This issue was edited by Marion Blazé, Education Officer, Statewide Vision Resource Centre.
For downloadable programs go to: http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/pd2007.htm
When: 8 October (first day Term IV) 9.30am to 3.30pm
Where: Vision Australia Burwood, Monday,
RSVP: Please, please, please remember to register BEFORE the
end of Term III. You can email registrations to marion.blaze@svrc.vic.edu.au.
This conference takes place in Canada, July 7-11, 2008. Take a look at their website at http://www.vision2008.ca.
Thanks to birthday boy, Mike Steer, we now have the full program for the Australian Association of Special Education conference. Let us know if you want a copy – we can post it, fax it or forward the email.
See our website for reports of some past activities including Space Camp, Great Victorian Bike Ride, Challenge Camp and more… The new ones to take a look at are:
You can find links to these and other reports at: http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/camps.htm
This is our activity for National Literacy and Numeracy Week, 2007!
When: Friday 7 Septembr from 10.00am to 2.30pm
Where: SVRC
Who: any student with a vision impairment, together with family,
teachers or aides
Bring: your favourite word (in your preferred format), your
lunch, your low visoin aids, your word and alphabet and your smile!
Dress up as: something starting as the same letter as your
name!!!
Cost: FREE!!!
RSVP: to Marion or Deb on 9841 0242 by Wednesday 5 September
Please let Deb Lewis know if your students would like to attend the Swish Tournament:
Where: The Vision Australia School, 333 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, 3125
Sighted adult Kirk has offered his services to a person with a vision impairment who wishes to run in a marathon in Melbourne on the 7th October. He is happy to run either the half marathon or the full marathon. Contact Ramona Mandy for further details: ramona.mandy@humanware.com
The busy staff of the Statewide Vision Resource Centre have been e-texting
the entire Harry Potter series and we are nearly there!
So if you’d like to read Harry as e-text titles, please place your order
– we can email them, give them to your Visiting Teacher on flash drive
or (our least favourite option) post as a CD…
Also by JK Rawlings:
Perhaps you have already read all the Harrys and are not ready to re-emerge into the real world… maybe you’d like to try some stories written by Harry Potter fans – that is “FanFiction”. Some sources of FanFiction can be found at: http://www.fictionalley.org and http://www.fanfiction.mugglenet.com
Alternatively here is what Penny, an avid reader, recommends:
Happy reading!
Orientation and Mobility is one of the less known services in the educational and rehabilitation fields. To this end the CMS would like give you an insight into how O&Ms work in the CMS team and the range of activities they may undertake on any particular day. The following schedule is for 1 member of the team and in the coming weeks we hope to submit other staff schedules to demonstrate the variety of work the team undertakes.
8.45 am - Travel to an appointment with a CMS client.
10:15 am - Meet CMS client at Primary School for a traffic safety session. Meet
with Classroom teacher and teacher aide to review today’s mobility program
and how the O&M program is progressing.
11:15am - Meet with the student’s Visiting Teacher and conduct environmental
assessment of the school grounds and facilities. Provide an update on the O&M
program, including topics such as teaching strategies, a change in O&M goals,
changes to the school timetable or providing information about upcoming events
that the students might like to be linked into.
11:45am - Meet with student’s parents to discuss points such as the current
program goals the timing and location of sessions.
12:15pm - Lunch
1:15pm - Travel to the next client appointment.
2.30pm - Meet the next student and discuss the session’s O&M goals.
Orientation session around local University including orientation to facilities
such as the Disability Liaison Officers office, the student union, particular
lecture rooms and the café.
4.15 to 5:15 pm - Travel back to office and complete like report writing, progress
notes and making appointments.
Travel Training Day - Tuesday November 13
This program will be held at the SVRC and is aimed at providing information to relevant staff on how to assist students who attend special educational settings, travel safely in the community. For further information about the Children’s Mobility Service please contact any of the staff members listed and they will be happy to answer your questions. If you would like copies of the CMS brochure, DVD or GDV Education Kit please contact us and we will forward the resources.
Rachel Morgan (Team Leader) 9854 4469
Sharon Taylor 9854 4496
Lil Deverell 9854 4542
Alicia Madden 9854 4493
Janelle O’Loughlin 9854 4520
Erin Galloway 9854 4521
Angela Reynolds 0400 264 977
Jo Boyko 0437 843 200
Dean Johnson (Manager) 9854 4506
The Victorian Blind Cricket Association is organising a “Come and Try Day” which sounds like fun!
When: Saturday 1st September 2007 commencing at 12.00pm
Where: Rear of Vision Austraila 454 Glenferrie Ed Kooyong
What: a mini match of 10-15 overs per side so any new players
can experience a game under match conditions and a sausage sizzle for purchase
at lunch time. The day will conclude with the announcement of the Victorian
Championships squad and election of on field positions. It is expected that
the day will finish at 5:00pm. Contact Alf O’Neill for details on (03)
9386 2167.
Vision Australia and Blind Sports Victoria are holding a come and try day for tandem bike riding!
When: Wednesday 12th September from 10.30am to 2.00pm.
Where: Vision Australia Cricket Pavioion, 454 Glenferrie Rd
Kooyong
Cost: $7 includes sausage sizzle lunch
For further details: call Di Hayward on 9761 0011
Vision Australia in conjunction with Victorian Seniors Festival are offering to teach ‘Square’ and ‘Progressive’ Dancing in a session.
When: Wednesday 10 October from 10-30am to 2-00pm
Where: Vision Australia, 454 Glenferrie Rd Kooyong
Cost: $10 which includes morning tea and a light lunch
For further details: call Di Hayward on 9761 0011
Blind Sports Victoria has been contacted by a gentleman hoping to start up
a chess club. He is seeking expressions of interest from any blind or vision
impaired chess players (both metropolitan and country). If your students would
be interested in joining such a club, please contact the Blind Sports Victoria
office and they will forward your details: Susan Marshall, Administration Officer,
Blind Sports Victoria, 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong 3144
Tel: (03) 9822 8876 Email: blindsports@netspace.net.au
Website: http://www.blindsports.org.au
The Learning Disabilities Network is holding an expo to highlight recreational activities in which disabled people can get involved. Contact Christine Mulholland on 9877 0100 for further details.
You are invited to a lunchtime seminar on the Disability Discrimination Act – Your Rights and Responsibilities, presented by Aly M from BCA in conjunction with the Disability Coordination Officer project hosted by RMIT University.
When: Wednesday 5 September, 11:30am – 3pm
Where: Swinburne University of Technology – Prahran Campus, Mecanix
Restaurant, O’Brian’s Walk, off 144 High St, Prahran.
RSVP: By Friday 31 August email James – jasie@deakin.edu.au
or call Tania – 0418 993 051(registration essential as numbers are limited)
Cost: Free
We see from a recent Quantum Technology flier that the latest Mountbatten Braille Writer comes with Music. For readers not familiar with Mountbatten, it features:
And three music braille modes:
Sounds like fun to us!
A cautionary tale about leaving your laptop on “snooze” whilst in its laptop bag … apparently your laptop can get rather warm in its laptop bag - potentially reaching temperatures of up to 50°C … and possibly frying the hard drive. So while it might save time just leaving it on “snooze” between classes, it might be better to “shut down” over recess and lunch time!
Here is an interesting and potentially useful VI website provided by Penny Stevenson and passed on by Mike Steer (‘yay’ for nationwide networking!): http://www.infinitec.org/learn/learningaboutat/altread.htm
Article by Sharon Lachmund & Mike Steer
The Renwick Centre is a centre for research and professional studies in the field of education for children who have hearing or vision impairment. It is administered by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) and affiliated with the University of Newcastle. It’s situated in the RIDBC grounds at North Rocks, Sydney. The Centre offers students a unique opportunity for observation and practical experience as well as a comprehensive Continuing Professional Education Program that includes:
This important battery of offerings is relevant for a wide range of professionals including teachers and therapists, and can also be very useful for parents and families. Some can also be undertaken for credit towards post-graduate studies in sensory disability. The program often features national and international leaders in the field. In 2006, over 1,250 people were served by the program. In 2002 and 2003, the program peaked at almost 1,900 participants.
The Centre’s Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programs, together with those offered by Victoria’s Statewide Vision Resource Centre, with its outstanding electronic “Bulletin” newsletter, the envy of Australians in all other States and of all overseas professionals alike, are perhaps the two remaining focal points for CPE in vision impairment nationally. Both programs are continuously striving to improve. Even great teachers benefit from well-run CPE programs. What then, makes the difference between good and bad CPE? Robert O’Brien, an educational researcher and consultant with ACER, writing in The Teacher for May 2006 suggests the following characteristics:
1 Active involvement
Educational professionals want to be involved in their learning. Gone are the days of being lectured to about the latest and greatest way to teach spelling or improve a child's reading. Teachers want to be actively involved in the program just as they actively involve their students.
2 Timing
Professional learning programs, says O’Brien, should begin with an open forum that allows the participants to share with their peers what they are doing in their own work environments, and explain why they are attending the program.
Facilitators must build upon the participants' base knowledge, not just assume that the participants have no background in the field. Most of the time the participants have an interest in the topic and have independently sought out information in the area. The reality is that a professional learning program to improve the teaching say, of Braille mathematics will be attended by those educators who are teaching mathematics in some way, so facilitators need to build upon the participants' pre-existing skills.
The main priority of the workshop or event presenter should be to link the theory or research to actual practice. Educators need to understand how the program will be embedded in their teaching, and why it will improve their students
3 Customised learning
Once-off workshops, in O’Brien’s opinion are effective for information dissemination, but for professional learning to create an environment of change and to move towards schools that are learning communities, there needs to be a shift towards multi-day forum-style programs. Why do educators like customised programs? Because customised programs are effective since they (a) meet the identified needs of educators, (b) are embedded in classroom practice and (c) delivered in the learning setting.
Customised professional learning allows recipients to determine the content of their own program, enabling them to mould the program with the presenter to meet the needs of the particular children, young adult or adult they teach. One of the main priorities of professional learning is to bring about change and customising the learning will probably assist in smoother transition and acceptance of ideas. Like any other area of education, professional learning is always changing. As long as it meets the needs of educators in a positive manner then creating professional learning programs that are tailored to meet specific needs has very positive benefits.
Finally! Heatherwood School and the Statewide Vision Resource Centre have a sign - come by and check it out! So hopefully we won’t get any more phone calls from lost delivery folk or distraught PD speakers!!!
Thanks to Deb Lewis, Odette Budge, Lea Philp, Mike Steer, Penny Stevenson, Renee Williamson, Paula Welham, Ramona Mandy, Dean Johnson, and Di Hayward for contributing to this edition of The Bulletin. Thanks also to our fabulous proof-readers, stuffers and mailers.
Marion Blazé (who can be emailed at marionblaze@svrc.vic.edu.au).