I love this! Math is definitely one of my student’s weaknesses, and it has already been very motivating to him to be able to type a problem and then feel the answer on the graph. We have a lot more “growing” to do on the Monarch with math, but it definitely was a “glowing” moment for my student also just to do basic math and have it talk out the problem and then graph it for him!
I was given the opportunity by my region ESC person to present to the other TVI’s in the area the features of the Monarch. I looked at this as a Grow, because I was able to expose others to the device and its capabilities.
My glow is very much in the integration of the Monarch with tactile graphics, learning how to read tactile graphics with students, and being able to do Algebra and GRAPHS!!! with students.
I think my Grow is going toe be re-learning some of my Nemeth since I haven’t had to use it intensively for the past few years. Additionally, getting the Monarch to not say I am “expecting too much” is on my to-do list 
My high school student loves typing on the Word Document, but we have noticed some glitches or idiosyncrasies such as the Monarch does not say when a period has been added, but it does say when a capital has been used. (Maybe the Chameleon is the same way. We have a Mantis.) It says contractions as dots, but otherwise, it states letters. Again, but these are just “growing” moments for us. The Monarch also told us twice that the last line was deleted when my student went back to the top of the page from the middle of the page, but the line had NOT been deleted. I could not see the line on my monitor, but the line was still there on the Monarch so my student could read it and double check this in braille, which was nice but a little bit of a nuisance to him because he was concerned that he had a deleted a whole line by accident. We are also learning to be careful how he types Dot 2 for reading the previous word because sometimes he adds a comma instead!
He loves it that he is part of the process of using the Monarch and being a “guinea pig” to help figure things out, so that helps both he and I to grow!! Thanks again!
PS. My kindergarten braille student just used the Monarch this week and was very interested in typing braille because the letters were spoken to him. I like our Braille Buzz, but this was even better and more motivating for my kindergartener! He also tends to want to “play” more with Braille Buzz, which is fine, but he was more motived on the Monarch to type and then touch what he had typed. The Monarch was much more convenient for his little fingers than a Perkins brailler and it is extra nice that it both talks and has the braille readily available for him to feel.
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Wow. My braille student and I have talked many times about how blessed he is to have technology such as a braille reader and JAWS. We often have to trouble shoot and figure out glitches either with our email or with our own selves, but I remind him how far instruction and come and how much more improvements will probably continue to be made over the next few years, and your writing really touched my heart. He can tell what a huge difference typing on the Perkins brailler and typing on JAWS or his Mantis is and of course, I, as a TVI an SO THANKFUL for embossers and technology even though they give me a headache at times!!!
Thanks for sharing. I am going to share your story with my student without passing on your name or Gavin’s name.
This is awesome feedback! I’ll be sure to highlight this experience with our team and our partners, testing like this is critical to “getting it right” and small details like this make a big impact on the day-to-day use of a student and teacher. Thank you for this!
Thank you for sharing. I agree that it is an honor to be part of this ground-breaking device!
Glow: KeyMath! This graphing feature that allows students to type in an equation and then instantly turn it into a graph is so empowering and amazing. My student was so excited to see this and said to me “I didn’t think this could do math!”. He was part of the field testing when there was not a KeyMath option and so he was SOO excited to see this new feature! He has created graphs before for 5th grade using a graphing board, but this was the first time where he was able to see it instantly and do it entirely on his own.
Grow: I am excited for this feature to include a table with X and Y coordinates just like the Desmos graphing calculator. This will be a gamechanger for our students.
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Glow: My students love that they can find tactile graphics on the fly. During the eclipse, we looked a tactile graphics in a book I had and on the Monarch. The students were confused by a map that was in the book because there were so many lines superimposed on the map. We pulled up a blank map on the Monarch, so that they could get their bearrings on the map without all the extras, and then transfer the orientation to the other map they were looking at.
Randomly in class yesterday, something came up about a pineapple. Students were clarifying for another student the shape of a pineapple. After giving verbal descriptions, one student said, “Hey, do you think there’s a pineapple pic on the Monarch.” There wasn’t one in the TGIL that we found easily, but we downloaded one from Google and displayed it immediately.
Grow: A strap is a must. I have rigged one for now, but it should be part of the going forward design.
I want to be able to open a math worksheet that a teacher sends in a PDF and have it display in math. If that is already easy to do, I’m not figuring it out.
Has anyone had luck downloading a math book from BookShare? It was suggested to me that if I snagged an NIMAC epub, it should be coded right, but I had no luck.
Finally, does anyone else find that when typing in the Hive, it can’t keep up with your typing speed, so you spend a lot of time going back to add in the skipped letters?
What a touching story. We are so fortunate to have access to the Monarch for students today!
May 2, 2024
Glow. It has been so neat to show my students the Monarch this week. They anxiously waiting for the spring testing to finish to get to use the Monarch. My students were fascinated with the ability to instantly view the graphics. One student, a serious pianist, was excited to see a graphic of the grand piano. She loved that she could place her finger on the keyboard on the zoomed-out image and use point and click to zoom in on it. Another student was amazed to feel the vertical layout of strings on a harp graphic. Another student loved examining a double-decker bus. Finally, another student really enjoyed examining the tactile layout of a calendar. It is a rewarding experience for me to watch the students’ facial expressions and listen to their excited comments when they first discover these graphics. I look forward to trying to create some individual graphics for various students.
Grow
Our school tried to set up the internet to always connect with the school network; however, we must login each time we use the Monarch. (A detailed list of the settings the IT staff tried was sent to APH staff for assistance.) I want to personally grow in my skills to set up different language profiles for at least 10 of my students (with their preferred braille grade and math settings as well as their personal Bookshare account information.)
Nancy Barron,
Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind
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I have a functioning Monarch now! I am so excited! Will report back with student updates and reactions!
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My “Glow” was working with a student in Geometry, they were supposed to do a lesson using Desmos to figure out how to graph a circle. I said, hmm, what if we try the Monarch? Loved that the student got to practice brailling the equations, got instant feedback if they brailled it correctly with the “ge” note and then able to see the graph right away.
My “Grow” is there a way to adjust things so that it comes out as an actual circle? They are all oval shaped. Also, would love to have the x and y-axes stay a single line thickness when you zoom in so that there is more distinction between the lines and the graphed item.
I had not had time to work with this student prior to this lesson and he picked up so much information in a short time. I was so proud!
I was finally able to bring a functioning Monarch to my student. She was so excited. She was eager to explore the TGIL opportunity in front of her! We had to connect to the new place’s wifi. The Monarch did not automatically search for networks, it remained stubbornly attached to one that was out of range. This took longer than I expected and when I toggled the wifi off and on, and left the menu and re-entered it, we finally had success. Computer braille was new to her but she did great entering the password.
She chose Independently Living in the TGIL menu items and explored a check. She had never done so before, so everything was new and there were lots of ‘ohs’ and ‘I never knew that’. I took some videos.
She also created a short document and saved it.
It was so good for her to explore the device. Her mind was blown that it could potentially house all of school work.
It was such a positive and growing experience!
Grow: has anyone else had issues with the Monarch not looking for new networks when presented with the opportunity?
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A Glow and Grow moment that I have encountered as a TVI with the Monarch
The Glow- My student D has no functional vision so the tactile graphics are amazing. When we started the device for the first time and he felt the Monarch (before the update) he was so excited to feel the butterfly! Getting into the Tactile Viewer and playing around was amazing! This product has already changed the reality of graphing and graphics for my student. They are a little abstract but I know this is a work in progress. He plays trumpet and yesterday we were looking through the Tactile viewer and he found the trumpet. It was cool to see him correlate the instrument that he plays (actual object) with the image on the screen. He verbally was able to describe to me the parts of the instrument and tell me what each part represented.
The Grow- We need a better way to carry and or transport the device. We were not given a carrying case at the Maryland training and there is not even a strap for our consumers/students to use with this $20,000 piece of equipment. Also, only having one USB port is a disservice for our students. If anything happens to this one port the device will not be able to upload or download from a USB. We need to come up with more USB ports as well as a better way to carry or handle the device itself.
I get it! I wanted to make sure everything was connect to the WIFI as well before going over the TGIL with my student and it didn’t work the first time either. I did the same thing. Turned the device off and back on and that worked for me LOL
@kjach Same for my student D! He is in Algebra and when I showed him how to graph for the first time he almost cried. He said" I can see it now." Abstract concepts are so hard and for him to be able to see the line plot and points and then graph is was simply amazing!
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I was able to show the Monarch to another student yesterday and used my phone as a hotspot as their wifi was not available. The Monarch looked for and found my phone easily! Toggling the wifi off and on works well!
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Part of my position with Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired is being the statewide AT consultant. This means that I get to visit other teacher’s students and show them the Monarch. Yesterday I met a 2nd grader who explored the Monarch with speed and joy. It was such a delight to witness.
Thank you for bringing up the one USB port! Has anyone had success using a USB splitter/multi-port adapter that will work well with the Monarch? At the amazing training in LA it was extremely helpful to have a portable monitor, however I wasn’t able to access the files on the USB thumb drive.