Cohort Participant Introduction
Welcome to the Hive Summer Cohort for 2026! Please use this thread to introduce yourself and begin connecting with one another!
Please include:
Amber Hanson
TSVI (Pre-K-12)
Concordia, KS serving multiple rural distractis as an itinerant teacher
I serve Pre-K-12 students with visual impairments. I have students who have no usable vision to students with low vision and several students that have CVI.
I am excited about spending quality time with my children this summer and supporting them in all their activities.
My name is Patty DâAscenzo, and I serve as the Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Coordinator for the Blind and Visually Impaired Support Program in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area). Throughout my career, I have worked as a materials support specialist, Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI), and now as an AIM Coordinator.
Accessibility has always been one of my passions. Equally important to me is literacy, particularly for students with visual impairments. As I have taken a deeper look at our programmatic practices, I have become increasingly aware that, over time, the focus on intentional literacy skill development for our students has diminished. This realization has motivated me to seek out new ideas, resources, and evidence-based practices that can help strengthen literacy instruction and outcomes for our students.
I am excited for the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with a community of like-minded professionals who share a commitment to literacy, accessibility, and student success.
Hi Amber. I look forward to learning alongside with you this summer!
Patty
My name is Rebecca Taylor and I am a dual TVI/COMS in the Raleigh North Carolina area. I work as a 12 month teacher (my district has many year-round schools) and serve students from kinder-12th grade. I am excited to use my time additionally from teaching students, to learning all that I can to prep to best serve my students this upcoming school year (which for some begins the first week of July after the 4th!). I am very excited to learn alongside you all this summer
I would love to learn more about what you do as the AIM coordinator for a district. that sounds like an amazing a much needed role for a district! looking forward to working with and learning from you this summer.
Hi Patty, I agree accessibility is a passion of mine as well. I always try my best to explain myself to the teachers I work with that I want my students to be able to have access to the same learning materials that all students in their classroom have. I am excited to learn more through this course and others in this group!
Hi Rebecca,
I canât imagine being a year around teacher? Do you like year around? I am sure I would get used to it! I feel like I am a life long learner and believe I can always learn something to do better and help my students more so I am also excited to add to my toolbox this summer through this course!
I absolutely love year round! having more frequent breaks for kids is amazing, they arent burned out and when everyone is getting stir crazyâŚBAM 3 week break! its amazing, and the kids and teachers come back so refreshed and ready to learn, it is also not enough time for kids to lose their skills, which is great! For me as 12 months, I get to take breaks via annual leave whenever I need them! so so nice.
I am also a life long learner, I also look for PD I can take to better my knowledge and support my students. Please enjoy all your time with your own children! I will be doing the same and for the first time in Many years scheduled 2 quick trips with the family ENJOY IT! I can not wait to learn here and from others in the group. Hopefully we can make some connections for support since you are rural and likely teaching on a little VI island by yourselfâŚwe got you!
Hi all!
Kelsey Brewer, Assistive Technology and Alternative and Augmentative Communication Specialist for Alt+Shift in Michigan.
I partner with districts across the state of Michigan to support in systemic changes and supports in the areas of AT and AAC and comprehensive literacy. Therefore I work with a large range of students. Prior to this role, I worked as an ECSE teacher working primarily with 3-5 year olds with IEPs. Multiple students who were legally blind and a large number of other students with CVI.
I am excited to continue to learn best practices around supporting students with visual needs in the area of literacy!
Hi Patty,
I also have a role that includes a focus on accessibility. I find it incredibly eye opening exploring what accessible materials are out there to support students that I wasnât aware of as a teacher. My district didnât have a AIM coordinator specifically for BVI. I can imagine how incredible this role is and the number of students you support! So excited to work alongside of you!
Hi Rebecca,
I love providing year round services. I found that the students maintained progress and were able to reach their goals quicker without a big summer gap in services and programming. Do you notice something similar? I hope your school year is wrapping up smoothly!
Hello everyone!
My name is Rebecca Scheibe and I work as a Teacher for Students who are Blind/Visually Impaired for a large school district in Minnesota. I work with students ages birth to 22 and have a caseload of amazing students with varying degrees of vision loss from low vision, Cortical Visual Impairment, to no vision/blindness. I am excited to learn more about all of the areas included in the course description including supporting literacy through tactile exploration, braille readiness, and tactile graphics interpretation.
Hi I am Jen Lavoie. I am a braille transcriber for the public system in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. I serve students from preschool all the way to grade 12. I love to learn and look forward to discovering new ideas.
Hi Kelsey,
I would love to learn more about your role and how you support accessibility. I am very grateful for my job every day. While I never quite know where a day will take me, knowing that I was able to make a studentâs world a bit more accessible is such a rewarding experience. The vision of the Allegheny Intermediate is âthrough equitable access, all learners achieve their full potential.â I believe in this vision 100%.
Hi Kelsey,
I would love to know more about your work! I am interested in how you support comprehensive literacy through the use of AT and AAC. I havenât had much experience with AAC devices but am learning that I need to know more!!
Patty
Hello!
Karla Magallonâfrom Texas
My name is Karla Magallon, and I am currently beginning my third year as an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teacher. I serve approximately 23 self-contained students ranging in age from 3 to 6 years old and manage about 8 students who also receive resource support. Prior to transitioning to special education, I taught kindergarten for 18 years, which provided me with a strong foundation in early childhood development and instruction.
In addition to my SPED certification, I am a certified Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) and worked as a TVI for one year. My experiences in both general and special education have strengthened my passion for supporting diverse learners and meeting their individual needs.
I am eager to continue learning and growing in the field of VI. I look forward to expanding my knowledge, collaborating with other professionals, and discovering new ways to better support students with visual impairments.
Hello! My name is Heather and I am a TVI in Virginia. I have been a TVI for 3 years and was a self-contained sped teacher for 6 years prior. My teaching experience has only been in elementary school but I think that may be changing this coming school year. This summer I am excited to learn new strategies and resources to use when teaching braille and tactile graphics.
Hi Karla! Iâm glad to see another TVI who only has experience working with elementary students. I really enjoy teaching students to read and seeing their âahaâ moments.