Hello! I am Melissa Miller. I am currently a self-contained TVI at Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind. We do not have our room assignments for next year yet, but this is where I have been the last few years. Currently I have been serving students grades K-2 that have multiple disabilities and on a more life-skills plan than academic.
Because our roles change often as well as student needs, I am excited to learn how to better serve and instruct my students. I love hearing new ideas and adding more to my knowledge.
Hello everyone,
My name is Jun Limbo, and I am a teacher from the Philippines, working at the Philippine National School for the Blind (PNSB). I primarily teach students from grades 1 to 6 who have visual impairments. As a Braille reader myself, I am eager to enhance my skills and knowledge here to become even more effective in teaching Braille reading and writing to my students.
Hi, Iām Carrie Livingston, TVI COMS in Central Pennsylvania. I service schools in several school districts k-12 so age 5-22. I have a students who is in regular education going into first grade and is a totally blind, and itās the first in a long time that Iāve had a student who is not presenting other learning challenges as well as being blind. Iāve also struggled in the past with literacy needs for my students in Life Skills classes, am I supporting the teacher well enough, am I supplementing their learning properly. Iām looking forward to learning more about literacy and our role in supporting our students learning and engagement.
Niki Rogers
Teacher for the Blind and Visually Impaired
North Texas / Denton Co Co-Op
Public education: Birth - 22 y/o
Looking forward to keeping my skills sharp with this course
Hello. My name is Julie Unatin, and I have been a TVI/COMS for over 31 years at Oakland Schools, located in Michigan. Most recently, I returned to school to receive my 2nd graduate degree in the area of DeafBlindness.
I am one of 12 (fantastic colleagues) who provide services to VI/OM/DB/and VI with additional impairments to over 28 plus districts in our county from birth to 26. I am passionate about all things Braille and DeafBlindness, and have watched students rise. I continue to be a life-long learner, and hope to gain more information and things I use to enhance the work that I continue to do with our students. Very much looking forward to this class and continuing to grow.
Hello! My name is Christi Penning. I am a teacher of students with visual impairments and an orientation and mobility specialist. I work for Gregory-Portland ISD near Corpus Christi, Texas.
Hi, All! I am Karen. I am a CTVI/COMS in the Kansas City area and currently serve students who have multiple disabilities with vision impairment and/or deafblindness. I am very excited to learn more about literacy for any of our students as well as get to connect with other professionals, which is sometimes difficult to do when you get super busy. I look forward to meeting you all virtually!
Hello everyone! My name is Marsha Zobel, and I serve as a teacher of students with visual impairments in Wake County, North Carolina. I am very interested in this course because we have had a lot of referrals in recent years for kiddos receiving vision therapy due to visual processing skills, and often 20/20 acuity, so I am seeking to gain better understanding of this newer and frequent population of learners.
Hello, my name is Cassidy and I am a TVI in Texas. I serve all ages of students in a public education setting, however I am moving to a residential setting and will be working with elementary age students. I am excited to learn strategies to better support my students and how to help them to be the most successful.
Hi! Iām a little late to begin, but my name is Crystal Bentley. I am a TVI in Tennessee. I previously was itinerant and am now at the state school. I serve a variety of students, but most recently I worked with a self contained classroom with kids ranging from 8th - 12th grade. I have worked with kiddos previously ranging from PreK-12 as the only itinerant in the county. I am sure many of you have filled a similar role! As a parent of a child with VI and as a TVI, I am excited to learn more ways to help my kiddos with reading. It has been a struggle in my most recent setting and with my daughter who currently refuses to read braille and instead binges on Audible. Looking forward!
I too am struggling with the audio reading instead of reading braille at home. I have enrolled my child in local library summer reading programs and he is more willing to read braille books to earn the prizes that are offered. Maybe this will help in your home also!
Welcome to the Hive Summer Cohort for 2024! Please use this thread to introduce yourself and begin connecting with one another. Please include:
Hello!
My name is Beth Button. I am a TVI in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Although weāve changed out titles this year, so technically I am an āeducation support teacher - BVIā now. I cover student in the city all the way to the Maine border. My caseload is a mix preschoolers to high schoolers, students with CVI, deafblind students, blind students, low vision students. Every day is so different, thatās what I love about my job.
I am looking forward to learning more about current information on literacy and have a forum to talk to other like minded professionals about it. I also love learning about how other places do things. So being in a group that has people from all over is so exciting.
https://community.aphhive.org/t/cohort-participant-introduction/1412I am Bonita Abadie. I am a Braille Teacher in the New Orleans School System. I have been in this position since 2013. I have experienced a lot of success with my students - two, in particular, have done very well in the National Braille Challenge Contest. I am expecting a student this Fall who has been identified as dyslexia. I am looking forward to the information from this course to help in this area. I am also looking forward to learning techniques to become a better teacher and techniques that will strengthen my studentās Braille skills.
Allison, I have had reluctant braille students who have stopped speaking like Helen Keller or started being a behavior problem to get out of the sessions. I have tried to come up with things that would spark their individual interests like brailling journals and coupling the braille lesson with videos for whatever the theme was. Womens History etc. Their buy in IS important as you said.
Hello,
My name is Faye Thomas. I am a TVI in the Killeen Tx area. I have 1 pre k student that I will be teaching braille, 2 emerging readers who are functional skills students and 1 low vision braille student as well. It is really important to me to give this pre k student good braille foundational skills. I also want to be being able to identify the needs and help my many low vision students. My case load wavers from 46 to 50 students. I canāt help but notice most if not all of my low vision students have problems with reading. I believe if they were identified as visually impaired earlier and received a good foundation, they would have been better readers. I am attending this class to be more effective in my assessments, recommendation of accommodations and more effectively teach early braille foundational skills.
My name is Colleen and I am a TVI/COMS in Illinois. I work with students ages 3-22 in a variety of setting including general education, self contained, charter schools, and non public schools. I work with students that have varying acuities and have a caseload of about 35 students. I am very excited to learn more about the science of reading and improve my reading instruction. I have braille and print readers, in addition to pre readers! I am also interested in learning about other print disabilities and how VI can impact reading instruction and what considerations we can apply to assist our learners.
Hello,
I am Karen, a TVI in the Buffalo, NY area and I look forward to learning more about the science of reading. I started in 2003 after going back to school. I have students from K-12 and various reading levels. I believe some of the students may be able to learn to read with the proper methods being taught. Too often people teach with the cookie cutter methods and not all students can show progress with these methods. I look forward to furthering my knowledge in this field.
Hello Lindsay,
I look forward to your input with your degree in reading. I have two students on my caseload who were shaken as babies and now have visual as well as neurological damage. One is considered to be CVI but is starting to show some progress and loves letters! I want to make a difference for these two and give them a brighter future.
Hi, my name is Kristi Thiseth and I work in Fargo, ND. I am a teacher of students with visual impairments and I am a parent of a child with vision loss. My students range in skill level. I have many students who have CVI, I have had a few students who are braille readers and also large print readers. I am excited to learn more about the reading process and to learn from everyone!