ORGANIZING FOR SUCCESS
>May 29, 2000
Planning Your Courseload
Should Blind Students Use Note-Takers?
Getting the Most Out of Lectures and Presentations
Getting the Most Out of Reading Assignments
Working with Readers
The Experience of Hebrew Study as a Student Who is Blind
Resources for Parents of Blind Children
Braille Literacy Resources
Orientation and mobility: getting around
Education Resources
Family life
Opinions and experiences
Blindness in Depth
Sarah Blake has lived with blindness/visual impairment due to premature birth since childhood. She has had several surgeries to treat complications such as detached retina, cataracts, glaucoma, and cornea damage which threatened her small amount of vision at various points in her life. She learned both braille and print as a young child. She travels with a dog guide.
Sarah graduated from Anderson University School of theology in 2009 with a Master of Divinity. She is a licensed minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN) and travels as a guest speaker and singer to churches, colleges, and other community groups. She also works with companies to increase features of software to enable blind students to access foreign language materials.
Sarah serves on the health care issues committee affiliated with the American Council of the Blind, which promotes access to health information and equipment. She also serves as co-moderator for several online discussion groups, including BVI-Parents, a group for parents of blind and visually impaired children.
Sarah provides technology training and support, motivational speaking, and other services. Learn about her services.
Development of content for this site is supported by your contributions, the sale of products through various affiliate programs, and Sarah's work as a writer, speaker, and in other areas listed on her services page. If the material on this site has been helpful or encouraging to you, please consider shopping using the sites linked here--and return to do your shopping anytime using these links to continue supporting this site.
If you've registered for all your classes for the upcoming semester, you're ready for the next step to success: organizing your time and materials. Organization is some people's least favorite word, but it can save you hassle and stress and thus free up time and energy for studying and getting work done. Here are some tips for organizing for success.
1. Look for your books in RFBD's online catalog. This will save you some time and frustration, and you will be able to give the representative the exact shelf number of the book you need when you call. If your book is not available, try discussing alternative editions or titles with your professor.
2. If you tend to learn best from reading material in Braille, prepare notebooks for each of your classes so that you can keep hard copies of your notes. If you use a Braille Lite or laptop, you may find it helpful to create folders for each class so that you can keep track of notes, scanned material, etc.
3. If you will be using notes provided by a sighted note taker, use a similar approach to the one above for users of hard-copy Braille. It will be important to have a place to keep copies of things which need to be read.
4. Find a way to keep track of handouts from class. Labeling them with a slate and stylus is a good idea and can be done in class as you are given your copy. If you are not a slate and stylus user, set aside some time for sorting through them with a reader and labeling them. Do not rely on your memory, no matter how good you think it is.
5. Keep your textbooks in a specific place and label them. This will save you and your readers time because you will be able to retrieve the correct books quickly. If you have a scanner, you may wish to scan your own materials (especially if mathematics is not involved). Marking the first page of each chapter with a paper clip can be helpful if you plan to scan as you go along.
6. If you will be scanning and your chapters will not be read in order, you may find it helpful to mark your book for the chapters in the order they will be read, placing the paper clip for the first chapter nearest to the spine and working your way to the outside of the book.
7. Make a calendar listing the assignments and test dates for your classes. Some people find it helpful to have a single calendar listing assignments and test dates for all classes. Others prefer having a calendar for each class. Much of this information can be obtained from your syllabus.
8. Work effectively with your readers and store your recorded materials with labels or in their RFBD containers so that you are always able to find them quickly.
Now you are ready to get to work. In the article, "Working with Readers," you will find some strategies for working effectively with readers. This is the third step to success and may be one of the most vital because ineffective use of readers can cause problems in many areas.
Return to the students' page.
Sarah J. Blake