Braille Challenge 2023
Braille Challenge 2023 written by Amy Gunning, School for the Blind
The regional competition of the Braille Challenge at CSDB was originally scheduled for Thursday, February 23, 2023. It ended up being postponed until Tuesday, February 28, due to a two-hour delay on the 23rd. One student made the observation that it seems to be becoming a tradition for us to schedule the Challenge, then have to reschedule it due to inclement weather as this has happened for three years in a row now (smiles!). There was a festive air in the building as we gathered all the students and staff in the School for the Blind together for an opening ceremony to kick off this year’s Braille Challenge. Jamie Lugo, School for the Blind Principal, welcomed everyone and gave a quick overview of what all was going to be happening throughout the day. Tera Spangler, Interim Superintendent, addressed the group as well, to encourage the students competing to work hard and do their best, and to wish all the Rookies-the students not competing but participating in a variety of tactile exploration activities-well. The ceremony concluded with all the students being gathered into their respective groups and heading off to either the competition rooms or the rookie activity locations.
The Competitors
This year we had 22 students competing in the Challenge with two apprentice level groups, a freshman level group, a sophomore level group, a junior varsity level group, and a varsity level group. At the apprentice and freshman levels, students have three sessions: Spelling, Reading Comprehension, and Proofreading. At the sophomore, junior varsity, and varsity levels, students have four sessions: Reading Comprehension, Proofreading, Speed and Accuracy, and Charts and Graphs. Each session across all levels is timed; students have 25 minutes to complete all or as much work as possible within each session.
The Rookies
In order to make this day meaningful for our students who are not competing in the Challenge (students who are emergent braille learners/users and students who are print learners/users), we have developed a variety of tactile exploration activities for them to rotate through. This year, we had a literacy activity, an art activity, a P.E. activity, a music activity, and an ILS (Independent Living Skills) activity. Here is a brief description of each activity:
- Jennifer Mathews, Library Media Specialist, read the book Bracelets for Bina’s Brothers and then students made keychains/cane cords using braille beads and pony beads.
- Allie Unker, Art Teacher, had students use stencils to create a word using braille dots with either paint, marker, or tactile objects.
- Julie Harrison, Music Teacher, had an activity about going to a birthday party. First, she had the pre-braille students in each group track lines in order to feel an object that they were bringing to a birthday party. She had the students in each group who are print readers reach into a box to feel an object, then guess what it was before pulling it out. Whatever object they found was what they were bringing to the party. Then each group performed a song about going to a birthday party, with each student singing about the objects they were bringing.
- Aimee Twaddle, P.E. Teacher, had each group of students participate in Braille Twister, Braille Beanbag Toss, and playing with Braille Legos.
- Mary Rahn, ILS Teacher, had students make trail mix,using six-spot muffin tins and 6 different ingredients. Students had the 6-spot muffin tins set up vertically like a braille cell. She gave instruction on which muffin tin spot correlates to each dot in the braille cell, then had students put one ingredient in the muffin spot where dot 1 is in the braille cell, a second ingredient in the spot where dot 2 is, a third ingredient to put in dot 3, and so on until they had put each ingredient into each muffin spot for each dot in a braille cell. Then they got to pour it in a bag to mix it up and have some for a snack if they wanted.
After all competition sessions were completed, we all gathered again for a closing ceremony to wrap up the day. The Bulldog Band kicked off the ceremony with the Braille Challenge version of “Louie, Louie” (lyrics about Louis Braille set to the tune of the original “Louie, Louie” song), which is a crowd favorite. Proctors expressed their appreciation for how well each student in their groups put serious effort into doing their best work for each session. Students were encouraged to share their experiences of the day. Many of the competitors stated that the sessions were hard work, but they felt like they did good work. A couple of students who had advanced to a different level this year stated that they felt like they had done better this year than in previous years, and they were also pretty proud of themselves for having learned enough during the year to be participating at a higher level now. Some of the of the students in the rookie groups also spoke of their experiences with the different tactile exploration activities, stating they had fun and sharing some of their favorite activities. The ceremony concluded with the Bulldog Band playing their cover of “Eye of the Tiger”, another crowd favorite.
