|
Below is an interview which appeared in the Winter issue of The Blind Teacher. It describes a unique job to help mainstream teachers provide accessible technology for their students.
Susan Glass
One of the most energetic and enthusiastic teachers
on the scene right now is AABT board member Donna
Brown. In August, she left her teaching post at the West
Virginia School for the Blind to accept a position called
Accessible Educational Materials Technical Support
Specialist. She took time from one of her busy mornings to
let me interview her by phone. Here is our conversation.
Susan Glass: Your job title is impressive. What
exactly do you do?
Donna Brown: My overarching responsibility is to
insure that all students in West Virginia's public schools
who have print disabilities receive their educational
materials in formats that work best for them. In order to do
this, I need to increase awareness at each county level of
these students' needs. I teach special education directors,
teachers, and technical personnel. I help them obtain the
technology they'll need in order to get student materials in
accessible formats. Sometimes I work directly with
students. My first trip out, for instance, was to help two
blind students at the same school who'd just gotten braille
notetakers. I taught them to create, organize and save
documents, and I also helped their teachers understand
how their braille notetakers worked.
SG: How do you handle transportation?
DB: If I'm only going to spend one day at a school,
then the school provides my transportation. When it's an
overnight trip, then either a supervisor, outreach director
or aide from the West Virginia School where I'm still based
takes me.
SG: What additional responsibilities do you have?
DB: In WEST Virginia, we have 55 counties divided
into eight regions. The special education directors from
each region meet once a month. I talk with the special ed.
directors about my role, how I can help them, and what
tools are out there. At one of the first sites that I ever
visited, I mentioned Bookshare. The coordinator there
asked if I would come back and do a Bookshare training.
So we're scheduled to do that now. I will train one group of
teachers on a Tuesday afternoon, and another group on
Wednesday morning. Bookshare has granted me access
to Demonstration Accounts.
SG: What do you find most challenging about your
work?
DB: My biggest challenge is that often the people I'm
trying to help don't know what help they really need. Last
week, I went to this county and I wasn't sure what to
expect because there was a new TVI there. I spent seven
hours helping the TVI set up an iPad with VoiceOver. I
worked with a student on learning the gestures. And, I had
to learn how to use a BrailleNote Touch on the fly. They
had no idea at this school how a blind girl could use a
computer. They didn't know much about screen readers
either. I suggested that if their county couldn't afford
JAWS, they should try NVDA. We tested NVDA with some
applications that this girl would be using, and it worked
fine. Next I met with their special ed. director who will set
up their county account for Bookshare. Once she's done
that, I will show faculty how to find books, download books
for students, and put the books on the computer.
SG: When you're not out in the schools, what kinds of
things do you do from your home office?
DB: I do my research homework to stay abreast of
what's new. I'm on all kinds of email lists, chat lists, and
company lists including Paths To Literacy, AFB Access
World, and Top Tech Tidbits Weekly. I publish a weekly
bulletin for TVIs, and a monthly technology bulletin for all
special education teachers.
SG: What do you miss, and what don't you miss about
regular classroom teaching?
DB: I don't miss writing lesson plans, but I do miss the
direct contact with the kids. I still do some work at the
West Virginia School for the Blind, but more and more, I'm
an offspring for the state's Department of Education.
Top of Page
|