The Bulletin

Statewide Vision Resource Centre

Number 8  Friday 25th May 2001

The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre) and Lea Nagel (Visiting Teacher, Eastern Region).

Inside This Issue

Professional Development 2001

Supporting Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments in the Classroom – 8th June 2001

This exciting annual program for Class Teachers, Specialists, Aides and parents will be held on Friday 8th June. The program was included with edition 7 of The Bulletin. Please call Deb Lewis if you require further copies of the program.

VT PD Day – 22 June 2001

See the program attached to Bulletin 7. Please ensure that you RSVP so that we can order your lunch and make enough handouts! Topics planned for the day include:

Challenge Camp – 22-25 May 2001

The Camp has been a great success! Slightly bigger than last year’s camp – with 15 students and 4 staff, if is fast becoming part of the annual calendar! Watch out for articles in our next issue of The Bulletin.

Space Camp Fundraising

Last week, the Statewide Vision Resource Centre launched our Chocolate drive fundraising effort. All profits will go toward sending students and chaperones to America, to visit the Space Camp at NASA. The camp will provide a life-changing, educational and enjoyable experience for our students with low vision or who are blind. Participants will meet children with vision impairments from around the world, live as astronauts in the space station, and enjoy simulation activities that have been designed for the real astronauts.
Boxes of Cadbury Chocolate will be available at the Resource Centre: we will be glad if you could buy a block for $2, or take a box of 20 to sell for us. Every little bit helps!

Space Camp – end of term 3 2001

See Bulletin 5 for notes from the first meeting of parents and students. Remember, each student (and chaperone) will need to have the first instalment of $2000 ready by the end of May.
We will be holding a second meeting for interested parties (ie students, parents and Visiting Teachers) at 5.30pm (for 6.00pm) on Friday 1st June – BYO your deposit of $2000 to secure your place please. It would be great if everyone who is planning to come to Space Camp could be at this meeting. Hopefully, we will have details of dates, cost etc. So put in a big effort with fundraising this month so you can bring your good news to the meeting!
And just as a matter of interest – there seem to be nine interested Space Campers which will necessitate three (or more) chaperones – so if you know of anyone with way too much money who would like to sponsor our little party, please call!

Driving Camp – 18-19 June 2001

See Bulletin 5 for forms and further details.

Goalball 2001

Nancye Kimmenade, Secretary of the Blind Sports Association asked us to let you all know the goalball dates for next season. They are as follows:
July 14, 21, 28
August 4, 11, 18, 25
September 1
Competition is held at the Scotch College Junior Gym on Saturdays commencing at 12.30 pm for Juniors and 1.30 for Seniors (men and women).
If you would like more information, contact Blind Sports Victoria on (03) 9822 8876 (phone and fax).

SPEVI Membership and 2003 Conference

Attached to the print copy of The Bulletin is a Membership Renewal Form for SPEVI (South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment) for February 2001 to February 2003. Membership costs $66 (including GST). Email Pat Thompson for further details at patricia.thompson@qed.qld.gov.au/.
The 2003 SPEVI Conference ‘An Eye to the Future’ will be held on the Gold Coast from 12 to 17 January 2003. Please call (07) 3844 1138 if you would like to be added to their mailing list.

Computer Tips

For Those Annoying Emails: “Block Sender”

You may be the unlucky recipients of irritating emails such as e-junkmail from companies; or potentially damaging emails such as the ‘True Story of Snow White’ from ‘HaHaHa’ which seems to arrive once a fortnight or so and probably contains a virus which will get into our systems if we are trusting enough to open it! These emails can be rather annoying and potentially damaging. There is, however, a way to ‘block’ this kind of email. The instructions below (from the AERNET Discussion Group – Holly Guinan 14 May 2001) are specifically for Outlook Express, but most mail programs apparently have something similar:
‘You are in your inbox and see a message, a junk mail of some kind that you'd like to not ever again have to deal with. So, highlight it (just be on it, the name of the message) and press alt+m (the message menu) and then press the letter s (block sender). You are then asked if you wish to add the message's address to your block sender list, so that any message in the future that coming from that address will not be down loaded into your inbox.  So if that is true, answer its “OKAY” with an enter.  Next the program tells or asks that it is deleting all messages in the inbox from that source, and after it is finished it again says “OKAY” and then press enter again.’

Update Your Virus Software for your DEET Laptop Online

Your DEET laptop probably came with McAffee Anti Virus Software already loaded – you have to keep it up to date. To do this, follow these steps (approximately monthly):
1) Go to www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/software and enter your Username and Password when prompted
2) Select McAffee Anti-Virus and follow the prompts selecting the following, when asked: The update takes about 4-18 minutes to download, but you can continue to work on your laptop with it downloading in the background.

Trouble Shooting Your PC – Scandisk

Windows 95/98 has several built-in System Tools that will keep your computer running smoothly.
Scandisk – checks the disk’s surface, as well as the files and folders on the disk. Run Scandisk monthly to improve your computer’s speed.
Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk. Then select the drive that you would like to Scan (eg C). Select Standard or Thorough. Check the Automatically Fix Errors Box if you would like ScanDisk to repair errors it finds. Click Start.

Trouble Shooting Your PC – Defrag

Defrag Disk – rearranges your files and free space on the computer so that files are stored in contiguous units and free space is consolidated in one contiguous block – this speeds up access to your files.
Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter. Then select the drive that you would like to be defragmented and click OK. Windows 95/98 will give a report on the state of the drive and give you the option to Defragment.

Sharing VCE Resources

Jeni Blake (Visiting Teacher, Southern Region) is a great one for digging up interesting resources and making them available for others. She recently gave the SVRC the collection of resources listed below which are available in alternative formats: Jeni has also collected a bundle of reference material on Organ Donation which is also available from the SVRC.
Have you found useful resources that you would like to share with your fellow Visiting Teachers? We have a file of resources and are happy to add them to the growing collection.

Student News

An article and photo of Owen, a year 10 student at Koonung Secondary College, has appeared in the “Whitehorse Leader”, 9 May 2001 on page 24. Owen has been totally blind since 1994, and combines his visual memory with tactual skills to continue with his Art. The article describes Owen’s ambition to study Art in VCE. One of Owen’s sculptures, a clay man has appeared in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Owen is keen to find a mentor, and would love to hear from another totally blind student who has studied VCE Art. The article is attached to the print edition of The Bulletin.

Online: Journal of Technology for Students with Disabilities of Learning Difficulties

Please request copies of the following articles, which appeared in Issue 1, 2001:

Bullying: Information for Parents

The Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) has published a pamphlet for parents (which might also be useful for Visiting Teachers). A copy is available at the SVRC or you can obtain it online at www.detya.gov.au/schools/publicat.htm/

Student Writing

Year 10 student, Kelly received her first ever “A” for the attached story – "Put My Dog Down", which was submitted as part of her English Writing Folio. She produced it on her laptop in Times New Roman, font size 22 print. See below.

Parents Support Group Meeting

The next meeting will be held on June 2nd at 2:00 at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre. The topic under discussion will be examining effective ways of managing difficult people. The meeting will be an open forum where exchange of ideas will be actively encouraged. Geoff Bowen will be presenting some of his insights and I am confident they will be both entertaining and informative. Please inform your parents of the existance of this group. It started out as a support group for parents of children who have macular degeneration now it has changed its emphasis to incorporate any parents and children who have a progressive sight loss. For further details please contact Judy Bowen on 9842 5103, Leigh Heaven on 9890 8103 or Annette Godfrey-Magee on 9841 0807.

And Finally

Send your news, gossip and articles to Deb Lewis (deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au) for publication in The Bulletin and online

*****************
 

Put My Dog Down

By Kelly, Year 10
My dog, Jesse was a long nosed, long haired, dark colored German shepherd. Jesse arrived on the seventeenth of November 1992.
“She needs a name,” I said. Dad, Mum, Anthony and I all thought hard.
“Jesse” we all said at the same time and so Jesse became a member of the Kelly family.
My Grandma gave Jesse to me because she knew how much I loved our old dog Bobby, who had passed away the year before. As soon as I saw Jesse, I felt something special, she was a little cuddly ball of fluff. Jesse ran up to me and licked me with her little pink tongue. I loved Jesse straight away.
Jesse was so clever, soon she had learnt to sit and roll over when told. I had had dogs before Jesse but I got more love and care from Jesse and we shared some really lovely times and a special friendship. I’ll never forget her licks and the way she used to make a fuss whenever I came home form school.
When Jesse was eight, I woke up one morning to find her gone. The gate was open. Mum, Dad and I started to look for her.
“Jesse! Jesse!” I yelled, tears rolling down my face. Mum, Dad and I searched the streets surrounding our house. I kept hoping that she was safe.
Jesse was missing for two weeks before the ranger rang and told us that Jesse was at the vet. Jesse had been hit by a car and had two broken legs. Jesse was in a cage and attached to an intravenous drip.
“Oh Jesse,” I said softly over and over again. I could just fit two fingers through the bars to stroke her soft fur. Jesse tried to lift her head but she couldn’t.
When Mum and I were driving home, Mum who was crying told me that the vet had said Jesse would have to be put to sleep. I started crying harder but I knew it was the right thing to do.
“I know Mum,” I sobbed, “I don’t want her to be in pain.”
The next day Dad and Mum went back to the bet. I chose not to go because I couldn’t bear saying goodbye to Jesse. I felt terrible for a long time. I still miss Jesse and I’m still not ready to have another dog.

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Web page editor Lyn Robinson. Last updated May 2002.
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