Follow Up Activity 2: Describe a lesson you have taught

APH Products Monarch
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At the end of May this year I began actively preparing to host my summer group mini course on the Monarch at my community music school. in so doing, I conducted the following demonstration lesson with one of the school’s other students. The student is a longtime reader of literary and music braille with experience using several braille note-takers. The student had also expressed an interest in tactile graphics, something that attracted them to the Monarch as a more interactive means of exploration.

Lesson Goals:
• Acquaint the student with the fundamentals of operating the Monarch through the Startup Tutorial.
• Explore a braille text and music document.
• Investigate various tactile graphics accessed in TGIL through the Tactile Viewer app.

Steps of the Lesson:
• Present the Monarch to the student.
• Open the Startup Tutorial. Have the student read through the initial screens presented.
• Pay special attention to the location and function of the buttons and keys, and let the app guide the student through locating and pressing them.
• In the “point-and-click” section of the app, allow the student to experiment with the ideal amount of pressure needed on the braille cells while double pressing the Action Button.
• Once the tutorial is completed, open a sample braille music file in BRF format. (Like all other BRF’s, this file needs to have 32 characters per line maximum to appear correctly formatted.) Either a vocal score (with words and music) or a piano score (with right- and left-hand parts) is ideal for seeing more than one relevant item at a time.
• Afterwards, open a graphic from TGIL, such as a map or monument. Depending on the time allotted, there can be 3-5 graphics that provide opportunities for zooming in, panning, and/or rotating.

What Did and Didn’t Work:
As I was gathering material and ideas for the group course, I first thought to use the Startup Tutorial as an all-in-one introduction to the Monarch. I only realized later that the student had some difficulty pointing and clicking on the butterflies on that videogame-like interface. Yet they were able to appreciate the ability to explore tactile graphics of various kinds, both within and without the tutorial. The student (and I, quite honestly) was surprised with the TGIL diagram of the Parthenon in Athens; neither of us could distinguish any particular Greek columns, finding the whole structure to be closer to a more modern-day house with “windows” of sorts below the gently sloping roof. In addition, we examined the outline map of New York State, something that I would later use in the group summer mini course. The student was very much impressed by the increased detail in the shape of Long Island when zooming into that area of the map. I explained to them that if we could zoom in more on the western part of the island we could practically make out the boroughs of New York City, provided the original image was of a high enough resolution. Likewise for the Parthenon diagram, a higher resolution original that can be zoomed into would make the columns more distinguishable when panning in those areas. That, of course, is something I and many other users would like to experience in the future.

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I tried the monarch Tutorial with Chloe today. I introduced it to her as though she were just receiving the device for the first time. She went through the entire Tutorial sequence, with only one point of difficulty. On the screen where the butterfly moves around the display, she didn’t understand she was to click on it. She read the instructions too literally and went to tbhe next screen without following the butterfly around the screen. We went back through the Tutorial a second time, when she chased the butterfly all around the display. Chloe is a nominee for the Monarch Student Pilot Program; she took to the device like a fish to water. I hope she is chosen.

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i found an unexpected use for the Monarch today. I bought a small, portable monitor to take with the Monarch when I demonstrate it. I had the Monarch connected to the monitor, when several sighted students came to me for help with math. I open the Word Processor and began working math problems for them. I discovered the Monarch displays bgeautiful print mathematics on the monitor as it displays braille math on the tactile display. If I just input an equation into the graphing tool, the Monarch draws a very nice visual graph. (The visual graph actually looks better before I send it to the tactile viewer.) I was able to help the students with their algebra, by showing them how to solve them and how to graph them. The best part was that I could save my work and distribute it to each of them. I had to use a computer to print the document, but the sigted students got perfectly usable math examples from the Monarch. This activity was a resounding success.

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I was working with my student on “fun” ways to reinforce her braille, graphic literacy and following direction skills. I introduced her to braille drawings. I would read the lines from a site like Paths to literacy.
For example: “Line 1: Space 8 times, was sign, with sign, For sign 13 times, of sign, question mark Line 2: Space 6 times, was sign, with sign, For sign 17 times, of sign,
question mark”
We would complete the image and she would have to determine what she had created.

What went well: she was able to work on several skills at once. She then wanted to figure out how to make her own. I could find designs that were holiday themed or something she was interested in. As we progressed, she could feel if she made a typo.

What didn’t go well: At first she didn’t understand what we were doing, Moving forward I would start the lesson having her open a design I had completed so she was eager to create one herself. If the design was complicated she would lose interest. It was helpful to take turns each writing a few lines.

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I love this! I am going to incorporate it into my back to school Monarch refresher! I like jumping back into the school year with a way to foster independence and confidence!

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Hi Kristina,
This is a great idea. I have a student in algebra this year as well. Does your student use a talking graphing calculator or Desmos? I was thinking of trying to compare the output on the Monarch to the audio received from a talking graphing calculator.

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Goal: A lesson on cardinal directions with my tech savvy high school student to more efficiently locate regions, landmarks, and geographical features on the US map.

My high school student who is blind is proficient in braille and extremely tech savvy utilizing many types of high tech assistive technologies. She uses Screen Readers like JAWS, NVDA and Voiceover. She has a Braille Sense 6 Notetaker that has served as a vital tool in accessing her education. She is able to use the Cameleon and Mantis, but prefers to connect her Notetaker instead of a refreshable braille display to her laptop due to familiarity and ease of use. It also provides her with access to the internet.

Steps:

Finding the Tactile Graphic- US Map
Turn on the Monarch
Explore buttons and display
Navigate to Tactile Viewer-Open
Explore a few tactile graphics
Scroll to find US map
Zoom in (+) and Zoom out (-)
Practice using gestures to zoom in on a specific point (one finger double press of Action button)
Pan in all directions (cardinal)
Rotate Graphic (Space R)
Top left (Space with Dot 1)
Top right (Space with Dot 4)
Bottom left (Space with Dot 3)
Bottom right (Space with Dot 6)

Exploring The Tactile Graphic
Allow student to explore the map identifying outline and the borders of individual states.
Read braille labels to identify the names of each state

Identifying Regions:
-Discuss the different regions of the U.S.
(Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest.)
-Based on information discussed in class we differentiated regions (e.g., smooth for coastal, rough for mountainous regions).

Understanding Directions with Landmarks:
-Introduce significant landmarks (e.g., the Great Lake, the Rocky Mountains).
-Ask the student to locate these features on the map and describe their positions relative to other areas (e.g., The Great Lakes are to the north of the Midwest regions).
-Use discussions about distances and directions (e.g., “If you travel south from WV, you’ll reach Georgia”).

Interactive Activities:
-Direction Game-Give verbal directions and have the student trace the direction on the map.
-Landmark Hunt-Challenge the student to find specific landmarks based on clues provided.

What went well.
My student was able to navigate easily to the tactile viewer, scrolling and opening numerous graphics.
She appreciates the panning buttons allowing her to move easily in all directions, but she really liked the ease of access with zooming to a specific state/region by using the one finger double press action button. She would have liked a tactile feature to show mountainous regions.

What did not go well
The one finger double press action button did not always work on the first or second attempt so she would scroll which took extra time and sometimes caused a disruption with understanding her location on the map after marking it.
My student felt the enlarged graphic was too big only permitting region viewing. She wanted to feel the entirety of the map in a slightly larger graphic than the first one which is too small to detect all 50 states. It was difficult to quickly find states along the borders that are east or west of each other due to the distance and panning needed.

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My high school student is taking chorus and I would like to show her the different notes in a tactile graphic and another simple vocal score she could follow and learn. Do you have any to share or direct me to create?
Thanks, Diane

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Does your student read braille music, or would she be learning her choral parts by ear with just the words in braille? You’ll find a small selection of graphics specifically focused on print music notation in TGIL’s “Music” category. The graphic I showed to my students this summer included the three basic accidental signs (sharp, flat, and natural), but you’ll also find graphics of things such as clefs, basic note shapes, articulation marks, and a few different staves with and without notes printed on them. Some of the graphics of just the print music signs also include the corresponding braille music signs next to them. I don’t think you’ll find an example of a complete measure (bar) of print music as a tactile graphic, but hopefully this is enough to make her appreciate some of the features of print sheet music.

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Hi Diane!

Here is a 4-measure example of print music for your student, and also a little library of print music symbols. I have attached them in both Word and PDF format so that you can show them to your student on the Monarch and also manipulate them to create other musical examples if you want.

Jenny
Print Music 4-Bar Example.docx (99.4 KB)
Print Music 4-Bar Example.pdf (48.6 KB)
Print Music Template Shapes.docx (144.4 KB)
Print Music Template Shapes.pdf (70.4 KB)

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Most likely she will be learning the choral parts by ear and the words in braille. This is our first experience with music and how to assist her. I’d like to find the best approach to help both the teacher and .

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The basics of music braille for transcribing choral parts are not very hard. If you want, you can email me at jwheeler@aph.org and I will be glad to help you get started.

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Thank you! I’ll reach out later today.

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Wow! Thank you. I am excited to show her your examples. I’ll keep in touch to update you. This is a tremendous help…Much Appreciated!!!

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Monarch with a student.
Goal of the lesson: Our goal is to become more efficient in using the monarch for Math. I have a 9th grade student who is in Algebra 1, we are working on solving multi-step equations.

Steps of the lesson:

  • open key word
  • type a title to the document
  • number your problem (ie. #1)
  • open a math expression window using the command enter, with M
  • braille your math equation press enter
  • continue to complete the equation by following the proper steps.

What went well? She was easily able to understand the steps and complete an assignment. Using the device will be a huge step forward without having to stop to copy and paste from key math for longer assignments, as the BNT+ has a limit of 15 lines of math.

What did not go well? I’m not sure if it is a bug or if it is user error but on occasion her expression would disappear and she would have to start over on that particular problem.

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Lesson: Reading a simple tactile map.
Describe goal of the lesson. Student will open and read a tactile map of the neighborhood around the student’ s school and be able to identify NSEW, location of the school, location of the park near the school, and be able to describe and trace the route from the school to the park.
Steps of the lesson:
-Locate the map file and open it.
-Preview the zoomed out view of the map and identify shapes, (map is a simple grid with 2 vertical lines for north/south streets and 6 horizontal lines representing the east/west streets. In zoomed out mode it kind of looks like a tic tac toe board but with more squares.).
-Zoom in to view the map, find street names and read them, locate the school on the map, locate the park on the map.
-Have student describe where the park is in relation to the school using cardinal directions. (the park is southwest from the school)
-Have the student trace the route from the school to the park using finger, they also will describe the directions that they turn, what street they are traveling on and what cardinal direction they are traveling.
-If time remains and student does well do the same with the return route from the park to the school.

What went well?
-Student was able to find and open the map file, he described the zoomed out shape as being like a print number sign or hashtag. He was able to zoom out and locate the school (needed a bit of help with panning around the map and keeping his hands off the braille while doing this so that the dots would come up correctly. This was a good chance to teach him about the refresh screen command.) Student was able to locate the park then trace along the streets to find it, he needed some help with going slowly when describing the directions as he moved his fingers, he skipped a couple but we repeated this a few times and I did it a couple times as well to demonstrate what I wanted him to do.

What did not go well? I made the map in Adobe Illustrator and some of the lines representing streets didn’t display as straight as they appeared in the visual version. I will work on adjusting line thicknesses and properties to see if I can get better lines. This was a slight distraction to the student when he came across a “kink” in the lines.

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Lesson on the Monarch with a Student:
One of my students to whom I teach both braille and beginning piano to was able to use the Monarch to explore both braille music note values and a tactile graphic of four note values—eighth, quarter, half, and whole notes. (Though the image contained other note values, I focused on these four since she is currently learning to read these in her piano class with me, and I do not want to confuse her with too much information.)
Goal of the Lesson:
By the end of the lesson, the student will use the Monarch to examine both braille and print music notation and identify and compare key features of four note values and their rests.
Please note that I created a BRF that I named Braille Music Cheat Sheet that I saved in the Braille Editor prior to this lesson.
Steps of the Lesson:
• Have the student power on the Monarch.
• Have the student connect to the WiFi network.
• Use first letter navigation to go to the File Manager by pressing F from the main menu.
• Use the D-pad to find the file “Braille Music Cheat Sheet” and press Enter to open it. Select Braille Editor as the app to open the file. Review/explore the note values and rests in the BRF, focusing on which dots are used to creat quarter, half, and whole note values.
• Next open the Tactile Viewer app by pressing T from the main menu and then Enter.
• Navigate to the APH TGIL with the D-pad or Point and Click.
• Navigate to the Music section in the tactile graphic library using first letter navigation (M).
• Find and open the Music-Notes.pdf file first.
◦ Examine the graphics of the whole, half, quarter, and eighth note values by scrolling up and down with the D-pad and zooming in and out as necessary.
◦ Examine the tactile graphics for each note value.
◦ Discuss the similarities and differences of each tactile note value, noting shape, lines, filled in or not, etc.
• Repeat the above procedure with the Music-Rests.pdf.

What went well: The student did a great job of independently finding and opening the file stored on the device and accessing the files in the APH TGIL.
She was really excited to explore the tactile graphics and using technology to interact with braille music note values.
She did a great job of zooming in and out of the graphics and moving to various parts of them.

What did not go well: we had some difficulty connecting to the WiFi network at school due to a poor signal, and I eventually downloaded these graphics to store them on the device for future lessons in case this happens again.
In fact, I used these same files with a second and third grade elementary music class and had to use the files that I had saved locally to the device because of the same WiFi issue.

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Mai Nguyen

Activity 2: describe a lesson you taught:

Lesson Overview: Navigating, Creating, and moving and editing a Braille File

In a recent lesson, I guided a 9th-grade student through the process of navigating, creating, and editing a Braille file. Initially, the student expressed reluctance, as he was not fond of reading Braille. However, after explaining that our focus would be on writing rather than extensive reading, he became more engaged, as he enjoyed writing in Braille without the pressure of reading it.

I instructed the student on how to access the Braille editor menu by moving the Braille focus and pressing enter. He successfully followed these steps without difficulty. Over the next few minutes, I introduced key commands, such as moving to the top and bottom of the document. Then, I the student to type several sentences of his choosing. He found this enjoyable, noting that it resembled typing on a Braille writer but required less force.

Next, I demonstrated how to navigate within the document using specific key commands, including moving left and right by one word and moving up and down by one line. The student practiced these commands and expressed enthusiasm about editing his document. To reinforce his learning, I allocated an additional five minutes for him to practice the key commands covered during the lesson. He remained motivated and demonstrated a good recall of the techniques taught.

At the conclusion of the session, I asked the student about his favorite part of the lesson. He shared that he appreciated learning to use the Monarch device, highlighting the similarities between its key commands and those of other devices, such as the Braille Note Touch Plus. Overall, the student found the lesson enjoyable, although he expressed concern about potential typing mistakes. I reassured him that we would address how to correct those errors in our next lesson.

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I am working with a preschooler who has just begun to learn about braille. She uses a Perkin’s braille writer to learn the keys and how write the letters she is learning. I used this lesson to introduce the Monarch to her. She was able to easily transfer over the location of the 6 dot keys and space. The student enjoyed the lesson and the rhymes so much that she requested another lesson with the Monarch. The keys that weren’t on the braille writer like the action key were more difficult. I would make sure to pre-teach the keys that are unique to the Monarch before using the rhyme game to locate them.
Lesson Plan using the Monarch #1

Monarch Skills:
The student will be able to locate keys/buttons on the Monarch.
Learning Goal:
The student will learn where the power button, action key, space, backspace, enter, dot 1, dot 2, dot 3, dot 4, dot 5, and dot 6 keys are located on the Monarch
Prior Knowledge:
The student has been learning the key locations on a Perkins Braille Writer.
Materials Needed:
-Monarch
-Riddles for key locations
-Perkins Braille Writer
Warm up:
The student will review the location of the parts/keys on a Perkins Braille Writer.
Lesson:
The student will explore the keys and buttons, without turning the Monarch on, as the teacher names the parts and helps compare the parts to the parts of the familiar Perkins Braille Writer.
Check for Understanding:
The student will play a game to demonstrate knowledge of the keys/buttons using teacher created rhymes. Rhymes are in no particular order.

As the teacher reads the clue, the student will attempt to locate the correct key/button.

-Where, oh, where is the key for FUN? Can you find number 1?
-Where, oh, where are you? Can you find number 2?
-Where, oh, where can you be? Can you find number 3?
-Where, oh, where is there more? Can you find number 4?
-Where, oh, where will I drive? Can you find number 5?
-Where, oh, where are the tricks? Can you find number 6?
-Where, oh, where is the place? Can you find the key for space?
-Where, oh, where is the inventor? Can you find the key for enter?
-Where, oh, where is the erase? Can you find the key for backspace?
-Where, oh, where can I roam? Can you find the key for home?
-Where, oh, where is the tower? Can you find the key for power?
-Where, oh, where is my distraction? Can you find the key for action?
Follow up:
The student will have more opportunities to compare the keys/buttons of the Monarch and Perkins Braille Writer.

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I have been utilizing the Monarch word processing program on a daily basis with my student during our reading program time.

My goal is to have my student become proficient at editing his work independently for the written work dictation portion of our lessons. I want them to become comfortable with using the Point and Click mode and the shortcut commands.

My student has become very proficient at editing his work independently.