Week 1 - Behind the Scenes

Monday, August 12, 2013

On this specific day, there was a meeting for all of the itinerant teachers of Pinellas County. This is when I first starting working with Bryan Evans, my Cooperating Teacher for the O&M internship. I was really nervous about this day and really didn't know what to expect. However, when I finally reached my destination and got plugged in with some old friends and classmates, I found myself to really enjoy being surrounded by adults (since I had been so accustomed to being at home with my kids for so many years as a stay-at-home-mom and student).

When I was at this meeting, I remember really connecting with Bryan and the other 2 O&M specialists. We seemed to form our own little niche in one little corner of the room. They made me feel welcome and taught me a lot in the short time we talked about the different sections of teaching that were divided in the room. What I enjoyed most from this experience was learning how children get designated to certain schools, teachers, and classrooms from this "mass production process" (as I like to put it). I never realized this was how it actually worked. In fact, at one point I was honestly wondering how in the world we were ever going to get through it all. After Bryan and the other 2 O&M specialists received their caseloads, they sat there with their I-pads and whatnot and almost as if they were zoning into another world with some foreign language caption that I could not make out, I wondered if we were ever going to see the other side of this. Bryan tried his best to explain to me what he was doing with his caseload as he was flipping through certain students, but it was all paperwork for me and not really concrete. I didn't really understand what he was talking about.

To end our madness, we all had lunch at a wonderful Thai restaurant. It was there that my day came to a perfect and memorable ending. Other TVIs showed up to have lunch with us as well. It was there at the table that I heard some remarkable stories of visually impaired students that have inspired the teachers themselves (and even I). I had heard of remarkable stories of these students in the past, but not quite like these. I was really touched by the perspective these teachers had for their students and it almost seemed to change my perspective to a more positive light a bit. This left me feeling secure in what I was doing, excited about what I was about to embark upon, and encouraged all the way to dive in.

Yay! Here we goooo!