Missouri Regional Braille Challenge

 

 

Braille Challenge 2017 logo

Where:

Missouri School for the Blind

3815 Magnolia

St. Louis, Missouri 63110

When:

February 14, 2018

How:

Complete your two registration forms and email them to the address below or fax them to Linda Havlik at 314-776-1875 or e-mail to linda.havlik@msb.dese.mo.gov by December 21, 2017

Fax: (314) 776-1875

E-mail: linda.havlik@msb.dese.mo.gov

Mail: Missouri School for the Blind

Braille Challenge

3815 Magnolia

St. Louis, Missouri 63110

Need Help:

Contact Linda Havlick, Braille Challenge Coordinator at linda.havlik@msb.dese.mo.gov

OR

Joy Waddell, Assistant Superintendent at (314) 776-4320 or joyce.waddell@msb.dese.mo.gov

What is the Braille Challenge?

The Braille Challenge is a national braille contest created and sponsored by the Braille Institute of America. The Braille Challenge is a two-stage academic competition designed to support and enrich the reading and writing of braille. 

Stage 1:  Students participate in the Regional Event or a Preliminary Round in  their home state.

Stage 2:  The top 50 eligible students in the United States (10 in each category) are invited to Los Angeles to compete in the Final Rounds! (summer, 2018 - sorry no funding is available from MSB)


Significant Change to the 2018 Braille Challenge

IMPORTANT! This year all contests will be in UEB ONLY. There will be no EBAE (English Braille American Edition) option offered at any level.

Braille Challenge 2018 Categories:

  • Braille Speed and Accuracy: Students listen to a digital audio story and transcribe it – speed and accuracy count. 
  • Reading Comprehension: Students silently read a story and answer multiple-choice questions about the story. 
  • Spelling: Students will braille vocabulary words in uncontracted braille.  Extra points are given for the same words brailled correctly in contracted braille.
  • Proofreading:  Students will read a faulty passage and look for braille, grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors.
  • Interpreting Tactile Graphics/Chart and Graph Reading:  Students read tactile graphics to answer a variety of multiple-choice questions.

 

Who Can Participate?

  • Braille Readers in Grades 1-2:  Apprentice – Spelling, reading comprehension, proofreading; uncontracted braille, at and below grade level, continues to be offered at the Apprentice Level as a separate group contest
  • Braille Readers in Grades 3-4:  Freshman - Spelling, reading comprehension, proofreading  
  • Braille Readers in Grades 5-6: Sophomore – Reading comprehension, proofreading, speed and accuracy, charts and graphs
  • Braille Readers in Grades 7-9:  Junior Varsity – Reading comprehension, proofreading, speed and accuracy, charts and graphs
  • Braille Readers in Grades 10-12: Varsity - Reading comprehension, proofreading, speed and accuracy, charts and graphs

*Note that each participant must provide their own braille writer.  Students participating in the Speed and Accuracy challenge (Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Sophomore Levels) must have a Victor Stream or Book Port Plus with ear buds or headphones.   


Resources:

For practice, the Braille Institute will post 2018 practice contests. To find these practice contests, a history of the Challenge, and more, go to the Braille Institute’s website at:

http://www.brailleinstitute.org/braille-challenge-homepage.html

For Missouri School for the Blind participation form:

MSB Additional Information form

For registration/permission forms for the Regional Contest at MSB:

Braille Institute Permission Form