About Carmen Willings

Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

ABOUT

Welcome!

My name is Carmen Willings and I'd like to welcome you to my website, Teaching Students with Visual Impairments. My goal in creating this web resource is to provide you with the resources and education you need to help each student who is blind or visually impaired become successful members of their communities.

I am married and the mother of two teenage boys. In addition to managing and developing articles and resources on this website, I work full time as an itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) with the Forsyth County public school system in Cumming, Georgia which is just north of Atlanta in the United States. When time and finances allow, I love going on road trips and exploring National Parks and other locations that make America great…or just binge watching something while working on my website, creating resources, or getting in touch with my artistic side!

My Career Path

Early Career
I graduated from Messiah College in Grantham, PA in 1994 with a degree in Elementary Education. Rather than teaching in the public schools, I decided to accept a position at the Forest Warren Department of Human Services in Warren, PA as an Early Intervention Specialist. In 1995 I moved to Cary, NC where I accepted a position at White Plains Children's Center, a non-profit developmental day program where I taught in an inclusive preschool classroom. At that time North Carolina was facing a shortage in early intervention and preschool teachers and I had the opportunity to take coursework through UNC-Charlotte to add on my certification in early intervention.

Entering the Vision Field
I entered the vision field in 1999 when I accepted a teaching position at the Governor Morehead Preschool on the campus of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind (GMS) in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was intimidated by all I needed to learn about working with this unique population but I was surrounded by a team of excellent teachers, specialists, and therapists who taught me about working with students who are blind and visually impaired. My position was contingent on becoming certified as a TVI. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take my coursework on the GMS campus via courses offered by the North Carolina Central University's Visual Impairment Program.

Itinerant Teaching
I left the school for the blind in 2003 when I accepted an itinerant position with the Wake County Public School System’s Visual Impairment Preschool Program. We moved to Ohio in 2006 to be closer to the family (and free childcare!) when I accepted a position as an Itinerant TVI with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center (MCESC) serving students PreK - high school. I worked for the MCESC until 2013 when our family decided we missed the warmer climate (and I was particularly tired of driving in the snow!). I accepted a position with the Forsyth County School System and we moved to Cumming, Georgia where I continue to teach full time as an itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and began presenting at state conferences in 2015. In 2018 I became an at-large board member with the Georgia chapter of AER. Additionally, in 2018 I completed the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC, a curriculum I had been working on since my early days at Governor Morehead. I also published several Grab-and-Go supplements to support activities within the book. Finally, in 2018, I was honored to be selected as one of the five 2018 APH Scholars.

Why I Developed Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

The reason I developed this web resource is twofold. I had been working for years on developing a resource tool to help me provide consultation and support to classroom teachers. I found providing consultation to be one of the most challenging aspects of being an itinerant TVI. I found it difficult to coordinate the time to have uninterrupted collaboration with teachers and therapists. Additionally, I had created several resource handbooks for myself filled with notes from conferences, training and from VI resource books I had read. My files continued to grow and become quite cumbersome. I wanted a more efficient way to organize the information for quick reference.

After attending a website development training at a technology conference in October 2012, I realized I could create a website that would allow me to support all persons involved in educating students who are blind or visually impaired and also provide me with a means to organize and file all the resources and notes I had gathered over the years. What started as a means to support local teachers and my own needs have grown into a global educational resource! I am thrilled to hear from so many of you that Teaching Students with Visual Impairments has become your go-to VI resource!

How I Can Help You

As you read in My Career Path, I have worked in a wide range of teaching positions in large school systems with many TVI’s and have also worked as the only TVI for a large countywide program. I have taught in the classroom as well as itinerantly. I have been employed by a State School for the Blind, an educational service center and public-school systems. I have experienced many of the frustrations and challenges you have experienced along with the growth that comes from each of those.

It is my hope that whether you are a seasoned professional in the field of visual impairments, just entering the vision field, a classroom teacher learning how to meet the unique needs of a student with visual impairments, a parent of a student with visual impairments, or an administrator that you will find this site to be a helpful resource! My articles are developed through a combination of research and direct experience. I would love to partner with you and support you in educating students with visual impairments and to discover new ways to meet each student's unique visual and learning needs.

Stay Connected

I am continuing to add to this website and update each article regularly. I am also in the process of developing new tools and training to support you. If you have suggestions and feedback for this site, including topics you would like covered, or vision specific resources you would like added please feel free to share them with me within the article pages. I enjoy hearing from so many people throughout the United States and around the world! Knowing you find this resource to be helpful is truly my inspiration!

All the best!
~Carmen Willings

Free Membership

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TVI's Guide Complete Set Bundle + BONUS Resources

$100.00

Buy together at a reduced price and get BONUS resources!

TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired
The TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC is a digital pdf available for download. It is designed specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), and consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level. In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community-based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.

In addition to the book, the following two supplements are included:
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Concept Checklist
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Activities Checklist

For complete product details and additional images, visit the TVI's Guide product page.

TVI's Guide to the ECC Product details
·      Digital pdf download: 346 pages (11 pt font)
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English

Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets: TVI's Guide to the ECC Grab and Go Supplements
The Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets is a Grab and Go supplement to the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC. This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.

For complete product details and additional images, visit the Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Product Page.

Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 210 pages
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English

Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Worksheets: A TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC Grab & go Supplement
The Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Grab and Go ECC worksheet packet is a print on demand workbook that contains worksheets in print and simulated braille to use for data collection. Present the student with a hard braille copy and use the worksheets to document accuracy and fluency in reading braille. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. These word lists and sentences will help the student refine their keyboarding or braille reading skills while bridging ECC concepts presented in the thematic units. Although the lists and passages can be produced using a manual braillewriter, you may also copy and paste the passages into any braille translation software for quick production on an embosser. They may also be entered into a typing program such as APH’s Talking Typer to build keyboarding fluency.

For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency & Maintenance Product Page

Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 338-page print and simulated braille worksheets
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English

Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists: Grab & Go ECC Supplement
The Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Grab and Go ECC supplement is a 446 page pdf downloadable print on demand workbook that includes 2940 vocabulary card on 3 1/2" x 2" templates divided by each of the 32 Thematic Units along with a checklist of each unit words in print and simulated braille. As a companion to the TVI's Guide to the ECC, the vocabulary cards correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide.

Additional Use:
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can have a extremely varied caseloads. It is possible to go several years without having a student on your caseload who requires braille instruction. Like other skills, if you do not practice your braille regularly, it is easy to lose those skills. Use these checklists and cards to maintain your braille skills. Fold the checklist along the line dividing the print from the braille. Choose to either read the print and produce the word in braille using a braillewriter or read the simulated braille and decode it. Finally, these vocabulary cards and checklists may be used with family members or peers who are interested in learning and practicing the braille code.

For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Vocabulary Cards & Checklists Product Page

Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 446-page print on demand resource
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English

BONUS!
Lotto Cards
The LOTTO Cards Grab and Go Supplement includes 37 theme related unit cards along with activity suggestions that support activities within the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC.

On My Way File Folder Cards
Print and use these cards to represent locations the student may visit that are related to the current thematic unit. Use these with the On My Way File Folder Game outlined in the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC p. 27.

NEW! Access to TVI's Guide Bonus Membership Pages

Note:
All products are digital pdf downloads. Once you make your purchase you will be directed to an order confirmation page where you will find the download link. This download will also be included on the receipt sent to the email address you provide. The pdf download can be found directly under the order number. If you encounter any difficulty, please let me know and I can assist you.

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