What did not go well: we had some difficulty connecting to the school wifi and had to use the guest wifi. This did work though and we will work with technology to get this squared away. This was the first lesson I taught after getting back from the Monarch training.
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You can also copy and paste from Duxbury into your pdf or word doc to get contractions in simbraille. You have to first select the simbraille font while your cursor is in the correct location in your word or pdf file and then you can copy and paste your selection from Duxbury at that location.
Lesson: Intro to Use of KeyMath
I worked with four eighth graders. They all know Nemeth code for their grade level of math. They were excited that the answer would pop up immediately. Some of them were concerned that it was cheatting. I asked if they were allowed to use calculators in their math class. one student said, “Yes, but I don’t like to because it reads the answer back too fast, and I have to keep hitting repeat to write the answer down.” I said, “think of the KeyMath as a braille calculator. If a calculator is a tool permitted in the classroom, then it is fine.” They thought that was very “cool!” They wanted their fraction problems to be expressed as fractions instead of decimals. For example: 1/2+1/4 yielded 0.75, rather than 3/4.
I am late to the party with my readings through these posts… but wow, what a great lesson! The recent solar eclipse was such a popular topic of conversation within the schools, and outside, so I love that you were able to provide your student with a hands-on demonstration to show what the eclipse would look like. Because of this, the student could conversate about this major event with his sighted peer, friends, and family. I also love the fact that you ensured your images were appropriate for your student by contacting the state meteorologist, who then requested those tactile graphics for their event, making blindness and tactile image a topic of conversation and learning experience for those in attendance.
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I totally get her being overwhelmed by the size of the Monarch since she is so much more familiar with the Chameleon, which is smaller and less complex. I do hope that as she uses the Monarch more on your “Monarch Mondays” she begins to get more comfortable with it and also see how much this device is capable of. Change can be hard, but I am confident that when she realizes how much this device has to offer, the transition will start to become easier!
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I started introducing the Monarch to current Kutztown students. We first reviewed the BrailleNote Touch, what it does, discussing the positives and negatives. Then we explored and compared it to the Monarch. We specifically looked at similarities and differences in:
- KeyBrf
- KeyMath
- Tactile Viewer
- Word Processor
We reviewed how to use the navigation shortcuts and practiced creating word documents and navigating within a document and the device efficiently.
During the Monarch training, I made this simple line image of the Monarch, we explored that in both PIAF form and on the Monarch. I also made some resources to help others use the navigation shortcuts. 
All are linked in this Google Drive folder.
*images attached show college student sitting at desk with Monarch in front of her, using 2 fingers to explore graphic of Monarch displayed on external screen, PIAF image and raised drawing on Monarch.
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Circle Dictionary Graphic Lesson
I taught a lesson that combined viewing graphics on the monarch with previewing circle dictionary graphics (radius, chord, minor arc, etc.) that I had created for a student’s Geometry class materials.
For this lesson, I walked the student through opening the graphic in Tactile Viewer so that we could keep the lesson focus on exploring the graphic. When I created the graphic, I split the circle dictionary into two one-page files with 6 circle graphics on each page.
We opened by exploring the initial display (the zoomed-out version) and discussed what she could learn about the graphic before zooming in, essentially that there are six objects organized in 3 rows of two.
Next, I taught the point and click method to zoom in on each of the six circle graphics. We used zoom out to return to the small view and then point and click again select the next circle graphic. For each graphic, we read the braille label, explored the image and talked about the parts of the image. We also talked about the math content – the components of circles that she was already familiar with and what would be new for this unit.
Then, I taught the zoom buttons and the directional arrows, and we explored the graphic again, moving around the graphic while zoomed in. She had a hard time not keeping her hand on the display for orientation while using the arrows to move around, because this is how she would explore on paper. With practice, I’m sure she would get better with lifting her hands while the display changes. One strategy that seemed to work for exploring with the arrows was keeping her hand on the display during the blank space and then removing her hand as soon as she felt something come up on the display.
Finally, we talked about what she thought the best strategy would be to explore a graphic like this on the Monarch.
Ultimately, I think she would use a combination of point and click and arrows to explore this kind of graphic in the future. For example, by starting with point and click in the upper left area and then arrowing to the other images. Also, possibly by using point and click again if she got lost. If needed, I could have made 12 individual graphics for a student who is having a hard time navigating images.
Exploring a graphic image.
This was the 2nd meeting with the Monarch, but the first one with it functioning.
Getting the device onto the internet was first, but that required an amount of trouble shooting that would be slightly frustrating for this student, so we worked together with her inputting the password and me searching for the computer braille symbol for an exclamation mark.
- She chose Tactile Graphics from the main menu.
- Upon opening that menu, she scrolled down to open the APG/TGIL menu.
There was lots to choose from and she scrolled through and chose Independent Living. - Then she scrolled down and chose Check.
I reminded her where the plus and minus buttons were and she expanded the image. - She explored the bottom of the image first, as that presented on screen. We discussed what panning would do in this case with an image larger than the screen, and she panned up and right and left.
She was happy to read the braille and was surprised by what the check said. - She was able to use the panning keys to find the tops and sides of the image.
- She then reduced the image using the minus sign with a reminder that it was opposite the plus sign.
- She was surprised at the condensed image and very happy with what she learned.
Not only using the panning keys, and the plus and minus buttons; but also how a check was laid out and what information it asked for, and how it was shaped.
It was a very positive, error free, exploratory lesson of an image in the image library.
We will return again, with less prompting from me.
Hey guys!
Here is my lesson that I did with D. He is a 9th grade student. We worked on graphing due to the fact that he is in Algebra and is currently working on slopes.
Please see attached lesson plan and video. Please let me what you think!
Name: Kristina Vannoy
Date of lesson: 03/15/2024
Student included in lesson: D
Instructional objectives:
Introduce and Review commands on the Monarch. Math
Review: Turing device on and off, zooming in and out, page up and down as well as braille keyboard. Backspace key (Dot 7, to the left of Dot 3) and enter key (Dot 8, to the right of Dot 6)
Introduction to new commands:
Zooming buttons to increase and decrease details.
Learn shortcuts to know from Context Menu
• Graph viewer: Enter with G
• Graph settings: Space with Dots 3-5
• New expression: Space with N
• Modify expression: Enter.
• Insert symbols: Backspace with Dots 3-5
• Delete expressions: Backspace with Dots 2-3-5-6
• Delete all expression: Backspace with Dots 3-5-6
Demonstrate correct and appropriate use of Monarch to access and complete tasks. Student will maneuver through home screen to Math-KeyMath using the first letter method to get into the math menu. Once in the Math menu student will access shortcuts to write and graph new expressions.
Materials:
Monarch
Attachable monitor
Cables UBC-A, HDMI cord
Duration:
~60 minutes
Anticipatory set: ~10 min
Teaching: ~10 minutes
Guided practice: ~30 min
Closure: ~10 min
Anticipatory set:
The student will be told short cut commands for Math Monarch Math-KeyMath from the context menu. Examples include new expression SPACE WITH N, graph viewer ENTER WITH G, and delete expression BACKSPACE WITH DOTS 2-3-5-6. They will complete the guided practice on their own to open the Math from the main menu, practice writing an expression, graphing it and then deleting it. Expression: y=2x+3
Teaching – input:
The teacher will discuss the activity that the student will be doing today (review orientation of Monarch and where all buttons are). The teacher will remind the student what when working with math we are dealing with Nemeth Code so the numbers are dropped down (Student will review Nemeth code signs of operation as well as rules before lesson). The teacher will encourage the student remember Nemeth code not UEB braille for this lesson. Before lesson teacher will review Nemeth code with student ( signs of operation).
Teaching – modeling:
The teacher will demonstrate how the maneuver through the main menu to Math- KeyMath. Once student is in KeyMath TVI will verbally describe step-by-step commands on how to create a new expression, graph the expression, and delete the expression. new expression SPACE WITH N, graph viewer ENTER WITH G, once in graph view student will be able to explore the zoom options both in and out to view the expression that was graphed. Once student has successfully graphed the expression y=2x+3 they will learn the short key and delete expression BACKSPACE WITH DOTS 2-3-5-6. They will complete the guided practice on their own to open the Math from the main menu, practice writing an expression, graphing it and then deleting it. Expression: y=2x+3
Teaching – checking for understanding:
The teacher will assess the student while they write, graph, and delete the expression y=2x+3. TVI will correct any mistakes while student is working to graph in KeyMath. Student will be able to ask questions at any time if they are having trouble understanding something. The teacher should constantly monitor the student’s understanding throughout the lesson.
Guided practice:
The student will complete the worksheets provided. The teacher will observe him doing this and prompt him to correct any mistakes as he makes them. If the student is really struggling the teacher will attempt a verbal directions or step-by-step instructions if needed
- 3x-4y=1
- 5x+3=y
- 6x+2=5
- 10y-7x=2
Closure:
The teacher will ask the student what they learned and how they think the Monarch is helpful at relying on the information for graphing. The teacher will also have the student describe any struggles they had with completing the task without the Monarch.
Independent practice:
The student will be asked to attempt the techniques he has learned with graphing in class.
Modifications:
The student may be given half the assignment and extra time to complete depending on how many expressions to solve.
Data Collection:
The students’ knowledge of Nemeth Code and graphing expressions will be assessed on the following criteria. This lesson will be repeated and the students Monarch knowledge on Math Shortcuts will be compared over time.
Math Short Cut
Graph Viewer
ENTER WITH G
Comments:
Y. N
Math Short Cut
New Expression
SPACE WITH N Comments:
Y. N
Math Short Cut
Modify expression:
ENTER Comments:
Y. N
Math Short Cut
Delete Expression
BACKSPACE WITH DOTS 2-3-5-6 Comments:
Y. N
Math Short Cut
Delete all expressions:
BACKSPACE WITH DOTS 3-5-6 Comments:
Y. N
NOTES:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TNk0FrKh8kNI2TngnI5e8y5E9ATQ-0RU/view?usp=drive_link)
Background information: I work in a level 3 program for students with visual impairments, which means our students have multiple challenges and are learning on a functional curriculum. The student I chose to work with for this lesson is a proficient BrailleNote Touch Plus user. She is blind, however her primary designation is autism. She will fixate on the auditory settings of her BrailleNote if we do not monitor her during use. She is fascinated with new devices, and since she is familiar with navigating KeySoft apps, I decided to see what she thought of the Monarch.
Describe the goal of the lesson:
The goal of this lesson was for the student to experience the Monarch’s main features that are different from her BrailleNote, and then compare the two devices to see if she can express her opinion based on her experience. Comparing and contrasting are challenging skills for her, but I will give her verbal cues.
As recommended in her behavior plan, I gave her ample praise and positive reinforcement for tasks as they are completed. I also explained to her at the beginning of the lesson that if she could attempt each task, I would allow her to go to the speech settings at the end of the experience (a preferred activity) and select one alternate voice to listen to before going back to class work. Typical focused work time for this student is 15-20 minutes before a break.
Steps of the lesson
- Orient the student to the device’s navigational buttons.
- Allow her to explore the large display.
- Allow her to explore the list of Main Menu apps.
- Open KeyWord and type at least three sentences.
- Attempt to 1-finger double tap on a specific point.
- How is this different from using routing keys on the BNTP?
- Open KeyMath and enter the math equation I give her
- Display and explore the graph
- What do you notice?
- Add another equation and compare lines
- Open Tactile Viewer
- Search the TGIL for an image of a tree and open
- Explore with Zoom in/out
- If time, allow her to search the TGIL for one image
What went well?
After completing the tasks, I asked her a few questions about her experience. She reported that she likes the Monarch just as much as her BrailleNote Touch Plus. When I asked if she would change or add any feature to the Monarch, she said she wants it to play music.
What did not go well?
As expected, she was continually distracted with wanting to go to the speech settings and change the voice and speech rate. Since I had clearly explained that she could do this at the end, I was usually able to redirect her with that reminder. Also, we need a lot of practice with routing the cursor. We tried it with hand under hand with no luck, so I had her place her finger over mine and then feel for the moved cursor.
I also noted that, especially when exploring Tactile Viewer, she would lift her fingers off of the display when it refreshed the image. When I encouraged her to feel the display to note the panning change, she said she did not prefer to touch it. I attribute this to her personal sensory preferences.
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Lesson: How to create graphs for Algebra 2 Trig Class
The goal is for the student to enter equations into the math editor to be able to quickly have access to the graphs like the rest of her class
Steps:
- Open up Math Editor
- Press Space with N to create a new equation
- Type in the Math equation using Nemeth
- Preview Graph using Enter with G
- Explore the graph
- Teach how to use touch and click on the graph to get the ordered pair of points along the graph
- Make sure student can demonstrate understanding of the graph.
What went well? Before the Monarch, I had to create graphs like these using tactile graphing paper, graphic art tape, and tactile dots. These complex graphs took a ton of time to create, and by the time I was done the class was at least a few problems ahead. My student was able to quickly write this equation in the math editor and tactually explore the graph much quicker than on paper! This student was able to explore the graph and demonstrated understanding of the graph.
What Didn’t go well? It took some practice for the point and click to work. It was not super accurate, but it did give the general area of the point. Overall, the lesson went pretty well!
Image Description: Student exploring a tangent parent function graph during her Algebra 2 Trig class
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Describe a lesson you have taught on the Monarch with a student or client.
Overview:
I did a short lesson on the “point and click” to open a menu.
Describe goal of the lesson.
The student will activate an item in the menu by pointing and clicking on it in four out of five opportunities
Previous Knowledge: Assume student knows how to turn on the device, navigate to Main Menu, use D Pad to navigate the menu items, and Enter to open them.
Steps of the lesson
- Have student turn on Monarch and navigate to main menu.
- Review all top panel buttons (Perkins keyboard, panning, zoom, and emphasize Action Button as something we will work more with this lesson)
- Review with student how to navigate up and down menu using D-Pad, activate an item, and return to Main Menu.
- Introduce “point and click”.
- Locate Action Button. Have student find it themselves after HoH or HuH (depending on preference)
- Remove hands from device…talk about concept of “double-press”, speed of double-press, and need to use two hands almost independently of one another to do this task. Remind student it may take practice.
- Give option of “double-tapping” on table surface to get speed down if needed, provide modeling if needed/requested.
- Walk through process and verbalize everything (i.e. I have my right hand on the menu, will locate what I want to bring focus to, use one finger on the text, then with left hand double-press the Action Button).
- Student will hear display refreshing, I confirm, then return to Main Menu
- Ask student to try activity by choosing a menu item, pointing, and double-pressing action key.
- Have them try this in a variety of menus including TGIL, Main Menu, File Manager, etc
- Continue trying until student can successfully perform the task four times consecutively
- Allow student additional practice if needed.
What went well?
The lesson generally went well…it was not complicated and didn’t take more than fifteen to twenty minutes, and most of that was practicing the activity in different menus. The student got the concept very quickly. We talked about other places this could be done (i.e. in a document to help with editing).
What did not go well?
The only thing we really got hung up on was the speed of the double-press, but that was expected. Again, it was not a complex lesson.
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I chose to teach my senior the panning and zoom functions, then proceeded to how to create and export a graph. He is a BNT+ user and has taken AP statistics and AP Calculus. He has been using Desmos to create graphs for class/tests.
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Given a previously uploaded tactile graphic, [student] will identify the location of a requested label on the graphic using zoom and panning functions.
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Navigate to files
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Use first letter navigation to locate “bee”
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Use zoom functions until braille is decodable
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Use panning keys to navigate to thorax
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Use panning keys to move thorax to top of braille display
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Return to zoomed out view
[Student] enjoyed the ability to access multiple lines at once, though he kept trying to navigate to the next line prematurely because he’s used to doing this with the BNT+. He was pleased that first letter navigation is still an easy search option, particularly within the graphics list. With the previously uploaded graphics and access to TGIL, he was impressed with the ability to zoom in and also have braille labels available within the same image without necessarily having to use a separate key. [Student] liked the addition of the double tap touch zoom function, but wished that there were more levels of zoom in/out available in between full view and very close zoom. At times, he only wanted to zoom out a small amount but had to return to full view to choose another part of the image to explore. Overall, this task was simple for him because of prior experience on the BNT+. I also did this same activity with another senior who has nearly completed instruction in literary UEB and introductory activities on the BNT+. The learning curve here was not substantial because of the similarity of commands. He had the same opinion regarding the limited zoom levels.
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Given a standard graphing equation, such as y=mx+b, [student] will create a tactile graph and export the graph with no more than 2 verbal reminders of shortcuts.
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Open keymath
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Enter “y = mx+b”
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Create graph
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Export graph
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Use share commands to export to email
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Select gmail
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Enter [instructor’s name/email] to send
[Student] was familiar with the equation layout because of Desmos use. He had some difficulty with deleting one equation at a time vs. the entire list of equations, but I do feel that the Monarch was not responding well to the command to just deleting one equation, as I had issues with it as well. He needed moderate support to export the graph itself but is familiar with using Google for sharing documents or writing emails so this was easy. He liked that he could plot multiple equations at once, but thought that plotted points were way too large to be able to determine the correct coordinates.
I will include more in the “grow and glow” activity!
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(My student did very well on the assessment – 95! He enjoyed reviewing the commands. We are now working on his 2nd assessment, which I will post soon! He has ESY for me, so I will incorporate the Monarch in with his summer session.)
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Follow up 2:
I found a line drawing with bold lines of our state of South Carolina. After orienting my student to the Monarch and generally getting to know it, we looked at the map. I chose the specific version of the map because when zoomed out, the shape of our sate was still evident. So many of the examples I found had lines that were not bold enough to render the shape when zoomed out.
After a discussion on where the student thought their county was located in the state, I had my student use JAWS to look up a photo of South Carolina with the county being highlighted.
Unfortunately, the background of that photo was black and it did not render well on the monarch.
We noted the difficulty with putting files on the Monarch. We had better progress with putting files on a USB drive rather then attempting to use the cable to transfer files. This lesson was conducted in April and I know updates have been made to transferring files since then.
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Goal: To search for and download a tactile graphic of an airplane jet to be added to a PowerPoint presentation.
Steps:
- Student turns on Monarch and navigates to the Tactile Viewer.
Step 2. Student presses Enter on the Tactile Viewer. - Student reads the options in Braille that come up after pushing Enter on the Tactile Viewer.
- Student navigates to the “Search” button and presses Enter on it.
- The instructor explains to the student that they will feel to brackets at the top of the braille display and that is where they can enter text to search the Tactile graphics image library.
- Using the Perkins braille keyboard, the student will enter the terms “airplane” or “jet” into the search field and press the enter key.
- One the results have come up on the braille display, have the student read the image results in braille and use the directional arrow keys to go down or up to the image that they want to select.
- Once the student has found the image that they want to use in their presentation, have the student press enter on the image file.
- Explain to the student that the two options will come up, and that they will either want to select to view the image or save it to the Monarch. The student should view the image first, so that they can feel what the image feels like in braille on the Monarch.
- After the student has viewed the image, have the student navigate back to the list of results by using the triangle button on the front of the display.
- Once the student has gotten back to the list of image results, have the student select the image that they want to use again. This time have the student navigate to the Save button.
- One the student has pushed the save button, have the studut read the braille so that they can make sure that they have the correct file name that they want to use to save the image file.
- After the student has the correct file name, have the student navigate to the okay button to save the file to the Monarch. Explain to the student that the image file will be saved in the Downloads folder in the File Manager on the Monarch.
- Then, explain and show the student how they can also save the image file to an external drive.
What went well: The student was able to search for and download an image of an automatic jet from the Tactile Graphics Image Library.
What did not go well: It was very confusing for the instructor and student to figure out how to get the image file saved to an external flash drive.
Describe a lesson you have taught on the Monarch with a student or client.
Describe goal of the lesson.
Goal: The student will demonstrate spatial concepts of left, right, and center through exploration of a tactile map of the United States.
Steps of the lesson
- The student will explore the APH Topographic map of the United States.
- Have the student retrieve the Monarch.
- Have the student power on the Monarch.
- The student will navigate to the tactile graphics page.
- The student will find the map of the United States.
- Student will explore the map of the United States.
- The student will find North, South, East, and West on the map.
- The student will find the state of Florida on the map.
- The student will power off the Monarch
- The student will put the Monarch away.
What went well?
The student was very engaged with the map! I was able to integrate the concepts of left, right, up, and down while the student navigated the scroll bars during their exploration of the map.
What did not go well?
There was a little bit of trial and error while the student was navigating the map and getting a feel for the refresh time.
I love the idea of using the PIAF that you created. With some training and a key to go with it, the school staff could have it as a cheat sheet to help demystify the Monarch. I did this type of activity with the BrailleNote+ touch and the staff was more willing to attempt to problem-solve with the student and not have to wait until I arrived.