Rocky Mountain Braille Associates LLC

Workshops and Trainings Offered

Teaching Graphicacy: The Secret Language of Lines
(updated from Reading More than Words)

Workshop type: Demonstration and discussion

Time required: 3.5-4 hours

Description: Literacy is more than decoding words and sentences. In education and in the work place, decoding and interpreting graphics- Graphicacy- is a requirement for accessing information and a vital skill for learners who read braille.
In this workshop we will share first-hand accounts of real-life situations involving conceptual challenges faced by blind students. We will discuss strategies for developing basic decoding skills, explore additional techniques and resources for teaching older learners to understand and utilize content-laden and complex graphics. A new teaching curriculum will present activities for learning to use a key/legend, scale, multiple sections or views, map reading, indicators of direction/movement/process, data presentation, and interpretation of orientation and mobility graphics. Student activities focus on both reading and writing/producing graphics.

Outcomes: Participants will learn:

• how interpreting tactile graphics relies on spatial concepts
• resources for teaching spatial skills
• the sequence of basic skill development in a continuum required for interpreting a tactile graphic
• which graphicacy skills are expected of students at specific grade levels, based on national standards for math, social studies, science and geography
• to evaluate the reader’s level of ability to interpret a graphic, and to fill in the missing skills as they are identified