Hi Jen! We have a braille transcriber in our district too. I love having her close by to help us support our students by getting accessible materials to them quickly. We also have the best conversations/discussions about all things vision related! We are challenged here in Southwest Florida with students that come to us with previous learning of braille when it is written in Spanish language, not Unified English Braille. The students are learning the English language while also learning UEB. Not everything translates well! I have a question for you; do you communicate directly with the content level teacher when materials are needed for students or do you get materials from the TSVI after they have collaborated with the content level teachers?
Also, we recently moved to FL from ND. My daughter just graduated from a college in MN with a kind, young man from Saskatoon. I believe his mom is a teacher in Saskatoon. Small world!
Hi Beth! I love that my days are always interesting and there is just enough variety that two days are never the same. I imagine a two hour ferry ride can get long but the scenery has to be amazing! Everyday I wake up and think I “get to” do this for a living! I love my job, the students I work with, and the teachers I work alongside. I don’t mind the commute to our coastal islands to see students; it gives me a chance to roll the window down and breathe deep for a few minutes. I agree that there have been very little PD opportunities for support students with tactile graphics. Everything I use has been adapted to fit the needs of the individual student with resources we find or create. There are no shortage of tactile supplies for mathematics related content, but we struggle with literacy content. It’s not enough to just braille the stories they are reading. I feel that the use of AI has provided a more thorough verbal description of images, better than I can ever describe on my own. I am hoping this PD can add things to my toolbox.
Hi there!
My name is Dionne Lewis.
CTE Instructor (7th-12th)/ Currently studying the Itinerant TSVI role
Hinds County, Mississippi
The students I serve come from different cities throughout MS and have a visual impairment or suffer from low-vision/blindness.
I am excited about being a part of this cohort, and I hope to learn an array of new resources and opportunities.
Hello! My name is Natalie VanGaver and I am a braillist/vision assistant in Seattle, WA. Next year I will be an onsite braillist serving as single student who is blind and has other impacts. He will be in fourth grade. I have worked in the vision department for almost 6 years now. I am excited to learn new strategies for teaching literacy to pre-braille learners.
I also am very much looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate and connect with other members of the cohort. 
I am also looking forward learning new ways of developing tactile literacy with my student.
Hi Natalie.
Looking forward to hearing about your adventures and sharing strategies that work with each other.
Hi, my name is Roxana Veta Ramirez. I am a new Teacher for Students with Visual Impairments (TSVI). I work for one of the largest districts in Los Angeles, CA. I have a good variety of students on my matrix, from 3 to 22-year-olds. I have a large number of students with multiple disabilities (MDV), Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), and students with low vision to students who are deafblind. As a new teacher, I am super excited to continue learning and building on my skills.
Karen Ennis
- Teacher for the Blind/Low Vision
- Indiana - servicing Munster Schools and Merrillville Schools
- I work with students in Preschool through 12+. These students are either mainstreamed in general classes or are in resource classrooms to self contained special education classrooms.
- I have been wanting to learn how to best help my students who have autism along with being blind. They have been tactually defensive with other teachers and I have just gotten them to read the braille letters, but they need to be able to do so much more. I look forward to any and all ideas other may have.
Hello, I am interested in what you have to do as the braille transcriber for the public system. Do you work with students or just create content?
I can’t imagine what it would be like to work in such a beautiful and sometimes remote area. Do you have a lot of students that you see or do you spend time doing a lot of traveling? I go to 10 different schools a week servicing two school districts and feel like my time is spent in the car more than the kids.
Hi Kira!! Glad to see a friendly face!
My name is Terri Lane
I am recently retired, but I am starting contract work as a TVI
I am in Central Missouri
I am going to teach students with a range of visual impairments.
I am excited to learn about tactile learning and braille readiness. I am also on a track of learning more about CVI and literacy. Each cohort gives me more guidance. So excited for this cohort.
My name is Jenny Bauman and I live and work in northern Indiana. I am currently working as a 5th grade special education teacher, mainly working with students what have been diagnosed with specific learning disabilities, autism, and/or mild intellectual disabilities. Starting this fall, I will also work with students with visual impairments within our corporation. I am excited about this course because I want to learn as many strategies as I can to better support students with visual impairments!
Hello Natalie! I think your job as a braillist/vision assistant is very interesting! I am currently enrolled in classes to become a teacher for students with visual impairments and my upcoming fall class is about reading and creating braille. I am very excited about it!
Hi Roxana! I am also stepping into a new role this fall as a teacher for students with visual impairments within my small corporation, in addition to my current role of 5th grade special education teacher. I also look forward learning new skills this summer!
Yes very small world!! Saskatoon is a beautiful city! I communicate with both the TVI’s and classroom teachers. Mostly work comes from the classroom teachers and the TSVI’s are copied on whatever they email me. Decisions are made by the three of us together when needed. We all bring different perspectives so makes us think outside our “box”.
Hi Karen! 95% of my work is creating content for students. Occasionally I get to go support students. I do get to join in our monthly ECC club with the students and enjoy getting to see them.
Hi Heather! No, I have always been a transcriber. I work alongside 2 amazing TVI’s within the public school system. I prepare all the material students need that cannot be borrowed from our province wide Alternate Format Materials Library. So one day I may be preparing a book of ABC’s and the next I might be in a Industrial Arts lab, labeling the tools in braille. I kind of do a little bit of everything.
Hi. My name is Kendra Sipes. I am from Muncie Indiana. I currently teach Middle School and High school Life Skills students in a small rural school, Wapahani High School. I am licensed in Birth -12th grade mild and intense interventions. I am currently enrolled in classes to add TBLV to my license. I taught preschool sped for 20 years and was a sped preschool coordinator for most of those 20 years. I have been in my current position for the last 3 years. I am interested in learning as much as possible to better prepare me for being a TBLV.