Hi. My name is Beth McGarr and I work as a TBVI in the Southwest metro area of the Twin Cities. I work with children birth to 22 and I will have several braille readers next year. I am excited to be learning how to use the Monarch as I believe it will be very useful for my students with math, science, music and graphics in general.
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Hi Lia,
Iāll be in Chicago, too! Looking forward to next week!
Belinda
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Hi Dana,
Iām a TSVI and CATIS too, and I would love to hear more about how youāre using your CATIS credential to support other practitioners 
Belinda
Hey stranger! Iām going to the Chicago Monarch training next week, but I did field testing last fallāI would love to compare notes! I love that our paths keep crossing
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Hello,
My
name is Christina, and I am a teacher of the visually impaired in Iowa. I am most excited about the monarch for my braille students. I cannot wait to introduce them to this new product. Especially, in the areas of science and math. in my free time I enjoy being out on the water.
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Hello,
My name is Tina Van Buren. I am a vision teacher for Roanoke City Public Schools, in Roanoke, VA. I have a blind first grader. She is the reason I am here. Iām excited to learn more so I can help bring instruction in a more accessible friendly format and in real time. She has Leberās congenital amaurosis. She is very bright, capable, and doing very well learning braille and new contractions every day.
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Hello! My name is April Makley. I am a TCVI (Teacher Consultant for the Blind and Visually Impaired) at Kent ISD, in Grand Rapids, MI. We are a large county in Michigan. I am one of 8 TCVIās. We also have 3 O&Ms. The area I love is Braille and Braille tech. I am excited to create graphics with the Monarch. There are 3 Braille readers on my caseload, so having the Monarch for them and their transcriptionists is exciting!
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Bummer this is one I am not going to be teaching! Good Luck!
Hello, my name is Christine Moreno, and I am a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments at the Arizona School for the Blind. I teach braille and assistive technology to students from kindergarten through 12th grade. I am looking forward to learning more about the Monarch for many reasons, but mainly for the math capabilities.
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Hi all. Iām Maddie Jarboe. Iām a TVI from Tucson, Arizona. I work remotely with students and teachers in Northern Arizona and Phoenix, doing mostly assistive technology related training and teaching. Naturally, Iām very excited to see how the Monarch will work remotely, connecting it to Zoom or TeamViewer, etc.
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Hello, Iām Tarina. I really enjoyed the Monarch training in Chicago! I am so excited for all the things coming our way and the inclusion it will give our students.
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My name is Ben Davisson and I am a TSVI in Fort Worth area. After receiving the most recent training in Chicago, I am tickled pink to introduce this with my colleagues and students! I look forward to saving time with creating books and documents on the fly!
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Hello, better late than never hereā¦
My name is Stephen Bailey. I am a TSVI and COMS in Alaska, living in Fairbanks now. I currently serve our local school district but will contract with other districts and agencies in the state next year, expanding from age 3-22, to 0-199. My son is blind, NLP, and is getting momentum in the textbook scholarship, so I am really looking forward to a better AEM-life, getting accessible materials to him quickly and seeing his learning grow ādynamicallyā.
Thank you APH team - and everyone else - this is going to be very good!
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Hello! I am Holly Beckmann, and I am a TSVI from Minnesota. I just came back from my Monarch training last week, and I canāt tell you how excited I am to be a part of this community of learners. Most of the students I serve have multiple disabilities, but I serve two braille reading students. I am very excited to introduce the monarch to my student!!
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Hi,
My name is Terri Kauffman, a TVI who currently serves public school students in southeast Missouri, otherwise known as the bootheel. Before COVID, I also served the multiply handicapped, severe and profound, in the state schools here. My background in deaf-blind education helped with communication skills for a population that was mostly non-verbal. Now I work with very verbal students who are transitioning to high school next fall. My braille student has had a BrailleNote Touch since she was in the third grade, and was able to take part in Beta testing last fall with the Monarch. The limitations of the BrailleNote Touch Plus are being addressed with the Monarch, namely the math and tactile graphics as well as formatting with more than one line of braille text! We look forward to meeting with high school teachers next week to demonstrate how the Monarch can assist in accessing the various parts of the curriculum. I enjoyed the Monarch training in Chicago last week and look forward to future updates, especially the new games, including chessā¦
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Hello everyone,
My name is Kristi Portugue. Iām a TBVI working in south central Minnesota. I have worked with students with all levels of vision in many different settings. I am very excited to try out the Monarch with a new student in preschool who is beginning to learn braille. It will be interesting to see how her literacy compare to other students I have worked with who wonāt have the benefits, multiple lines of braille, tactile graphics, and access books with graphics as well as the other awesome features, of the Monarch. I canāt wait to see all of the great lessons that everyone will be sharing!
Canāt wait to hear how your son is using and enjoying the Monarch!
Hello to all! My name is Tim Knight. I am a TVI-COMS and also an SLP. I am just completing my 25th year in the field. I live in PA and provided TVI-COMS services to students ages 0-21. I also was the director of the AT program for all disabilities (including BVI) for 8 years in a large, urban school district/IU. I am now working as an educational consultant in BVI, AT and DB for the Bureau of Special Education in Pennsylvania. I was and am excited to be able to expose the Monarch to students, families and teachers in PA!
Hi, I am Theresa Brenum. I work as a TVI in Syracuse NY. I completed the field test in the Fall with a brilliant 3rd grader. I returned from the Monarch training this February super excited by everything! I couldnāt wait to bring it out for ELA and math, and try to make every science diagram into a Monarch graphic. However, my student was very reluctant to go back to the Monarch when I returned. So, I have been silent here on the boards because our time together and our focus since then has been fragmented by 2 school breaks, and her first state testing, compounded by her reluctance.
I have let her take the lead on the Monarch and finally she came around last week! So, now I am excited again to finish the year relearning the basics of the Monarch and finding a few ways to bring it into the classroom so her excitement can build for next year.
Happy Summer everyone!
I am Mia Artz, a TVI in the Richmond, VA area. I participated in the Monarch training this February and am now going through my notes from the activities I developed with my students during the spring as I play catch up on things that had to just wait until after AP testing, standardized testing and general academics completed. I have been an TVI for 15 years, following a fine arts degree in sculpture and educational psychology (which are incredibly useful in this field!), and am in the process of CATIS certification. I am an avid reader, gardener, and photographer with a loving family of my partner, two children and three dogs. I love this field and am excited to be part of the program!