Here at the Grenada Resource Centre for the blind we acknowledge that it is not only important to reward academic performance but to encourage good matured personal growth as well in our blind and or visually impaired students.
In keeping with this, this December we made it our duty to let our students know that we are looking and we are proud by staging and End of Term Get together where they would enjoy good food and awards for positive personality traits we have spotlighted in them as well as academic perseverance.
So without further delay, enjoy the pictures of the festivities held on December 9th, we did :)
Friday, December 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A brief History of Braille.
Braille began as a military aid of communication. A French army commander named Charles Barbier (pronounced Bariyay) developed a code of twelve (12) dots arranged in two (2) cells with six (6) dots to each. Which, he then christened ‘Night Write’
This allowed his soldiers to read messages by night without using light and giving away their positions or having to worry about having their messages being intercepted by the enemy.
Louis Braille, born on January 4th 1809,
Shortly after going blind after accidentally hurting his eye with an owl (sharp tool used to make holes) he had been\ handling at his father’s harness shop where he was trying to follow in his father’s footsteps even at the tender age of three, slipped from his grasp and damaging his eye. The wound would be easily fixed in modern day but because of lack of particular medical advances in his time, it got infected and Louis soon found himself completely and permanently blind in both eyes!
However, all was not lost for Louis Braille was an intelligent and determined individual and soon found himself with a scholarship to the worlds only Blind Education facility at the time: The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at the age of ten!
Alas, even then the main forms of communications given by the teachers was through speech and raised letters the students were required to trail their hands over one by one to read a sentence. A procedure that was both frustrating and time consuming for ten year old Louis Braille and his classmates past and then present.
A year later, eleven (11) year old Louis Braille, came into physical contact with army commander Barbier who shared with him his concept. Louis Braille adopted Barbeir’s twelve (12) dot system into the simplified version of six dots, two cells, three cells to each that we know today
Each Braille character or ‘cell’ is made up of six (6) dots positioned to form a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each.
A dot may be raised at any of the six (6) positions to form sixty-four (64) combinations. Which, when interpreted, included letters, numbers and punctuation marks.
When counting the spaces where no dots are raised the blind or visually impaired person reading it is then able to decipher what is written.
This process is done by keeping one pointer finger at the beginning of a sentence as a place marker then using the pointer finger on the opposite hand to trail along said sentence.
Unfortunately, Louis Braille never lived to see his system being thought to blind students, not even at his old school where he himself thought after graduating and publishing the first ever Braille book!
The Braille system, named after Louis Braille, is a method that is widely used by blind people all over the world to read and write.
This is what the Braille alphabet looks like today:
Fun fact: because there is no ‘x’ in the French alphabet, though each row of letters just adds one more don’t to the sequence, the pattern is broken when one reaches ‘x’ as it was added in later!
above articule writen by: S.Hamlet
foot notes:http://www.afb.org/Braillebug/louis_braille_bio.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Braille
This allowed his soldiers to read messages by night without using light and giving away their positions or having to worry about having their messages being intercepted by the enemy.
Louis Braille, born on January 4th 1809,
Shortly after going blind after accidentally hurting his eye with an owl (sharp tool used to make holes) he had been\ handling at his father’s harness shop where he was trying to follow in his father’s footsteps even at the tender age of three, slipped from his grasp and damaging his eye. The wound would be easily fixed in modern day but because of lack of particular medical advances in his time, it got infected and Louis soon found himself completely and permanently blind in both eyes!
However, all was not lost for Louis Braille was an intelligent and determined individual and soon found himself with a scholarship to the worlds only Blind Education facility at the time: The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at the age of ten!
Alas, even then the main forms of communications given by the teachers was through speech and raised letters the students were required to trail their hands over one by one to read a sentence. A procedure that was both frustrating and time consuming for ten year old Louis Braille and his classmates past and then present.
A year later, eleven (11) year old Louis Braille, came into physical contact with army commander Barbier who shared with him his concept. Louis Braille adopted Barbeir’s twelve (12) dot system into the simplified version of six dots, two cells, three cells to each that we know today
Each Braille character or ‘cell’ is made up of six (6) dots positioned to form a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each.
A dot may be raised at any of the six (6) positions to form sixty-four (64) combinations. Which, when interpreted, included letters, numbers and punctuation marks.
When counting the spaces where no dots are raised the blind or visually impaired person reading it is then able to decipher what is written.
This process is done by keeping one pointer finger at the beginning of a sentence as a place marker then using the pointer finger on the opposite hand to trail along said sentence.
Unfortunately, Louis Braille never lived to see his system being thought to blind students, not even at his old school where he himself thought after graduating and publishing the first ever Braille book!
The Braille system, named after Louis Braille, is a method that is widely used by blind people all over the world to read and write.
This is what the Braille alphabet looks like today:
Fun fact: because there is no ‘x’ in the French alphabet, though each row of letters just adds one more don’t to the sequence, the pattern is broken when one reaches ‘x’ as it was added in later!
above articule writen by: S.Hamlet
foot notes:http://www.afb.org/Braillebug/louis_braille_bio.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Braille
Friday, October 30, 2009
Professional Development Day
Every October the Staff of most if not all schools of Grenada are grated a day specifically for professional development where we are directed by the Ministry of Education to use this day to educate ourselves as teachers in ways that will aid us in our continued endevour to inform the youth of Grenada in the area in which we are charged to do so.
This October there was a workshop organized for all Special Education schools, this includes RCB as well as School for the Deaf. There we all camne together, as educators educating educators in ways that would make inclusive education all the more effective for all those involved.
It was a day of learning and fun as we aspire to make sure the two go hand in hand as much as is possible.
RCB presented a short background of Braille (soon to come on this very website!) and a Braille exercise so that all present could have a practical experience at many of our students way of life
Here, take a look at how it turned out:
This October there was a workshop organized for all Special Education schools, this includes RCB as well as School for the Deaf. There we all camne together, as educators educating educators in ways that would make inclusive education all the more effective for all those involved.
It was a day of learning and fun as we aspire to make sure the two go hand in hand as much as is possible.
RCB presented a short background of Braille (soon to come on this very website!) and a Braille exercise so that all present could have a practical experience at many of our students way of life
Here, take a look at how it turned out:
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
New Term Energy!
September is here again and the Resource Centre for the Blind is re-energized and ready to serve the blind and visually impaired children of Grenada. Ready to provide them with the support services they need to preform at the same level as their sighted peers yet again. Once they're ready to work so are we!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Walkathon Wrap Up
a little last fund raiser wrap up!
In May 2009 the month designated as 'Blind Awareness Month' in Grenada, the RCB planned and staged a 'Blind Awareness Walk' to keep the population of Grenada reminded that the blind and visually impaired have hopes dreams and aspirations of equal importance as those of their sighted peers.
The walk was carried out successfully, with lots of promotional appearances on a few of Grenada's television station, radio announcements and t-shirts sporting the braille alphabet on the back (raised so that our blind and visually impaired students could read our motto as well ofcourse, we never forget 'Education for All' here at RCB) and showing of our RCB logo at the front.
All proceeds raised go toward the purchase of a Braille Embosser to mass produce copies of school textbooks for our blind and visually impaired students
Let me take this moment to say thank you to all our sponsors such as FedEx, participating schools, Westerhall Secondary School Drum Corp for providing the beat for us to march to, all the people that purchased and supported through the wearing of our t-shirts :)
without all of you none of this could have been possible, again THANK YOU!
and now for the fun part? Pictures!!
Article by: S. Hamlet
In May 2009 the month designated as 'Blind Awareness Month' in Grenada, the RCB planned and staged a 'Blind Awareness Walk' to keep the population of Grenada reminded that the blind and visually impaired have hopes dreams and aspirations of equal importance as those of their sighted peers.
The walk was carried out successfully, with lots of promotional appearances on a few of Grenada's television station, radio announcements and t-shirts sporting the braille alphabet on the back (raised so that our blind and visually impaired students could read our motto as well ofcourse, we never forget 'Education for All' here at RCB) and showing of our RCB logo at the front.
All proceeds raised go toward the purchase of a Braille Embosser to mass produce copies of school textbooks for our blind and visually impaired students
Let me take this moment to say thank you to all our sponsors such as FedEx, participating schools, Westerhall Secondary School Drum Corp for providing the beat for us to march to, all the people that purchased and supported through the wearing of our t-shirts :)
without all of you none of this could have been possible, again THANK YOU!
and now for the fun part? Pictures!!
Article by: S. Hamlet
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
college education for the blind and visually impaired? we say YES!
This college is dedicated to just that!
http://www.qac.ac.uk/2-prog/apply.htm
http://www.qac.ac.uk/2-prog/apply.htm
Blind Occuaptions
A Blind Artist - Mr Ricky as affectionately called by the students he visits is a mentor at schools, teaching children that you don't HAVE to be sighted to do the things you love
Legally Blind Elementary School Teacher in Florida U.S.
Blind in Business! - Check it out
Article Contributed by S.Hamlet
Legally Blind Elementary School Teacher in Florida U.S.
Blind in Business! - Check it out
Article Contributed by S.Hamlet
Blind Travel
http://www.disabledtraveladvice.co.uk/bus-travel-blind-visually-impaired.html
this site provides some interesting material concerning mobility of the blind and visually impaired. A topic, the Resource Centre for the Blind Grenada is most concerned with. Our goal is to some day make independent travel as safe and possible as one can master for the public of Grenada and it's sister states. Any help or suggestions to make this vision a reality sooner rather than later is welcomed and you are encouraged to send your feed back and suggestions to our email address at resourcecentre.blind@hotmail.com.
thank you!
Article contributed by: S.Hamlet
this site provides some interesting material concerning mobility of the blind and visually impaired. A topic, the Resource Centre for the Blind Grenada is most concerned with. Our goal is to some day make independent travel as safe and possible as one can master for the public of Grenada and it's sister states. Any help or suggestions to make this vision a reality sooner rather than later is welcomed and you are encouraged to send your feed back and suggestions to our email address at resourcecentre.blind@hotmail.com.
thank you!
Article contributed by: S.Hamlet
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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