First Quarter Success

So far in the first quarter of my Writ 101 class I’ve learned that peer editing helps tremendously in writing essays.  It’s a great way to find flaws I would normally miss if I was reading my paper on my own.  Without the help of my peers, I feel like my paper would take a lot longer to meet my teacher’s expectations. I’ve never realized how helpful it is to get in a group and have a discussion about how to improve our papers. 

This quarter, I’ve found myself struggling with comma usage.   We’ve learned all types of comma splices and comma rules, however, I’m still not confident in myself to use commas correctly.  I keep wanting to put too many commas in one sentence, because I feel like there’s a pause there if I were to read it.  That’s another reason why I like the peer editing, because I can get extra feedback from my peers. Next quarter, I hope that using commas becomes more natural in my writing.

This quarter has taken me by surprise, because it wasn’t as stressful and challenging as I thought it would be.  I was ready for something scary, but it wasn’t too bad.  It’s really made me appreciate writing essays more.  Although it felt like one essay after another, I feel like I learned a lot of useful skills and I’m ready to tackle college essays.  One of my favorite parts in Writ 101 was writing and reading my classmates memoirs.  Next quarter I would like to learn about the different techniques that could be useful when writing longer essays. 

Technology for Visually Impaired Students

Technology for Visually Impaired Students

            Technology used to educate the visually impaired has not always been around.  However, with the rapid advancement in our technology world, the available technology for the blind or nearly blind students has been increasing.  The available technology for the visually impaired is different from what it was 10 years ago, and has been changed to be more efficient for the students. It has become a key factor to advancing teaching and learning for students who have no, or low, vision.  The specialized technologies to assist visually impaired or blind students vary according to different needs.  It ranges from devices such as telescopes and binoculars that allow them to see what the teacher is writing on the board to more highly adapted devices that help them function as a normal student (Ring).

            There is wide variety of available tools for visually impaired students.  Among them, there is the Speech Assisted Learning System (SAL2) which uses audio to teach blind students Braille.  The SAL2 runs on TouchGraphic’s Talking Tactile Table (TTT) that presents a way for students to experience programs that teach reading, writing and arithmetic, while recording their performance.  The program is important because it allows blind students to learn with little or no help from an instructor, which is often needed when dealing with visually impaired students (Assistive Educational Technology).  Another more technological advanced device is Braille Lite.  Braille Lite offers blind students a way to take notes in their class.  The students can check what they have written by a Braille display on the front or choose an extra function where it reads their notes aloud.  Whenever the students are done, they can hook up the Braille Lite into a PC, and choose to print out their notes in large font or in Braille (Ring). 

            Due to the convenience of students, tools that are used at home versus in school differ in functions. Students attending Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow High School, a school for visually impaired and blind students, use closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) called an Aladdin Apex.  It magnifies items under a camera, and is available in different sizes that fit the need and circumstances of the students.  In the school, students are to use two software programs, Magic Screen Magnification and JAWS screen reader, to help them write papers.  It provides speech options that read texts at different speeds (Ring).

            Another tool used by visually impaired students is accessible e-learning.  Helen Armstrong and Iain Murray composed an experiment where lectures in class were recorded and put into files for a virtual classroom website that could be accessed by students any time they wanted (506).  It was designed to advance skills in information technology for adult students who were legally blind and preparing for employment.  In the conclusion of their research, it suggested that, “given accessible e-learning materials, adult students who are visually impaired can achieve results similar to sighted students” (509).  Their results also showed that in two out of the three group summaries comparing  average grades for visually impaired and sighted students, the visually impaired had a higher percentage than the sighted group (508). 

Although their research proved that given the technology needed, visually impaired students were able to learn the same as a normal student, according to small scale research done, the percentage of visually impaired students in primary and secondary public schools not being taught to use assistive technology are higher than what professionals had assumed. The research conducted showed a percentage as high as 40 percent, of elementary and middle school students that were visually impaired and blind, not using assistive technology in their school (Kelly). 

This may be due to the expense of the assistive technology.  An example of an expensive device used is The Speech Assisted Learning system discussed earlier.  The SAL2 needs an approximately $699 TTT, a $219 Power Chord Braille Keyboard, and activities that range from $49.95 to $349 per program (Assistive Educational Technology).  Research done by Armstrong and Murray also found that their solution to their report was expensive and ineffective (507). However, cost is not always the case Miriam Bazeley, a coordinator of the vision unit for Murrow’s Blind and visually impaired students states that his “kids don’t want to stand out in class” (Ring).  He talks about how they have devices that could be used by the visually impaired students so they could see the black board, but he doesn’t have them in his class, because the students will not use them in fear they will look too “geeky” (Ring). 

For many students who are visually impaired, finding the right technology that fits their needs and convenience has been a rocky ride.   Adam Linn, a junior attending Harvard University, lost his sight when he was a 4^th grader.  When he was in 7^th grade, he used a six-key brailler to take notes and write his assignments in the classroom however, it became a problem to the other students because it was very loud.  Adam then turned to an expensive 1986 microbrailler, hoping he would have a more efficient piece of technology.  It turned out that the machine would malfunction and never did live up to Adam’s expectation.  He now uses a laptop with speech feedback, and has found ways to access information he needs to write by using Braille and recordings.  Adam believes that “Human support is infinitely more important than technological support” (Corley).

In conclusion, technology has advanced learning for students who are visually impaired.  Scientists that continue to advance the accessible technology for the visually impaired and who help technology become more efficient have helped visually impaired students in their daily life, as seen by Adam’s story. They help blind or nearly blind students live as normal people do, continue with their life, and find employment with help from e-learning and assistive technology.  Even if it’s just simple as binoculars, technology helps a great deal for students who are unable to see.  Unfortunately, the new technology today may not be available for all students because of the cost.  However, if the visually impaired or blind students were given the right tools and devices, they would be able to learn just like students with sight. 

 

Works Cited

Armstrong, Helen and Iain Murray. "Adapting Advanced information Technology Network Training for Adults with Visual Impairments." Journal of Visual Impairments and Blindness 2010: 504-509. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Assistive Educational Technology. n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.

Corley, Patricia. Adam's Story. Sept. 1998. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.

Kelly, Stacy. "Correlates of Assistive Technology Use by Students Who Are Visually Impaired in the U.S.: Multilevel Modeling of the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study." 2008. Poster Session. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

Ring, Sara. Out of Sight: Technology Helps Impaired Students Thrive. n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Voting Rights of 1965

Voting Rights of 1965

The 2013 political cartoon by David Horsey from the newspaper Los Angeles Times shows a newspaper article in the back titled, “Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act,” and a man wearing a ‘State Official’ pin holding out his hand to a trash can while telling a Black man to drop his ballot in it.  This takes us back to the Civil Rights, Jim Crow, and slave eras.  The cartoon’s context shows how African Americans living in the south are unfairly treated and being stripped of their rights by Supreme Court taking out important pieces of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Horsey connects the history of African Americans in the South to what it’s like now in present time. 

In order to first understand the cartoon, a person must know United States and African American history.  According to the Congress of Racial Equality web page, African Americans after Reconstruction faced difficulties with voting even after the Voting Right of 1965 had given them the right to vote. In order to vote, the Southern blacks went through all sorts of physical violence and harassment, therefore, the percentage of registered black voters was low.   Not only did they face negative reactions from the Southern whites, they faced obstacles such as poll taxes and literacy tests (“Voting”). 

            Horsey uses symbols in different ways.  One way he uses them is to show the setting of the cartoon, which is indicated by the stars and stripes table cloth, and the word “boy” in the speech bubble.  Both symbols set us back to a place and time, which is back to the United States in the slave era.  They are minor symbols, but are needed to know when and where the cartoon takes place.  Another way Horsey uses symbols is to help decipher the cartoon into words.  One of them is a star on a southern hat worn by a creepy looking man, symbolizing that he is a sheriff.  The star is an important symbol because it is needed to show the systematic denial of voting rights to the African Americans in the south. 

Not only are symbols in the cartoon important, Horsey’s use of exaggeration also helps viewers determine the cartoon’s meaning.  He exaggerates that man’s face with the star on his hat making him appear as if he is evil and up to no good.  This exaggeration suggests that the men in the back are supposed to be trained to fight for justice and enforce the law, but in the cartoon they are the ones gutting the rights of the African Americans.

Although the cartoon may lack features such as iconography, visual irony, caricature, and captions, Horsey sends his message out by using exaggeration of facial features and using symbols.  He is able to point out and suggest the unfairness towards African Americans in the southern states and who the top contributors are.  He shows what is wrong with the systematic denial of voting rights in the southern state towards African Americans.  Horsey relies on the exaggeration and symbols of his cartoon as key points to understanding his drawing.    

       

Work Cited

"Voting Rights Act of 1965." Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congress of Racial Equality, 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.