Have you done any more repetitions with this? I am curious to know how your student progressed after the lesson because I have a similar student to whom I have considered introducing the Monarch. Specifically, I want them to learn the point-and-click method for moving the cursor for editing.
Below is my lesson I used with two students. I performed the LP with the older high school student first and then the 5th grader. The goal was to whittle down the massive list of cheat codes to what the student personally uses the most and has little to know knowledge. I wanted to have the students own their learning by choosing cheat codes that would enhance their personal needs and expand in a direction itemized to them.
Monarch Lesson Plan Theresa Craig 5/3/24
Essential Question â How can creating a personal Monarch cheat sheet assist me in independence and efficiency?
Warm Up â Prerequisite inventory checklist (what do you know about Refreshable Braille Displays, formats, codes, etc.)
Vocabulary â accessibility / toggle / simultaneous / exclude
Materials Needed: List of all Monarch cheat codes, Monarch, separate device for listing (Perkins or other RBD),
Lesson:
Modeling â answering the question: what is essential to a cheat sheet? (items that are often needed and used in an ordered list) Teacher and student review the Monarch codes and select those codes that are used frequently but yet unknown.
Editing â student will narrow down list to 20 items and give validation for each code (reason needed, frequency of use)
Implementation â student will employ a use for each code chosen, editing when necessary, and show ability to find and use code from derived sheet.
Formative Assessment: Teacher will check off codes as implemented according to rubric during the creation and preservation of a Monarch file. Assessment can be in either Braille Editor or File Manager.
Summative Assessment: Student will complete the list of personalized cheat codes independently. Student will also provide a brailled list of codes (hard copy) as well as a file on her Monarch to access same.
Next Steps: Student will continue use of codes, eliminating those she becomes familiar with and replacing with new codes if warranted. Student will evaluate her list and provide feedback on choices as well as items to include/exclude. Student will also create a file on her Mantis and/or Chameleon and transfer to Monarch for editing.
Wrap Up: Student will answer the Essential Question at the bottom of her cheat code form to provide encouragement when learning the unknown codes.
WHAT WENT WELL:
student 1 - very well. It took quite a while to explain the purpose/use of many of the unknown codes but over all she choose 25 initially and then whittled it down to 20, 10 of which she learned quite readily. She said having the hard copy helps her find codes easily. She prepared the list and memorized where things were and could locate codes quickly. I believe this helped her localize and use.
WHAT DID NOT GO WELL - student struggled with the code to switching braille languages as needed for various purposes. This is more and understanding when to use which rather than understanding the correct code.
Student 2 - This younger student does not have much experience using a refreshable braille display and is one-handed. she tends to get frustrated and quit easily. It was overwhelming and I needed to break down the list to 10 codes I thought she would benefit most from and then let her choose 5. She was still struggling so we chose only 2 codes to work on and increased 2 at a time. I think introducing her to using the graphics (TGIL) should be priority and learning how to find images better than learning about files and their use. Regardless, the feedback from both is a definite growth opportunity.
Photo of older studentâs initial introduction.
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After attempting my lesson with one of my students I found I would do better with interacting with the tactile images. Your lesson is an awesome goal for one of my students but will most likely start a little lower and reach this. Thank you!
This is awesome!
Have you figured out how to show the numbers on the graph? My student and I were looking at slopes and noticed that they donât show the numbers once they graph the expression. Have you noticed the same thing?
A student of mine is learning how to read and write Braille using the Mangold Braille Program.
The goal of the lesson is for the student to be able to read and write braille sentences using the Activities provided in the Mangold Program using the Monoarch.
Steps of the lesson
- The student needed to learn the basic parts of the Monarch.
- The student needed to know how to navigate to Keyword on the Main Menu.
- Once the student was able to navigate comfortably, she was able to read and write in Braille using the keys on the Monarch.
- The student learned how to use the arrows to move the cursor to different words to edit as needed.
- The student learned to save her written work.
What went well?
The auto correct was amazing for some of the single word contractions, as was the ability to read more than one sentence at a time. I really like that the student is able to delete words and correct them as needed. I absolutely love the fact that Monarch can attach to a screen so teachers can read what it is the student is writing.
What did not go well?
For some reason the Monarch kept glitching, the point and touch did not work, and the audio was on and off. I would have loved for the lesson to have flowed a little bit better but unfortunatlely the glitching made this a bit difficult.
Below is feedback from my student. Click on the Monarch Feedback.
Monarch Feedback
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Hello to al! This is an overview of the lesson I completed with a student who has congenital blindness. This student fights with his TVI about using Braille and prefers to use all electronic learning media with the use of OCR and speech-to-text for completing most classroom assignments. The student loves to use his cell phone for any and everything like most teenagers. When his classroom teacher agreed to show him the Monarch, he instantly stated that he âwanted to learn what panning really was like sighted people do on their cellphonesâ. He agreed to see the Monarch for this purpose onlyâŚha ha.
Objective: Introduce the concept of panning (zooming in and out) on tactile graphics using the Monarch
Explain/review the concept of panning. He did not understand that panning means making a part of the picture bigger (zoom in) or seeing more of the picture (zoom out).
Steps of the lesson:
- Show the Device
a. Let the student touch and explore the Monarch with orientation to the interface/layout - Review of buttons and their location
- Understand tactile graphics and review examples
- Panning
a. Zooming In: zooming in makes part of the picture bigger so they can feel more details
i. Demonstrate how to zoom in using the buttons.
ii. Practice zooming in on different parts of a tactile graphic picture and discussion
b. Zooming Out: zooming out shows more of the picture at once.
i. Demonstrate how to zoom out using the buttons.
ii. Practice zooming out to see more of the tactile graphic picture
c. Combine both: practice zooming in and out on different parts of the tactile graphic picture. - Explore a tactile graphic for biology class to answer 5 comprehension questions about the makeup of a molecular cell
- Wrap up and review
- Homework: write a summary statement of how the lesson helped the student better understand panning and trialing the features of the Monarch
WHAT DID NOT GO WELL: He became a little frustrated with reading some of the braille on the lesson because his braille skills are significantly below grade level because he and his family allow the use of OCR and speech-to-text to complete school assignments. The other negative was that the family just let the TVI know that they are moving to Louisiana and will not be enrolled in the school and/or with the current TVI anymore at the conclusion of this school year!!!
WHAT WENT WELL: Being able to use the Monarch to learn what panning was by experiencing it using systemic tactile scanning techniques was very motivating for him and has changed his outlook on incorporating braille and tactile graphics into his educational programming. He also loved the ability to pull tactile graphics from the APH library on a number of other topics both school-related and for social learning as well.
That sounds very frustratingâthe student moving and starting over with a new teacher. An argument I use for resistant braille readers is that when you are listening to words, you have that voice in your head. When you read with your fingers or your eyes, there is no outside voice, just your own thoughts. If the student wants to be like sighted people, reading with his hands is the closer to reading with your eyes, than listening is.
The TGIL library at hand is very exciting!
Describe a lesson you have taught on the Monarch with a student or client.
I taught a lesson introducing the Monarch to my student, who was already familiar with the Chameleon. At the end of the lesson, the student could locate the power button and the home key.
Describe the goal of the lesson.
At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to locate the power button and home key independently.
Steps of the lesson
- Placed the Monarch before the student and introduced it as a new refreshable braille device.
- Let the student explore with the device turned off.
- Talked about the similarities and differences between the Chameleon.
- Located and identified all the buttons.
- The student located the power button and turned Monarch on.
- After exploring a certain folder, the student explored Monarch using the home button to return to the main menu.
- The student located the power button to turn off the monarch.
What went well?
The student found the main menu easy to navigate because he is familiar with the Chameleon, which are similar.
What did not go well?
The student had a little trouble telling the scroll-down buttons from the zoom-in buttons, but with more practice and motor memory, that should improve.
Hi! I do not think there is a way to read the numbers in Braille. You can, however, have them read aloud to you by touching a point on the line and then double clicking the circle button in the middle. I remember them saying that this is not very accurate but will hopefully be improved soon.
The last week of school, we arranged a meeting for an 8th grade braille student transitioning to the high school in the fall. The template I developed could also be used at the beginning of the school year for classroom teacher orientation.
Lesson Taught: Orientation for Teachers with Braille Student Transitioning to the High School
Goal of Lesson: To provide teachers an overview of instructional needs of a braille student they will have next fall by providing discussion, written resources, and student demonstration
Steps of Lesson: Template
This template provides a few links and technology in current use, but may be adapted to specific student needs determined by the IEP
Orientation for High School Teachers
Student:
Facilitator(s):
Participants:
- Introductions of student, facilitators and participants
- Role of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
- The classroom instructor teaches the coursework and the TVI and Paraprofessional provide support in targeted areas, as determined by the IEP, based on the Expanded Core Curriculum.
- Sheets document shows materials that can be used for coursework
- Braille texts and supplementary materials (prepared in the spring)
- Digital resources (audio and/or braille) for textbooks
- Hands-on materials to supplement classroom instruction
- Examples of hard copy braille books, worksheets, binders, etc.
- Braille text (UEB)
- Math text (Nemeth Code)
- Tactile graphics (pictures, maps, graphs, etc.)
- Copy of Functional Vision, Learning Media Assessment and Assistive Technology Evaluations (Brief introductory explanation that participants may study in more depth later)
-
Assistive Technology Considerations (Georgia Project for Assistive Technology, presented by Ike Presley, AFB)
- Instructional or Access Area
- Independent with Standard Classroom Tools
- Accommodations and Modifications Currently in Place
- Assistive Technology Currently in Place
- Additional Solutions or Services Needed
-
Assistive Technology Devices in Current Use
- Name
- Picture
- Skill Level
- Other
- Devices
-
BrailleNote Touch Plus (BNT+) - currently in use
- One line of text displayed at a time (32 braille cells)
- Formatting - can be seen on small screen in real time
- Math - limited memory (cut and paste to clipboard)
- Access to Google Classroom
-
Monarch - device in development with added capabilities
- Ten lines of text rather than one (available BNT+)
- Formatting
- Math with Tactile Graphing
- Tactile Graphics - zoom in and out with limited detail
- Google Classroom is currently not set up, but updates are comingâŚ
-
Orion TI-84 Scientific Talking Graphing Calculator
- Buttons the same as TI-84
- Additional set of buttons control audio features
- Graphs have sounds
-
Laptop
- JAWS Screen Reader - reads aloud screen on laptop
- Brailliant Braille Display - electronic device shows in braille what is presented in print on the laptop
- PEARL (OCR scanner) - scans print paper and reads aloud the contents. A file can be saved using JAWS to view on the Brailliant Braille Display
- Demonstration and Discussion with the Monarch
- Formatting - Word Processor: KeyWord
- Reading books - Victor Reader
(with BookShare online or downloaded books)
- Language profiles - Options Menu
(English, Spanish, Nemeth Code for Math)
- Tactile graphics - Tactile Viewer
- Math equations & tactile graphics - Math: KeyMath
- Accessibility
-
Online - work with student to determine accessibility level and consult with TVI and/or Paraprofessional to determine alternatives to supplement inaccessibility problems
- Some sites may be only partially accessible, as they use pictures rather than true text
- Math and graphics (pictures, maps, charts, graphs, etc.) may not be accessible
- Inaccessible sites need to be planned for in advance (provide braille and/or tactile copies or verbal description)
- Braille and tactile graphics is preferred for items where content is detailed
-
Screen reader (with a laptop) - for support, see the TVI or Paraprofessional
- Google Documents
- How do I make my Google Docs accessible?
- Heading levels make it easier to navigate documents
- Alternative Text is used to describe graphics
- Google Docs should be used with caution, as source material made through Google Docs cannot be made as accessible as source material produced through Microsoft Word.
QUESTIONS???
CONTACT INFORMATION:
What went well?
- Written information was provided in advance, and was used as a guideline for discussion
- Discussion was very interactive and informative
- The Monarch with a monitor (and BrailleNote Touch Plus) were set up prior to the meeting, so participants could understand the true meaning of a braille display and tactile graphics from the start. The student demonstrated the use of several programs and did a great job!
What did not go well?
- Due to limited time needed for the demonstration, written information was provided but not discussed in detail. It was meant for reference material for later in depth study and follow-up with the TVI.
- The student needed to have some guidance on what was being viewed on the monitor. For example, the Braille Editor: KeyBrf program shows braille dots and cannot be viewed in print.
I taught a lesson on the Monarch for a group of students who are working on their TVI certification. The goal of the lesson was to introduce them to the physical layout of the device, the menu structure, using the TGIL, Bookshare, and graphing. I went through the basics with a presentation and then demonstrations. For the TGIL, I had embossed graphics so that tey could compare the embossed praphic to the graphic on the Monarch and the zoom in/out/ directional pad. With Bookshare, I downloaded a book and demonstrated selecting the lines of braille with zoom in and out, going to table of contest, and context menu, For graphing, I entered a simple expression y = 2x+3 and graphed it for them. I used keyboard commands for everything I did. The presentation part went well and tehy olvoed getting their hands on the device. What did not do well is that I think I tried to cover too much and I did not really have enough time. What did go well is that they absoltely loved the device as do I!
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Describe a lesson you have taught on the Monarch with a student.
I presented a brief introductory lesson on the Monarch to an academic braille kinder student. He loves new devices and has already been using the Perkins, the Smart Brailler, and the Orbit. So, I relied heavily on his prior knowledge to introduce the Monarch.
Describe goal of the lesson.
By the end of this lesson, when provided with access to the Monarch refreshable braille and tactile graphics device, HQ will be aware of each key of the device and know its function as evidenced by his ability to label (touch/point/speak) 26 out of 26 keys/buttons/ports and their functions (100% consistency) in a minimum of three consecutive opportunities.
Steps of the lesson
Initially, I activated prior knowledge by having HQ âteachâ a classmate all the parts of his other devices and explain their similarities and differences. Then, when we were in the âbraille room,â I peaked his interest by telling him I had a NEW device and asked if he wanted to look at it. Of course he did! So, I let him explore the device with it turned off first. I asked him what parts he thought he could identify. He was able to identify the power button(!), the headphone jack(!), the 8 dots and space bar. Then I filled him in on the other parts. He was especially excited about the screen! So, after asking him to name the parts he NOW knew, I asked if he wanted to turn it on and explore it! And again, OF COURSE he did! So, we turned it on and he felt the loading message and monarch image as it loaded. Then we explored the menu. I asked him if he wanted to read some braille, write some braille, or explore some tactile graphics. No surprise, he wanted to do all three! The reading and writing was no problem. I showed him how we could make it single or double spaced (which he needs) and I let him write his alphabet (another favorite thing to do as he gets faster and faster). Then I tried to pull up a tactile graphic.
What went well?
Everything, especially HQâs interest and energy levels!
What did not go well?
When we got to the tactile graphics part, I first tried to use the TGIL database, but forgot about the internet. That was a fiasco as our districtâs guest WIFI is obnoxious. Then, I remembered I had a few saved on the USB. So, we explored some of those instead.
Iâm excited about our next lessons!
Follow-Up Activity 2: Monarch Lesson
Orientation and basic Navigation Skills on the Monarch
- Discuss the physical layout of the Monarch: 8-dot braille keyboard, zoom in/out buttons, direction pads, up/down arrow buttons, and the 10 lines by 32-cell refreshable braille display. (The student immediately noticed the membrane covering the braille cells and wanted to know its purpose. We discussed the need for the membrane and moved on with the lesson.)
- The student shows what they have learned by demonstrating how to use the various buttons and pads on the deviceâverbal assistance as needed. Focus on the Menu button and navigate the APH tactile image library.
- The student will choose an image to view and use the zoom in/out buttons and up/down arrow buttons to preview the graphic. (The student noticed the braille nine cell sliders on the left and bottom of the graphic and asked about the purpose and we discussed the purpose and moved on with the lesson.)
- The studentsâ overall take on the device was positive. They were intrigued by the possibility of having tactile graphics on demand and the ability to Bluetooth a keyboard to the device along with adding an external monitor for classroom teacher viewing.
What went well: the student totally loved the device and how it has a broader reach to making accessible classroom materials.
What did not go well: the student was overwhelmed with all the Monarch has the potential to doâfor this student, small doses of training was perfect.
Goal of lesson: To change uncontracted braille words into contracted UEB words. The goal is to help the client learn their contractions. The hope is the client can realize when a contraction is missing.
- Turning on Monarch.
- Navigate to the braille editor.
- Open the braille editor
- Navigate to open
- Open Uncontracted word list.
- Move the cursor around the assignment with the point and click method to make corrections to the words to make them contracted UEB words.
- Save as the document and name it Contracted Words
- Exit the braille editor with space + e
- Close open apps
- Turn off Monarch
What went well: Client mentioned that they were recognizing when a contraction should be used better after assignment. Client was able to find 80% of contractions.
What did not go well: Client had some difficulties with the point and click method of moving the cursor. The client would allow too many fingers to linger on the screen. After they were able to successfully accomplish the point and click method they had difficulties making sure the cursor was in the correct place. We were able to fix this by increasing the spacing of the braille.
My student was experienced using a Braillenote Plus, so quickly explored the basic ways in which the Monarch was similar and was adept at scrolling the home screen and using the âkeyboard.â For this reason, one of our first lessons was in how to search for tactile graphics. The hardest part was slowing my student down! My goal was to teach him how to use his finger to enlarge specific areas of the tactile graphics. His first experience with this was with the Eiffel Tower graphic. At first, it was frustrating for him because it took him a few times to understand that he needed to leave his finger on the section he wanted to magnify. His tendency was to pick his finger up too quickly. Once he slowed down, he was able to successfully âviewâ the top, middle, and bottom areas of the Eiffel Tower. His excitement about being able to access tactile graphics so easily made it hard for him to keep his fingers off the screen long enough for the Monarch to boot up the pins, so sometimes there were extra pins that popped up and were confusing. He was excited to explore the other sections in the tactile library and as the lesson progressed I allowed him time to do just that. By the end of the lesson, he felt very competent in accessing the tactile graphics, as well as searching the data base.
Thank you for your post. Even though my student was well experienced with a Braillenote Plus, I felt introducing the tactile graphics component would be the strongest motivator and most exciting aspect of the Monarch to begin with. Knowing that he would get time to explore the tactile graphics at the end of each lesson created better buy-in for the less flashy stuff I want him to be able to do on the new device.
Lesson Plan: Tactile Graphics with Monarch
Audience/background: Lesson was designed for a highly academic, tech-savvy 6th grader. Typically, this student uses a windows computer with JAWS and a F40 braille display for most tasks, and the BrailleSense for math. They have received ongoing instruction in tactile graphics and use these daily in school in hard copy. Over summer break, they became interested in the periodic table of elements and discuss this with their friends. The student had a periodic table at home, but given the tactile real-estate on the graphics page there was not a lot of information except for the atomic number and the abbreviation on the graphic. I wanted the student to have access to all the information that his peers have by glancing at the periodic table.
- Introduction to the atomic structure:
a. First, we looked at a few of the tactile graphics I had hard-copy embossed which show the atomic structure. You can find the folder of all 118 elemental structures linked here. I hard copy embossed the graphics with some information (tiger-ready file and word print format). The student became oriented to the graphic as we discussed the key, the information he could find on the graphic, and the structure of a few of the electron shells.
b. The student notably announced âwow, this is going to get difficult to feel when the shells are full of electronsâ (some shells can have up to 18 electrons, and there can be 5 shells or nested circles around the nucleus â so it gets tactilely dense!), and I asked him if it would be better if we could zoom in on the graphicâŚ. Cue the Monarch!! - Introduction to the Monarch layout:
a. Exploration:
⢠Student was handed the Monarch turned on. They were given about 3 minutes to explore on their own. Their immediate response was âwow, this is very coolâ, which I can tell you is HIGH PRAISE from an 11 year old.
⢠Quickly he found that a lot of the navigation was intuitive as many of the navigation commands are universal.
b. Direct teaching:
⢠I then walked him through all of the buttons, layout information, apps on the monarch, and a few more commands.
⢠He made several observations including âyou can read faster without refreshingâ and âits almost like a half braille pageâ and âif youâre writing something you can view what you wrote instead of going up and upâ.
⢠Also of note, he really enjoyed that you could change the spacing with the zoom in and out buttons. - Introduction to the Tactile Viewer
a. First, the student was introduced to the tactile graphic image library. I had him look up basic shapes so we could get an understanding of the mechanics of using the tactile viewer before we jumped to looking at atoms. We looked at a circle and a square. Using the simple graphics we oriented to the zooming buttons and the panning buttons capabilities.
b. He notably mentioned it would be difficult to create a perfect circle or square due to the spacing of the cells. And that, even though the square was 13x13 dots, the square was actually a rectangle because the longitudinal braille dots are packed more tightly than the latitudinal dots. In addition, he was pretty surprised at the drastic change between the zoom in and out feature and noted it would be nice to have a few steps between. - Introduction to the Atomic Structure on the Tactile Viewer
a. Then, we looked at the same graphics (no braille or text) on the monarch. The file for that can be found in the same folder, in the sub folder titled âelement atomic structure in PDF format (graphics only)â. Since each file is the title of the element represented in it, it was easy for him to find the element of choice, open, and switch between elements.
b. The student loved being able to zoom in on these graphics. The hard copy graphics were created from a tiger embosser which has excellent dot density, so it was interesting to see him make that connection to the Monarch and understand that the mechanics of the dot spacing make it so that the tactile graphic will have lower resolution. The zoom in took the cake though, as he could gain more clarity of the structure as he got more spacing between the elements. Some things that were difficult were maintaining orientation to the graphic when it was zoomed in. For example, it was impossible to keep track of how many electrons were on a shell as he was panning the graphic, as there was no way to tell what electron he had touched last or where he started on the graphic.
What went well?
The student loved the multi line display, and took to the navigation and layout very easily! They were interested right away, and began to think critically about how a device like this would really support them in getting access to information. I was nervous; technology is not always received well â but this positive reaction was immediate! They had excellent insight, and awesome ideas about how they would use it to help with reading, editing, and checking out graphics.
I also love that the student could hypothetically be solving this problem for themselves a lot sooner than it took me to get to him. With no instruction during summer break before ESY, the student was just memorizing things about the elements without any concrete representation for them. Given a Monarch and basic skills, he may have found more information in the Tactile Graphics Image Library if it were available, and would not need the intervention of a teacher to explore a hobby or interest (theyâre not covering the elements in school yet).
What went wrong/areas of improvement?
I am excited for a couple more steps of magnification in the tactile viewer! Going from 0 to 60 is a little disorienting and it seems like it would be more helpful to have smaller increments of magnification.
It was difficult for the student to piece together the full graphic. For some reason, the page up and page down commands did not work in tactile viewer (are they supposed to?), so as the student was panning across the graphic the braille dots jumped refreshing line by line ,which was a little disorienting. It was also difficult to count the number of electrons in the shell, as he could see only about 1/3 of the graphic at a time, and there is not currently a way to keep your place. I wonder if adding a cursor somewhere on the graphic before scrolling would be helpful in maintaining orientation as the graphic is panned?
Creating simple graphics was really straightforward and I like that it only needs to be a PDF! However, I had a hard time getting these graphics to show up with correct braille on the Monarch, because the simbraille used in the TSS software includes both the dots that are full and an outline of the dots that are not selected within each cell, and so the Monarch was confusing the outlined non-dots as part of the braille cell. Is there a hack you might have for this? I like being able to emboss in hard copy and have a digital representation on the Monarch with the same workflow, and I really appreciate not having to use ASCII symbols and using a transcribing software instead!
Is there a way to submit graphics we create to the TGIL? And does the TGIL have a review board to ensure the graphics are useful, accurate, and uncluttered? I was surprised there was not elemental structures available in the TGIL and I am sure many a TVI has taken a crack at creating these graphics. You can find the folder of all 118 elemental structures linked here which includes a tiger-ready file and word print format with info in braille or print of each of the elements. Also included in this file are folders with just the images in PDF or PNG formats to use as needed.
Overall it was a really fun lesson and it was awesome to see my student so engaged with technology. He definitely had a few brain explosions of excitement thinking about how he could use this! I hope he is admitted to the pilot study!
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Vanessa, I love your lesson plan and your graphics, and I also love your combination of embossed structures with viewing on the Monarch! The TGIL does have a submission process and an email address:
NetX (under âCan I submit my own graphics?â)
tgfeedback@aph.org
They are reviewing their process and working to update it now that we have the Monarch and many teachers with the capability and interest to add excellent graphics to it.
Describe a lesson you have taught on the Monarch with a student:
Paper Bag Princess:
One of my academic braille students and I did a readerâs theater lesson together as an opportunity introduce the Monarch, Action button, key navigation and reading keystrokes. I additionally allowed the student the chance to explore the device on their own. They were an ideal user for the device as they had initially used a Chameleon and recently moved to a Mantis 40 as their primary braille display so the keystroke commands translated very quickly.
Describe goal of the lesson.
By the end of this lesson, the student would be able to act as the teacher, describing the steps and keystroke commands needed to navigate through the different sections of the Monarch and read multiple sections of the Paper Bag Princess with verbal cues as needed.
Ideally, I was expecting the student to demonstrate independent mastery of this overview lesson at a rate of 80% (4/5 steps demonstrated independently) when taking into account their prior knowledge and technical skills.
Steps of the lesson
- Introduce the student to the Monarch: We went over how the Monarch was very similar to the previous displays that she has used in the past (which she was very happy about) and I gave her an overview of the different menu categories and showed her the Action button on some of the tactile graphics (she loved that!). We also talked about the first letter navigation and explored some of the options that were available by navigating by the first letter.
- Once the student had been given a basic overview of the display, I asked her to navigate to the Files feature where I had uploaded a copy of the Paper Bag Princess (attached) for us to read together. This was a highly motivating activity for this student as she enjoys making her teacher speak in silly voices and performing on her own. I took data on her ability to navigate (1) from the main menu to (2) files and then (3) scrolling down to opening the document.
- Once she had the file open, we worked on taking turns reading the story out loud for approximately 10-15 minutes before having to close down the file. I subsequently took data on how the student 4) used the Action Button to navigate to a section of the file that they were supposed to read out loud and 5) closed the file at the end of the reading passage.
What went well?
The student felt very comfortable with the device as they had prior experience with the general layout, the action button was easy for them to grasp and they were able to meet the goal of mastery for the lesson at 100% despite some grumbling about âMrs Artz and her new toyâ
What did not go well?
While she liked the multiple lines on the display, she was not particularly a fan of the protective film on the top of the braille. This was a focus for her (autism based sensory sensitivities) and took some persuading to get her to use the device for reading longer passages. If I had not given myself plenty of time for the lesson (90 minutes) we would likely have not been able to finish the play. She did ask me to see if there could be a way to make the protective film less âgummyâ
Readerâs Theatre (1).pdf (55.1 KB)
Hi, Ann! I can understand how intimidating this larger, more complex device can be for your student as well. I sometimes think âmoreâ or âbiggerâ is better, however when it comes to specialized equipment I have learned through my students that everything is based on their personal preferences. That is fantastic that you have been providing instruction as to how the various AT that is available at her fingertips. I love yours ideas of writing messages back and forth for your student to practice reading and your Monarch Mondays! I think this would be beneficial for my student as well!
Good luck with your future sessions with your student! Hopefully leaving more space between the lines will enable her to read the text more comfortably and build her confidence in using the Monarch. =)