Hi Andrea,
I’m a registered nurse also, that went back to school to become a TVI/COMS. I worked as a teacher assistant for many years when my son was in school. I became interested in pursuing a degree as a TVI/COMS as we had a student in the elementary school that was blind. I thought since I love working with/teaching children it would be a great fit with my nursing background ( pediatrics) as many of my students complex medical conditions.
Hi there, I’m late to the portal but happy to be here.
Nazanin Poirier
Vision Itinerant Teacher
Halton Region, Ontario
Both elementary and secondary low vision and blind students
Looking forward to getting some new ideas to add to my teaching experience
I am late also! I have a weekend planned to complete this! Lovely to see a teacher from our friendly northern neighbor!
I have similar expectations as you do on what we learn this summer. Happy learning!
Stephanie,
I feel the same way! There is so much to learn and there never seems to be enough time! Each student is unique in the things they need to learn and the way they learn and makes constant learning and collaboration essential! Keep up the great work as a parent of a blind child I appreciate all you and everyone here does!
Hello all! My name is Lochlin Craig and I am an assistive technology instructor who teaches JAWS, ZoomText, Fusion, NVDA, and VoiceOver as well as refreshable braille displays.
I am located in San Diego County in California.
I serve those who are visually impaired alongside their educators too. It is just as important for my students’ teachers to know how their technology works just as much as their students do.
I am excited to learn alongside my peers as we learn new technology throughout this summer!
Thanks Kerri, I appreciate your response. I am working on some trainings for next year and I really like the idea of introducing teachers to successful adults who are blind. I do struggle in the patience area, with adults that is, but in my defense my students are spectacular. It is grating to be so far into my career and still dealing with unkind teachers.
Hi Leighann, as a new TSVI, I completely understand the feeling of having that gap of knowledge despite having graduate-level education. The interesting part is that it is not the first time I’ve heard it. Some people have been in the field for years and continue to share the exact feeling. I think ultimately it comes down to exposure. Before I started the credential program, I would hear people say, “that credential is a beast.” I understand why now. There is always so much to learn and new material to cover.
Hi Kira
Aside from TSVI, I am a parent of a child with a visual impairment who receives support from a Low Incident Learning Classroom on her school site; it operates like a resource room. I am interested in learning a little more about the differences in how that looks in other states.
Hello, I’m Monika, a QTVI from UK. I support students from 0-25 with various degrees of VI. I’m excited to learn a bit more about tactile literacy.
I agree that there never seems to be enough time. We don’t break up until next Wednesday in the UK so I am late to this course.
I am looking forward to furthering my knowledge and connecting with other professionals from outside of the UK.
Hello! I am Suzanne M. Proctor.
My professional role is as a teacher for students with visual impairments and DeafBlindness. I currently work remotely and will also be providing in-person support in my local area in North Carolina.
About My Students: I have the privilege of working with remarkable students who have visual impairments and DeafBlindness. I provide tailored educational support to address their unique learning needs and collaborate with other educators, specialists, and families.
What I Am Excited to Learn This Summer: I am eager to explore new teaching techniques and resources that will enhance my ability to support my students effectively
I use the Google Keep Notes app to make quick session notes about each student, and then I go back later and turn those notes into more formal documentation for IEPs, progress reports, and data tracking.
I create one note for each student. After a session, I open that student’s note and use the voice recording feature to quickly dictate what we worked on, how the student performed, and any data I collected during the pull-out session. Each recording is automatically date and time stamped, so I don’t have to remember to add the date myself. It also automatically places each new recording at the end of the note, creating a running chronological record of the student’s progress without any extra organization on my part.
When it’s time for an IEP meeting, progress monitoring, or writing reports, I already have all of my session notes in one place. I simply review the recordings and use them to write more formal documentation. It has saved me a lot of time and has helped me avoid forgetting important details from a session.
My name is Lana Hittle and I am an itinerant TVI in southwest Kansas covering a large area.
I have fully academic braille students to multiple challenged medically fragile homebound students.
I am looking to learn more about how I can help student learn tactually and how to support the staff working with them.
I use Google Keep also, but type it, then transfer it to our data form. I did not know that the voice recording feature does a time stamp. I am going to have to check into this more as there are times I need to add more data but don’t have time to type it.
Kira
As I sit here finishing up this Summer Cohort, I am sitting in a condo in Waikiki. During a walk on Wednesday, I passed the school for the blind and deaf but being on vacation with family, I couldn’t spend as much time checking it out as I would have loved.
We went to Pearl Harbor, the tactile graphics and relief maps are amazing! I could have stared at or touched them all day long.
Looking forward to learning more from your experiences
This is such an interesting combination of skills that you are bringing to our cohort! You have so much additional insight because of the pediatric nursing and teacher assistant aspects. The nursing will help you explain to others that despite being visually impaired, they CAN learn, just differently. Good luck in your next endeavor as a TVI. It is an amazing job.
Can’t wait to play catch up and learn more from you!
Hello! My name is Alyssa, I am a TSVI/ TDB working with the deaf blind population in Deep South Texas. I am excited to learn to tools to better serve my students.
Hi Lana! Welcome! It’s great to meet another itinerant TVI. It sounds like you have an incredibly diverse caseload, from academic braille learners to students with significant medical needs, that’s such a wide range of expertise.