BrailleNote
Lesson Plans
by Rosa Mauer
The BrailleNote is a Braille notetaking device that functions as a Braille laptop. These lessons will help teachers of the visually impaired and their students to become familiar with how to complete a variety of tasks using the BrailleNote. Word processing, Internet, e-mail, an address book, and planner are just a few of the applications found on this device. For more information about purchasing a BrailleNote, visit Adults who want to learn about the BrailleNote will also find these lessons plans to be useful.
Contents
LessonContent
Lesson 1Getting Started
Lesson 2Moving Around
Lesson 3Word Processing in Keyword
Lesson 4More Keyword
Lesson 5E-mail with Keymail
Lesson 6Spelling Checker
Lesson 7User Guide
Lesson 8Address Book
Lesson 9More Keymail
Lesson 10Keyplan
Lesson 11Internet
Lesson 12Downloading and Unpacking Books
Lesson 13Scientific Calculator
Lesson 14Book Reader
Lesson 15Braille Options Menu
Lesson 16Games
Lesson 17Concise Oxford Dictionary
Lesson 18Printing a Document
Lesson 19Embossing a Document
Lesson 20Setting up Bluetooth
Lesson 21Web Braille
Lesson 22Working in the List of Files
Lesson 23Block Commands Menu
Lesson 24Nemeth Tutorial
Lesson 25Forcing a Different Braille Grade
Lesson 26The Stopwatch
Lesson 27Switching Between Documents
Lesson 28Font
Lesson 29Radio Tuner
Lesson 30 Insert Menu
BrailleNote Skills Checklist
Extra Practice Assignment1 Word Processing
Extra Practice Assignment 2Word Processing
Extra Practice Assignment 3Word Processing
Extra Practice Assignment 4Scientific Calculator
BrailleNote
Lesson 1
Getting Started
Skills Checklist:
Learn where the BrailleNote keys are located.
1. Six Braille writer keys
2. Space
3. Backspace
4. Enter
5. Previous thumb-key
6. Back thumb-key
7. Advance thumb-key
8. Next thumb-key
9. on and off switch
10. Headphone jack
Work Time:
Complete the tasks below with your student. Make changes and variations as necessary.
a. Ask your student to open the cover of the BrailleNote. The covershould open away from the BrailleNote user. If the BrailleNote ispositioned correctly, your student will recognize six Braille writer keys and a spacebar which are similar to that of a Perkins Braille writer.
b. Assist your student in locating the on off switch. This switch islocated under the velcro flap toward the back of the left panel of theBrailleNote.
c. Without turning the BrailleNote on, explain that when the rocker switch is indented toward the user, the BrailleNote is on. When the on off switch is indented away from the user, the BrailleNote is off.
d. Allow your student to feel the headphone jack. It is on the left panel of the BrailleNote toward the front.
e. Instruct your BrailleNote user to place his or her hands on the six
Braille writer keys as he or she would do on a Braille writer. An easy task for your student will be to identify dots one through six and the space.
f. The key near the left edge of the BrailleNote, to the left of the dot 3 Braille writer key, is the backspace key. Show your student how to press this key using the pinky finger of the left hand.
g. The key next to the right edge of the BrailleNote, to the right of the dot 6 Braille writer key, is the enter key. Instruct your student to place his or her right pinky on this key. The BrailleNote should still be turned off during this introductory lesson.
h. The refreshable Braille display is below the spacebar. Though theBrailleNote is off; your student may place his or her hands on this Braille display.
i. While your student is exploring the refreshable Braille display, he or shemay place both thumbs down on the thumb-keys to explore them. The thumb-keys are on the front panel of the BrailleNote.
j. Starting at the left, the thumb-keys are called the previous, back,advance, and next thumb-keys. PBAN might be a fun word association to helpremember the order of these thumb-key names.
BrailleNote
Lesson 1
Quick Quiz
Time for a quick quiz. Have your student point to each of the following as you give the instruction.
1. Earphone jack
2. Spacebar
3. Next thumb-key
4. on and off rocker switch
5. Previous thumb-key
6. Backspace
7. Advance thumb-key
8. Back thumb-key
9. Return (enter) key
10. Keys one through six
Note to Remember:
Remind your student that a BrailleNote costs around $7,000. How many weeksof allowance would that be? The BrailleNote should be handled with care.Make sure it is not dropped. The BrailleNote should be kept at a normalroom temperature. Leaving it in a car for three days when it is 0 degreeswould not be a good idea!
Rosa Mauer
Reviewed 5-15-09
BrailleNote
Lesson 2
Moving Around
Skills Checklist:
1. Turn the BrailleNote on or off.
2. Use space to go forward through menu items.
3. Use backspace to go back through menu items.
4. Use the advance thumb-key to move forward through menu items and theback thumb-key to move to previous menu items.
5. When on a menu item, press enter to open it.
6. Use initial letters to move to and open menu items.
7. Use space with e to exit a menu.
8. Toggle among BrailleNote speech settings.
9. Use and understand space with h to get help from anywhere.
10. Use the shortcut to return to the Main Menu.
Work Time:
Complete the following tasks with your student: Make changes according to the needs and ability of your student.
a. Instruct your student to turn on the BrailleNote. Give any help that
is necessary.
b. If the speech is off, turn it on. Do this yourself or assist yourstudent in holding down the previous thumb-key and pressing space to toggle through the speech on, speech off, and speech on request modes. Stop togglingamong the choices when you hear, "speech on." Remember, the previousthumb-key is the left-most thumb-key on the front panel of the BrailleNote.
c. Allow your student to use space to move forward through the menuitems. Listen to the item names as you go over the items.
d. When the end of the menu items are reached, the student may usebackspace to move back through the list to return to the Main Menu.
e. Help your student to use the advance thumb-key to move forward throughthe various menu items and the back thumb-key to move to previous menu items.
f. At the Main Menu, your student may press space to go forward to the keyword menu option. Press enter to select and go into the keywordmenu. By continuing to use space, he or she can explore keywordoptions. Press space with e to back out of menu options.
g. At the Main Menu, your student may press e for the e-mail option calledkeymail. The menu item automatically opens. Your student may use spaceto explore e-mail options or space with e to return to the other menu items.
h. At the Main Menu, press space with h to get help. Use the advancethumb-key option to read the help information on the Braille display or to hear it read. To move back while in help, use the back thumb-key. An e with space will exit the help menu. Space with h to get help isavailable from anywhere on the BrailleNote.
i. Now your student may practice turning the speech on, off, and speechon request. This is done by using the key combination of previousthumb-key and space. This combination will toggle between the three modes. Speech on request only uses speech when specific speech commands are pressed. For the time being, toggle to speech on. The previousthumb-key will need to be held down while tapping space.
j. From the Main Menu, instruct your student to press an i to go to theInternet prompt. The speech and Braille display may say "address." If thestudent was using the Internet, this is where he or she would type in a webaddress. We won't complete this task right now. From anywhere in theBrailleNote, dots 1 through 6 may be pressed with the space to return to the Main Menu. Request that your student complete this command now.
i. Ask your student to turn the BrailleNote off when all tasks are complete.
For instructional purposes, you may need to have the speech on in order to hear what your student is doing on the BrailleNote. Use ear buds so that your student must read the Braille display. You may want to hold off on introducing speech until your student is older. Using the Braille display will enhance Braille reading and writing skills.
BrailleNote
Lesson 2
Quick Quiz
It's time for a quick quiz. Require your student to demonstrate competency in the following tasks. This could be accomplished by using a written test or by requiring thestudent to use the BrailleNote to demonstrate mastery of the skills.
1. Turn on the BrailleNote.
2. If the BrailleNote does not say Main Menu, your student can return to it by using space with e or a full cell with space.
3. At the Main Menu, ask the student to show you how he or she can get to the Internet prompt and open it by using only one letter. If necessary,give a verbal cue to the student to press the letter i.
4. Instruct your student to return to the Main Menu. He or she should dothis by using either e with space or dots 1 through 6 with space.
5. From the Main Menu, encourage your student to show you how to moveforward and backward through the menu items using two different methods. These methods are using space and backspace keys and using the back and advance thumb-keys.
6. From the Main Menu, instruct your student to go to the e-mail menu itemand open it. This is done by pressing an e. Do not provide verbal cuesunless they are necessary during this quick quiz section.
7. From the keymail menu, ask your student to show you how he or she wouldget help. If a reminder is required, state that space with h will get help from anywhere.
8. Ask your student to read what is in the help file. The back andadvance thumb-keys will work for now.
9. Ask your student to return to the Main Menu. Remember, pressing e withspace or a full cell with space will accomplish this task.
10. Your student may now turn the BrailleNote off.
Note to Remember:
To switch from task to task on the BrailleNote quickly,use the backspace and enter held down with the letter of the application you want to open. For example, backspace enter b will automaticallyopen the book reader from anywhere. Backspace enter e will open keymailfrom anywhere. You get the idea!
Rosa Mauer
Reviewed 5-15-09
BrailleNote
Lesson 3
Word Processing in Keyword
Skills Checklist:
Demonstrate knowledge and competence in the following areas:
1. Open the word processor.
2. Create a document.
3. Write a heading and two sentences in a document.
4. Use the backspace and cursor keys to make basic corrections.
5. Review text moving forward and back by character and word.
6. Review text backward and forward by sentence and paragraph.
7. Use the back and advance thumb-keys to move back and forward by onewidth of the Braille display.
8. Turn the speech on and off.
9. Turn the Braille display on and off.
10. Determine how much power is left and become aware of when theBrailleNote needs to be charged.
If you are not teaching the student to use speech, skip the steps involving speech in this and all lessons.
Work Time:
Complete the following tasks with your student.
a. Turn on the BrailleNote.
b. If the BrailleNote does not say Main Menu, your student can return to the Main Menu by using space with e or a full cell with space.
c. From the Main Menu, ask your student to press space once to bring focus to the keyword menu item. Open this word processor by pressing enter.
d. Now press space until the "create a document" option appears. Press enter to continue from this point.
e. Next you and your student will be prompted to determine the folder youwould like to place the document in. Like a paper folder or large envelope, your
BrailleNote folder will contain or hold your smaller documents. For now,you may press enter on the general folder. To go to this folder, press g,the folder's initial letter. Also, you may space to the general folder to navigate to it. Press enter to continue.
f. Now name the file. Call the file anything you want. Use uncontracted orcontracted Braille. File names can be up to 250 characters long.
g. When in the document, instruct your student to write his name, thedate, and the word Practice. A new line should be placed between the name,date, and the word Practice. After the word Practice, enter can be pressedtwice for two new lines. If an error is made, give a reminder that backspace can be used to delete the previous character.
h. Now your student may write two or three sentences to get a feel for what writingin the word processor is like.
i. The cursor keys are above the Braille display. Show your student that he or she can place the cursor in any location by pressing the cursor keyabove the desired Braille cell. Corrections can be made by using thecursor keys and the backspace for deleting errors. The student may simply correct errors with the backspace and writing the desired text in the correct place.
j. Listed below are commands that can be used on the BrailleNote. The current document will be too small to practice them all, buta quick review won't hurt. Review commands are especially helpful when thespeech is being used.
Review Commands
1. To move back a character, press space with dot 3.
2. Space with dot 6 will move forward by character.
3. Space with dot 2 will move back by word.
4. Dot 5 with a space will move forward by word.
5. To move back by a sentence, press space with dot 1.
6. To move forward by a sentence, press space with dot 4.
7. To move back a paragraph, press space with dots 2 and 3.
8. Space with dots 5 and 6 will move forward by paragraph.
k. The back and advance thumb-keys will move forward and back by one widthof the Braille display. Practice this in the word processing document that you currently have open. If desired, Braille a few more sentences or a paragraph for practice purposes. Younger students may practice writing letters and words.
l. Your student may practice turning the speech on and off at this time.
Turning the speech on and off is done by using the previous thumb-key and the space together. This toggles between speech on, speech off, and speech on request. Speech on request is spoken when specific commands related to speech are given. Skip this step if you are not teaching the student to turn the speech on and off at this time.
m. The next thumb-key and the space will turn the Braille display on andoff. Explore this option. The speech and Braille display cannot both beoff at the same time.
n. Next, press space with o to go to the options menu. Then press a p to hear the level of remaining power. When the power gets as low as 10 or 20percent, be sure to plug the adapter in and give the BrailleNote a charge. To return to your document after checking the power, press the nextthumb-key to clear the display and go back to where you were. Try this outnow.
o. Turn the BrailleNote off now.
BrailleNote
Lesson 3
Quick Quiz
Your student may answer the following true and false questions. Then, youmay require him or her to demonstrate knowledge of the skills learned inthis lesson by actually using the BrailleNote.
1. It is not necessary to check the BrailleNote power level.
2. Using the space with dot 4 will go forward by a sentence.
3. The previous thumb-key with space will turn the Braille display on andoff.
4. Space with dot 2 will move forward by character in the word processor.
5. File names can be up to 350 characters long.
6. Space with the previous thumb-key turns the speech on and off.
7. Space with dot 6 moves forward by character.
8. Space with o will get you to the options menu.
9. After checking the power level, a user must first return to the MainMenu to reset the BrailleNote.
10.Keyword is the name of the BrailleNote word processor.
Answers:
1.false 2.true 3.false 4.false 5.false 6.true 7.true 8.true 9.false 10.true
Note to Remember:
Running the BrailleNote battery down completely does not help the battery.However, it will help to keep the battery gauge accurate. Batteries may needto be replaced every 18 months or so. It will depend on how frequently the BrailleNote is used during that time.
Rosa Mauer
Reviewed 5/5-15-09
BrailleNote
Lesson 4
More Keyword
Skills Checklist:
Demonstrate knowledge and correct use of the following:
1. Create folders in Keyword.
2. Create files within folders.