Recently I changed my profile picture to a photo of my maternal grandmother, a lady who suitably represents my journey to Assistive Technology proficiency. My family members look at Grandmother as a woman who was ahead of her time. Being a telegraph operator at the first Transatlantic cable station (Foilhommerum Bay, Ireland to Heart's content, NL) starting in 1918, she met the challenge of technology proficiency in an era when her gender made it unconventional to endeavor such a vocation. During the past month I have found myself imagining her as she developed competency through rigorous training sessions and have come to realize that she must have felt a little intimidated so many unfamiliar elements. Nevertheless she persevered and rose to the position of head operator before she entered her tenure in 1923 when she resigned, a requirement so that she could marry my grandfather.
Although I never had the privilege to meet my grandmother as she succumbed to heart disease at 47 years of age, I am inspired by her determination to master the tools that were made available to her and allowed her communicate to the world.
Grandmother’s determination (or perhaps her stubborn nature) is said to have passed through the generations to become one of my characteristic traits. We also share a tendency to allow our frustration to become the best of us. Admittedly, I have allowed my fear of the Kurzweil program to prevent me from sharing its fabulous study skill features with my students and their teachers. But a grade eight student at my school has motivated me to change my attitude and meet the Kurzweil challenge head on. She is very excited about the opportunity to utilize the Kurzweil program in all her classes and is depending on me to help her learn more about it. Coincidently, our EDUC 5163 Assistive Technology class was given a Kurzweil group assignment. Each group member was assigned one bar of the program so naturally I volunteered to do the green study skill bar. Additionally, as I am a visual learner, I decided that I needed to add many pictures to my write-up. It took me a long time to master the required techniques but I can confidently state that I understand and use the Green Bar- study skills component of the Kurzweil program. The feeling of accomplishment that I experience with my newfound ability to add pictures of my computer screen to a blog page makes me feel even better about the process. And, I can emphatically state that KURZWEIL ROCKS!
