ITINERANT TEACHER TIPS

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
​Updated October 31, 2017

Itinerant teaching can be very rewarding but can also be challenging. Creating and recreating schedules, conducting assessments, meeting and collaborating with a variety of teams, not to mention serving a wide range of students with varying ages, abilities and acuities can be overwhelming. Getting organized can help eliminate some of the stress. The following are some tips to help fellow TVI's.

Become Familiar with the Area

Itinerant teachers spend a lot of time traveling between schools. Knowing different routes can be a lifesaver when there’s heavy traffic or your caught behind a school bus, tractor, snowplow or there’s construction or flooding and road closures (Yes, I've experienced all!). If you are new to an area or are going to a new school, take the time to become familiar with the area. A GPS can be helpful, but an old fashion map can also help give you an overview of an area...and can also be helpful if your built in navigation quits (Yep. That's happened too!). You can opt to purchase a map or you can typically obtain a free map by visiting the local Chamber of Commerce, Visitor Center or Department of Transportation.                  

Travel Time

Driving is an expected part of your job as an itinerant teacher. Some schools may be just across the street or down the road from each other, but it is more likely that you will spend between 20 minutes to an hour between schools…hopefully not longer! Safety should always come first, so don’t multitask if you are easily distracted or if travel conditions are poor. Driving time can be a good time to think through lessons, upcoming IEPs, conversations or other work related information. It can also be used listening to podcasts…or just singing your heart out to relieve stress. I typically pack small snacks to eat on the road rather than sitting down for a lunch break which frees you to do other activities during your lunch break. Need some portable snack ideas? Here are some of my favorite easy to eat and relatively healthy (and gluten free!) on the road snack ideas:

• Apple or other easy to eat fruit
• Cheese with crackers (hint: slice the cheese at home...I tried doing this while driving with not so great results!!)
• String cheese
• Baby Carrots with an individual hummus cup
• Veggie straws or other snack/chip
• Nuts, Seeds, or dried chickpeas
• Chia Squeeze
• GoGo Applesauce squeeze
• Individual box of raisins or craisins
• Trail mix
• KIND bars or other granola or protein bar
• Go Picnic boxes
• sandwiches or wraps 
• Skinny Pop popcorn bags ;)

Your Car

Your car is your office on wheels so you will want to keep it organized and supplied with materials. Opt for a car that you feel comfortable and safe in, has an available trunk and gets good gas mileage! It is important to keep up with service including oil changes and making sure your tires are in good shape. Joining AAA (American Automobile Association) and keeping up with the membership is something I have chosen to do as an itinerant teacher for peace of mind. Even with AAA, it doesn’t hurt to be familiar with how to change a tire and carry cable jumpers in your trunk. In addition to work binders and materials, I like to keep the following in my car:

• Cell phone charger
• Laptop (of course you may not want to leave it in a hot car!)
• Notepad
• Pencils/pens
• Hard candy :)
• Kleenex
• First aid kit
• Hand sanitizer
• Auto wipes
• Umbrella(s)
• Local map (this sounds "old school" but there are times when your GPS won't work)
• Plastic ware
• Crate in trunk so materials don’t roll around
• Collapsible dolly
• Blanket
• Ice scraper/brush in the winter (yup. Still occasionally need these during northern GA winters!)
• Bottle(s) of water
• Small pair of scissors
• Nail clippers
• Accordion file of forms frequently needed in meetings

Work Bag(s)

I carry a work bag with me throughout the day to keep myself organized. I keep the following items in my bag so I can have everything I need at my fingertips.

• I keep the typical essential items such as pens, pencils, highlighter, scissors, etc. in a small bag.
• I’m “old school” and keep a month-at-a-glance planner. I like to write my direct students and keep track of consults and meetings. I also use email calendar invites for meetings which helps all invitees remember meetings and appointments. I write the miles between appointments on each day and keep track of the total miles driven each day to help with end of the month mileage forms.
• VI Program Handbook with Data Collection. Although I used to carry both a Data Collection Binder and a VI Program Handbook, I have worked to consolidate and combine these two resources this past year in an effort to lighten my bag...and provide relief to my shoulders and back! I keep only the information that I regularly refer to in this binder. It's a must have and goes with me everywhere! Read more about how I set up this handbook on the VI Program Handbook page. 

Free Membership

Sign up for free membership to access the FREE downloadable templates, handbooks and handouts on the Printables page. Simply click on the Log In | Register link in the navigation bar. If you haven't joined yet, you will be prompted to create a password. ​

Job Posting Service

Shop

TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired

$50.00

Written specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), this book 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.

The core activities listed in the Activity section can be adapted to each thematic unit. These include:

• Object Characteristic Activities
• Quantity & Number Concepts
• Time Concept Activities
• Environment & Job Awareness Activities
• Listening Skills Activities
• Reading Foundation Activities
• Reading Fluency Activities
• Braille Basics Activities
• Writing Activities
• Tactual Efficiency Activities
• Developing Skillful Hands Activities
• Visual Efficiency Activities
• Optical Device Instruction Activities
• Recipe Activities

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.

Unique Concepts within the Units include:

• Self Advocacy Activities (e.g. advocating for safe classroom, presenting to class on visual impairment, requesting help and more)
• Social Skills Activities (e.g. Being bullied or teased, giving and receiving compliments, body language, "I" messages when upset and more)
• Recreation & Leisure Activities (e.g. exploring interest areas, getting involved in clubs and sports, playing games, and more)
• O&M Support Activities (e.g. Suggestions for community based experiences, dog guide information, locations in the school, bioptics, ride sharing, traffic signs, and more)
• Independent Living Skill Activities (e.g. chores, being responsible, using tools, recipe suggestions, hygiene, staying healthy, labeling foods and products, and more)
• Sensory Efficiency Activities (e.g. unique sensory experiences related to the unit, unique optical device activities, and more)
• Compensatory Activities (e.g. organizing materials, study habits, and many unique concepts related to the unit)
• Career & Vocational Activities (e.g. job awareness, completing applications, job task suggestions, and more)

Although the intended audience of this resource is fellow Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, special education teachers may find these activities beneficial to the students in their classrooms as the activities are multisensory and include life skills and concepts needed by all students. This resource, however, is not intended to take the place of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI). Readers are advised to consult their own TVI’s regarding instruction in the ECC and the unique visual needs of the student’s served in their programs.

Note: This curriculum is a digital pdf download. 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.

Each download is intended for single instructor use per copyright. Thank you for helping me preserve the content and not distributing copies to third parties.

Product details

Digital pdf download: 364 pages (11 pt font)

Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English

Shop

Visual Efficiency & Magnifier Fluency Grab & Go ECC Supplements

$20.00

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 supplement 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.  

Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:

Digital pdf download: 210 pages

Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English

Shop